by JF Lansdowne?
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
ART OF THE LOBBY BACK HALL
BEAVER SWAMP ⎔ BOG OAK ⎔ DECEMBER AFTERNOON ⎔ MAKAH RETURNING IN THEIR WAR CANOES ⎔ MALIGNE LAKE, JASPER PARK ⎔ MIST FANTASY, SAND RIVER, ALGOMA ⎔ MYSTERIES (CARMICHAEL, MONAHAN) ⎔ OXBOROUGH ⎔ PLOVERS ⎔ RED MAPLE
APPEARANCE
Seen first as a brief flash as Hallorann marches to his doom (128:23). It then appears reflected in the mystery Monahan painting as Jack begins chasing Danny at 129:16, then, finally in full and right way around at 129:19-129:20. It’s possible it very obscurely appears during the intro to the tour, but I can’t tell, so I doubt it.
IDENTITY
Hanging in a glass office as Jack begins stalking Danny. This is either of two sandpipers, kildeer plovers or dotterels. It’s hard to tell, but I like to think they could be like Lansdowne’s painting of two kildeer plovers. This would seem apt since Danny was seen triking past an anonymous sketch of a deer on the 237 ride (“kildeer” sounds like “kill deer” in english).
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
Also plovers are the birds that pick clean the teeth of alligators, and the hotel that the Overlook was most modelled after was the Ahwahnee, a word based on a Miwok word, meaning “mouth”. So perhaps the Torrances are a bit like these twin plovers, feeding off the hotel’s largess for their survival. It’s also possible these wouldn’t be the first plovers to appear, as a mystery painting in room 237 has a very similar piece I’ve found recently, which features a plover.
If they’re sandpipers, that could help with the Sand Creek massacre theory (Dick was standing in front of Mist Fantasy, Sand River when he was killed). But I also like the idea of them being dotterels, since that sounds like “daughter els” (in english) and Jack is currently stalking a child with an axe. I guess time will tell.
And, yes, for any bird experts out there, I am aware that all these birds are very closely related, but if you haven’t seen any other of the bird analyses on the site yet, the exact species does tend to make a big difference.
MIRRORFORM SIGNIFICANCE
The moment when Dick passes it is the doctor asking Danny if he can “remember what [he was] doing” just before he started brushing his teeth. So, again, that would be great if it’s the exact species of plover that pick alligator teeth. If it’s the Egyptian Plover specifically, how cool would that be for our Tower of Fable subtext?
The moments as Jack is chasing Danny play over the darkness following Danny’s first vision, in which the doctor tells him “Now, hold your eyes still so I can see” (129:19) and “That’s good, now the other one” (129:16). In that later moment, the visuals have come on, and we can see what’s happening in Danny’s room. As I noted in the section analyzing the mystery Monahan, there’s a lot going on in this section about eyes and sight. So how cool is it that this piece would reflect (129:16) and not reflect (129:19) in that very Monahan, against moments where we’re hearing a woman doctor speak in both darkness and light? God, do I wish I had a positive ID on this one.
Next art reference: Mysteries of the Blowjob Well
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 