MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
BOULDER LITERATURE – SKIP TO A PAGE
ANGELL, PEARL & LITTLE GOD ⎔ BEACH GIRLS ⎔ BOO ⎔ CAESAR ⎔ CHINA FLIGHT ⎔ CHRISTMAS BOOKS ⎔ DEATH DEALERS ⎔ DENVER POST ⎔ DR. NYET ⎔ EUROPE ⎔ FOURTH GHOST BOOK ⎔ GINGERBREAD MAN ⎔ GOLF LIKE THE GREATS ⎔ GOOD NEWS BIBLE ⎔ HOLDING ON ⎔ IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE ⎔ KING OIL ⎔ MANIPULATOR ⎔ MY NAME IS ASHER LEV ⎔ NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (RED & BLUE) ⎔ NO END TO THE WAY ⎔ ORANGE WEDNESDAY ⎔ PEANUTS ⎔ SQUARESVILLE ⎔ TEENY WEENY ADVENTURES ⎔ TIGER OF THE SNOWS ⎔ TOWER ⎔ TRAPEZE ⎔ WISH CHILD ⎔ YOUNG JETHRO ⎔ UNIDENTIFIED
APPEARANCE
11:00-11:01; 11:12-11:13; 14:38-14:45; 15:06-15:18; 15:53-15:57; 37:40-37:54
IDENTITY
The headline about a “Nuclear Satellite” is likely a reference to the Vela Incident which was a strange nuclear flash detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite in the Indian Ocean on 22 September of 1979.
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
If you’ve read this far, you shouldn’t really require further elucidation on the significance of “nuclear”, “Indian” or “Hotel”.
It involved a “double flash” of light that would suggest it was triggered by a nuclear test being carried out near Antarctica. No one knows for sure, yet, but I imagine Kubrick was aware and intrigued.
As of now, this is the most recent issue of anything I’ve dated thus far, though there remain several obscure magazines and newspapers. As discussed in the section looking at Cornelius Krieghoff’s Log Hut on the St. Maurice, this paper may signify that this first day of the film is September 23rd, the day after the Vela Incident, which is also the feast day for the saint referenced in that painting.
If I had to stake my guess on the intentionality of this inclusion, I would say this is not Kubrick throwing his hat into any kind of conspiracy theory ring about what happened that day. The St. Maurice connection seems much stronger to me, and the details about nuclear/Indian/hotel were probably just icing on the cake. That said, Kubrick could’ve just as easily used the paper for the actual 22nd to make the Maurice connection clearer. But since the 23rd headline refers to the events of the 22nd, and since it gives us this extra Indian/hotel/nuclear reference, you can imagine why he’d go with that.
This newspaper also appears amidst the various papers present as Jack whips his tennis ball in the lounge. If I’m right about the date, Jack’s tennis ball day is November 30th, which would be either 69 days later.
Another cool thing this does with time is put 84 days between the start of the story and the end: Sept. 23, 1979 – Dec. 15, 1979. The number 84 has a few significances, but in this case, I would point to the film being 8484 seconds long, from the start of the Warner Bros. logo to the beginning of the credits.
Now, we can only be certain that the 13th is the day of Dick’s murder. We don’t know for certain that Jack’s frozen face day is the 14th or that the photo face day is the 15th. But if that’s the case (someone had to get to the hotel and put all the sheets over all the lobby couches at the end, in time for afternoon light to be pouring in…unless that’s yet another absurdity), then it’s exactly 12 weeks (7×12 = 217 jumble) between the start and the end, but this could also be written as 11 weeks and 7 days, the Tower of Babel number. And that magazine is also in this shot.
Next literary reference: The New York Review of Books – The Carter Collapse
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 