The Shining, Part 3: The Overlook Hotel

Once at the Overlook Hotel, Ullman explains to them that in the past, it hosted some of the most important people in the world and has an illustrious history. This doesn't negate the idea that the hotel symbolizes the United States, which in the early 1980s was likely at the height of its power and influence globally. Kubrick's movies, including this one, often have multiple layers of meaning. Here, Ullman is referring to the actual hotel's history—an establishment that was once frequented by influential figures but has since been largely forgotten by them. But he is also referring to a second layer of meaning as we will see.

Ullman also mentions that the hotel is decorated with Indian motifs, primarily Navajo. The Navajo people were deeply spiritual, believing they were in contact with beings from other planes of existence or worlds known as The Diyin Diné or Holy People. They categorized people into two classes: Earth People and Holy People. According to Navajo belief, they passed through three previous worlds before arriving in the Fourth World, also known as the Glittering World.

In Navajo religion, the number four holds sacred significance: there were originally four clans of Diné, four colors and times of day representing the sacred mountains, and four different groups of Sacred People, each associated with one of the cardinal directions. Four main ritual songs are also central to Navajo ceremonies, emphasizing the profound spiritual and ceremonial importance placed on this number and its representations in their cosmology.

This detail is of utmost significance, because Ullman seconds later explains to them that the Overlook's illustrious past consisted of having four presidents being accommodated in the Hotel.

While all this happens, Danny is playing darts alone in the games room and at some point the two girls dressed in blue appear to him, marking the first instance of his psychic abilities manifesting in the hotel. While there are numerous details throughout the shots, I intend to focus on those most pertinent to the storyline and later comparisons with "Solaris."

In this scene for example, several significant details stand out: 

1. The chairs and the ashtray on the table move as if they were haunted, shifting between shots. 

2. There is a poster on the wall behind the girls that reads "Monarch" with a shining sun. In another shining episode later in the film, Halloran stops under a "no smoking" sign where the word "king" is positioned directly above his head just before the episode occurs. During the third shining episode, Danny has a box behind his head that says "golden rey," with "rey" being the Spanish word for king. 

3. A phone booth is located next to the girls in this second shining episode (previously, there was a phone call during the first shining episode). In the fourth shining episode, moments before Danny sees the girls again, his mother is using the radio because, as she says "the phone lines are down." 

4. At 21:42, Danny sees the girls and the camera zooms in on his face, pointing to the exact moment. This time stamp is notable because Danny is symbolically represented by the number 42 throughout the film, while the twins are a previous iteration of Danny himself, being their number 21 for each one of them (this will be explained later). 

5. Danny is dressed predominantly in blue (blue pants, shirt, and jacket), with the exception of a white T-shirt. This mirrors the colors worn by the apparition of the girls and also the flag behind him, which features two blue bands and a white one in the middle, along with a sun symbol representing the shining experience he is undergoing. 

These details highlight the intricate symbolism and connections woven throughout the scene foreshadowing events to come.  For obvious reasons, not all the details will be treated in depth in this book. Instead, I will focus on those that are relevant for comparing the two movies at hand. This approach allows for a more concentrated exploration of themes and parallels between the films.

The movie continues with Ullman showing the room where they are supposed to live while in the hotel, we see that in Danni's room on the wall, right above the bed there is a picture of two bears, further emphasizing the idea of Toni and Danny represented by this animal.

Ullman also shows the maze outside the hotel, and explains that it is one of the main attractions in the hotel. The maze has an obvious meaning related to the hotel, in fact, the maze can be seen from inside the hotel, as will be shown later when Jack takes a closer look at the scaled model of the maze inside the Hotel and sees his wife and son walking around inside of it. 

He himself will die lost inside the maze and another interesting detail is that Ullman says he wouldn't go into the maze unless he had at least one hour to find the way out. We see that as Jack meets Ullman for the first time, he says that it only took him three and a half hours, a strange comment to make and taking into consideration the symbolism of the hearse during the introduction we see that the maze indeed, might also have a symbolic meaning. Important to understand this otherwise unsettling movie.