Columbus lives; deal with it

Every reader - every Kubrick obsessive, buff, nerd, theorist, critic, etc. - would benefit from reading about some new findings straight from a true Kubrick dilettante. What are we waiting for? 

As a Lynch-obsessive might quip, "this is it." Yep - this really is it. Or is it? The viewer will notice two numbers on the sign left of the image. The number on top is 14, and the number below is 92. The establishing shot shows the hospital Bill enters in order to visit the morgue where Mandy is being held. 

The detail comes from this main frame. Notice that the three arches of the modern, oversize hospital arcade mimic the three ornate arches at the balcony of the great hall at Somerton where Mandy appears to "save" Bill. Also, notice the taxi. Notice the "do not enter / wrong way" sign above the taxi, as if suggesting "do not enter" the hospital. Notice the "one way" signs that direct traffic left, towards "1492." We think of chronology as happening from left to right - the traffic flow tells us otherwise: as the film progresses, forward action goes from right to left, backwards in time. The roar of traffic also insinuates a sort of hunger to return to "1492." This may just be a microscopic nod to Vico's circularity of civilization - decadence leads to barbarism before civilization can flourish again.  

There are arches everywhere at Somerton (and other interiors) and I think this fact makes the choice of hospital exterior obvious. Anyways, I'll just say it's coincidence that my next point also involves the number 3. 

Christopher Columbus. Kubrick was, perhaps, merely including the marginalia of incontrovertible facts to his pictures when he selected signs like "14/92," "STOP (CMB)," "Happy Holiday," and countless others. 

The Nina, The Pinta, The Santa Maria - but not the Rage Against the Machine song, "Sleep Now in the Fire." Or, maybe, that song, too, sure. Fourteen ninety-two. 14 is two 7s, which we see in the dual rainbows, and in "ZIEGLER" vs "HARFORD." 92 is seven less 99, like 1999. One four nine two. 1+4+9+2 = 16. Sixteen is four fours, or, two eights. 8+8, or, 4+4+4+4. Numerology kaputt. 

"88" is double infinity. Conquest x infinity? 1492. Christopher Columbus. The New World. America, and/or, the Americas. Amerigo Vespucci. Remember the model ship in Ziegler's billiards room he passes before several times. 

This is speculative, but some research shows that a model of the HMS Victory bears some resemblance to the model ship in Ziegler's room. The HMS Victory was built in the late 1700s and entered into the Battle of Trafalgar. Maybe this is wishful thinking; the ship in the shot may just be a ship. Victory would obviously echo "Victor" quite well. If anything, the ship ties us back to "1492," now, not to mention the man with Columbus-esque mask at Somerton.

This has been noted before, in connection with Ziegler's ship. The "1492" sign might just be the smoking gun. Black slaves, white slaves - the slaveries of the New World are manifold, and, we might speculate, have never truly "ended." Probably one of the only black characters in the film is a hospital orderly who allows Bill into the morgue. He has no lines. 

The many female characters walk a narrow path between identification as a person or as an object. Even in death, Mandy is arguably being objectified by Bill: her eyes open, the lifeless body appears as it may have when still animate. Her being is nothing in the absence of selfish, lustful men. She doesn't exist beyond the confines of her physical body. This is a "dire" consequence of a money-and-sex-fueled commodified neoliberal West. Maybe it's an extreme view, but we never know the full story of her death, not to mention, of her life. In fact it's summed up in one word: "hooker." Victor might just be an empty symbol of manifest destiny, colonialism, and continental grand larceny. 

Cursed by the Bell

When Bill makes his return trip to the Long Island estate, Somerton, we see him pass over Manhattan Bridge, the same bridge he crossed the previous night. This time, however, by day, we see some of the hi-rises of the Lower East Side in the distance. One building of particular interest is a former New York Telephone Company building, now the Verizon Building. It isn't the Verizon Building at 140 West St., but the other Verizon Building at 375 Pearl St. Both buildings were constructed for the New York Telephone Company, the former being completed in 1927, and the latter in 1976. 

It's the latter building we see in the background to the far left of the shot. 

 

375 Pearl St. is considered one of the ugliest and most dreaded buildings in New York City. It's utterly banal concrete construction has tormented inhabitants within and without the structure for years. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that construction began on the installment of new glass windows. Note that its completion in 1976 has some symbolic power - this was the year of the American Bicentennial, a year dedicated to the celebration of two-hundred years of American Independence. 

Another thing: the Bell logo frames the entirety of the brief (five seconds) shot. The cables of the bridge fall and rise delicately in this short passage of time, hinting at uneasiness. There's an insinuation maybe of seasickness. Bill is driving a car on a bridge over the sea (or, more accurately, the East River, a tidal estuary). To a lesser extent, it reminds us of the Sopranos episode, "Remember When," when (remember?) Tony takes Paulie for a suspense-filled boat ride. The shot is mimicking a rough tide - the camera is presumably planted on the deck of the boat, capturing its response to the sea's turbulence. Likely this scene is created using camera tricks. 

There are certainly camera tricks here, too, but far subtler. This brief fall and rise of the cable also continues (rising) when the shot cuts to Bill's face in the SUV. "Rising tensions?" Sure. We also see two separate transitions (taking the exit, and, arriving at Somerton) in which the SUV is shown from opposing directions. I take this as a hint at the ambiguity of leaving vs. arriving: leaving one place is the same thing as going to another place. When Bill arrives at the Nathanson's, for example, he leaves Alice. The same goes for his entire night - his journey is shaped by negation: not at home, not with Alice. The camera helps illustrate this: arriving at Somerton is leaving Manhattan. 

On the Wiki entry of 375 Pearl St., we find that the Bell logo was removed and the Verizon logo was added in May, 2002, a year after 9/11. What is the bell, again? Well, it's one letter off from "Bill," not to mention it sounds like "Bill." So we already have some wordplay going on. As Bill drives his Range Rover, we see the building with the blue (or black) "bell" logo receding into the background. 

Bell Telephone Company, American Bell, Bell Systems, Bell Labs, etc. - all of these companies are in some way associated with Alexander Graham Bell whom history remembers as the guy who invented the telephone. They operated under AT&T which was broken up in 1984 for anti-trust violations. Basically, AT&T/Bell dominated the telephone industry for decades. This split resulted in seven "baby bell" companies. Note the number seven (or don't). The "break-up" would have been fairly recent at the time of Eyes Wide Shut. Maybe, maybe this logo points to the break-up of AT&T, and maybe foreshadows the change to the Verizon logo. And maybe this "break-up" alludes to the future of Bill and Alice's marriage. Or not.

Finally, probably the most interesting thing about this obscure detail is that it ties back to some interpretations of "CMB," namely, Cosmic Microwave Background. It was at a "horn" antenna in Holmdel, NJ, the site of a massive Bell Labs compound, that Wilson and Penzias found evidence for Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. It was also through Bell Labs that solar battery cells, fax machines, and improvements in radar and sonar were made possible. The bell is a symbol of innovation. Is it a cause for alarm? Is it Pavlovian? Is it a cryptic symbol of corporate tyranny? 

We're reminded that Wilson and Penzias relied heavily on the work of others before they were awarded their fame. Perhaps Meucci is the true creator of the telephone; what does that make A.G. Bell - a thief?