Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's highly successful novel The Shining is something of an enigma. There have been countless rumors, internet theories, and documentaries dissecting every second of the 1980 cult classic and world-renowned horror film. Though the true meaning behind The Shining may never be known due to how cryptic Kubrick remained during interviews, that hasn't stopped the stream of internet searches and forums discussing some of the secret meanings and off-screen possibilities within the movie.
Other than the big question of "what did it all mean," one of the most searched questions is "what was in Room 237, and what happened to Danny there?" Though that may be hard to answer since Kubrick strayed so far from the original content, the novel might offer a better insight, but it can't be leaned on too heavily since the movie is truly its own thing. Firstly, in the book, the poltergeist that haunts Room 237 is a woman named Lorraine Massey. When she was alive, Lorraine was known to seduce young bellhop boys. She would invite them into her room where they would conduct sexual activity.
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Out of guilt, she slit her wrists in her bathtub. Now, she haunts the hotel. So why was Danny drawn to the room? Well, it could be because even though Lorraine was disgusted with herself enough to end her life, she may still be reenacting events from her past. A possible theory could be that Lorraine tried to seduce Danny into coming into her room so that she could kill him, but he managed to escape. This is all the help the book gives in explaining what happened to Danny, and also helps explain what happened when Jack went back into the room.
But some fans seem to think that because the movie is so different than the book, and that Jack’s character had qualities of a predator even before going to the hotel, that the real story of what happened to Danny in Room 237 was far more sinister. Many have commented on the repeated use of the symbol of a bear and how the bear represents Jack’s predatory nature against his family, specifically Danny. At one point in the movie, there is an unexplained scene of a man in a bear suit performing a sexual act on another man.
The bear also appears when a doctor visits Danny and his mother at their home, where Danny is seen in a very vulnerable state in his bedroom, scared, and in his underwear. The bear is a stuffed animal sitting behind Danny, and its eyes and gaping red mouth mirror the elevators in the hotel—which look like they have the same-colored eyes as the teddy bear and a similar red mouth (the doors) which blood pours out of. If Jack represents the bear, then Stanley Kubrick may have been suggesting that Jack was a pedophile and an abuser.
The sexual tension Jack has been feeling is evident in the magazine he was reading on the closing day of the hotel—a Playgirl magazine. Playgirl is a magazine featuring semi-nude males. On the cover of the issue he was reading, one of the headlines read “Incest: Why Parents Sleep With Their Children.” This is perhaps the most horrific and disturbing detail that shows what really happened to Danny in Room 237. Though in the book, the sexual predator was the woman Lorraine, in the movie, it is heavily implied that Jack was the predator.
When Danny’s mother Wendy stumbles upon the scene of the man in the bear suit performing a sexual act on the other man, she is absolutely horrified. Could this be because the man in the bear suit was really Jack, and the person he was with in the bedroom was Danny? Some fans seem to think that room 237 was actually the room the Torrance’s were staying in, and that when Danny was playing near the outside of the room, he accidentally woke up his father who then beat him. This is further confirmed when Danny approaches his mom and she immediately suspects that it was Jack, who had just been sleeping.
Jack (in the film) has a history of violence, and this accusation wouldn’t have come out-of-the-blue. When the family first gets to the hotel and is being introduced to their bedrooms, Jack peers into the child’s bedroom—where a framed picture of two bears hangs on the wall. One is standing, and the other is sitting in a more submissive role. Danny has an interesting imaginary friend who lives in his mouth. It’s common for children to create imaginary friends, and sometimes it is because of trauma that they create this friend they can talk to. This could mean that Jack has performed the act of fellatio with Danny on multiple occasions.
Though there is a scene in the movie where Jack shows Danny some fatherly love, there is clearly tension between the two characters. This abuse of power is the most terrifying thing in The Shining, and if this theory is true, it’s no wonder why Stephen King hates Kubrick’s interpretation of his book.
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