Room 237 -- Rodney Ascher
I had a professor at Boston University who, on the first day of class, gave a lecture on how the Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin is really about fear of anal sex. I don't know how the rest of the class took it, but I was blown away. Not because I bought into it but because my professor had the balls not only to think about it, but put it right out there. It was a lesson in film studies that I took to heart but never put in to practice (well, maybe once): be bold. As long as you have built up strong enough evidence to support your theory, there is no "wrong." I don't entirely believe it, but I fully endorse the sentiment.
Room 237 features many people swinging for the fences with theories about The Shining. In several instances, I'm not convinced the person actually knows what his or her thesis is. Then there's the guy who is 100% convinced that The Shining is indisputable proof that Kubrick faked the moon landing footage. Another person sees Kubrick's face in the clouds during the opening helicopter shot and a desktop organizer turn into an erection. And I don't know how the guy obsessed about the number "42" can not mention its being the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything (Hitchhiker's Guide came out seven months prior to The Shining's release, so why not?). If you approach Room 237 with the wrong mindset, you might strain your eyes from all the rolling they are going to do.
All the crackpot theories aside, there are some interesting observations such as the carpet pattern changing after the ball rolls to Danny or how Kubrick uses cross-fades (the latter I don't think means anything other than matching shots to create smooth transitions). Then there's the guy who ran The Shining backwards and forwards at the same time. Again, I don't think it means anything, but there are several moments where the images line up in interesting ways.
The use of movie footage to fill in gaps the images from The Shining can't is a unique choice but it doesn't seem meaningful or useful. Even less so when it's not footage from Kubrick movies. Maybe the people offering their thoughts didn't want to be on camera and there's only so many times you can show Danny wheeling around on his little bike or the key to room 237 in the door, but if you're making a movie about the meaning of another movie, make your images count.
Room 237 is a silly diversion that I hope won't ruin watching The Shining for me. I'm just glad that my obsessiveness about things is no where near the level where I freeze-frame through a whole movie. I wonder what Kubrick would have thought about all of this...
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