2. The Theories Distract From The Point - The Shining
What exactly is up with The Shinning? Don't ask that question on the internet unless you want a barrage of increasingly crazed answers; it's about the genocide of the Native Americans; it's about the holocaust; it's Stanley Kubrick apologising for faking the Moon landing; watch it in reverse overlaid on the film playing forward and some creepy things match up. Or, you know, it's about a ghost story about a father going crazy and trying to kill his family. OK, we're not going to make the case that The Shining is just a horror film (with Kubrick a cigar is never just a cigar - it's probably a jump cut to space or something), but all these abstract theories and meanings get away from the film itself and what it's characters say about the human condition. Kubrick, the perfectionist that he is, no doubt put in elements of these various theories (particularly the Native American theme) but they're an added layer, not his overall goal. Whatever that goal is, of course, still up for debate. And, on a side note, Room 237, the film which puts forward these theories is equally guilty of gross misunderstanding; it's exploring the effects of obsession and fandom as well as just theories about The Shining.
