The Other Aleph: Film as Poetry

Though the word "Aleph" is nearly synonymous with the late Argentine author, Jorge Luis Borges, and makes a few appearances in acrostic Psalms (Ps 37; Ps 119) in the Old Testament, the alphabetic character, idea, and literary source could also figure into The Shining. This parallel may be the product of synchronistic, or, magical thinking, but, The Shining being an overtly psychological horror/thriller film, this idea should not be ruled out simply because it is unusual. Much of what makes The Shining unsettling has to do with the logical inconsistencies, vexatious plot holes, and the subtle but disturbing upheaval of conventional horror tactics ("meditative scares" rather than "jump scares," prolonged, terrifying "climax," etc). Critics often say it has all of the trappings of a typical horror film without being a horror film. 

Kubrick was influenced by Jung's archetypes - universal and indestructible images which hold powerful, unified meanings for all people. The word "synchronicity" itself was coined by Jung, a fact which suggests a mode of thinking that strives to understand disparate phenomena, whether psychological or physical. Jung's influence shows most visibly in Full Metal Jacket and The Shining. The "duality of man" alluded to in the former speaks to Jung's self-explanatory thinking on moral duality: any good attribute has its opposite. This theme is also very strong in Psalms, and very much so in Psalms 37 and 119 where the acrostic references the Hebrew alphabet, each letter introducing an aphorism or prayer that alludes to a conflict and resolution in a few short lines. This in mind, with the ancient notion of good and evil, you almost can't say "man" without meaning man in his duality.   

It isn't coincidental that I mention Borges; when it comes to themes of modernity, especially as it applies to architecture, we should consider that Kubrick had read Borges and Kafka prior to the production of The Shining, and mentions both writers' clear, simplistic style in a 1980 interview with Vicente Molina Foix. This is revealing, if only for the fact that Borges is forever associated with the labyrinth, while Kafka is arguably associated with the urban, alienated individual. The common criticism that Kubrick's films are cold, distant, and even cynical reflects at some level the filmmaker's inspirations. I could go on probably for hours about the implications of Kubrick's intentional employment of coldness, irony, and isolation in his films, but I won't.

Kafka's alienated characters attempt to navigate complex, inhumane, labyrinthine built environments in most of his stories and novels. These environments, such as early-20th century New York, which Karl Rossmann is confronted by in Amerika, are timeless. Before the young man disembarks from the Hamburg America Line (a coincidental reference to HAL9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey) ship, he makes several missteps, including entrusting his only suitcase to a stranger, and, allowing himself to become embroiled in an argument between the ship's stoker, to whom Karl is sympathetic, and the ship's upper management. Karl Rossmann almost mirrors Dave Bowman, who takes issue with his spaceship's management, namely, the supercomputer HAL. Karl wanders through the dark and winding interior of the ship, which is almost entirely empty of people, just as Bowman and Poole are virtually lost within their spaceship in 2001, only able to communicate with supercomputer HAL, while the other three astronauts hibernate in their coma-pods. By the third and final part of the film, Bowman dismantles HAL and propels the ship through an infinite, dark space, entirely alone. "HAL" mirrors the shipping line in Kafka's novella - both are distant, bureaucratic entities. More could be said of this connection, surely.

But, I was here to talk about The Shining. It doesn't hurt to point out that Kubrick focused on themes of isolation, group dynamics, and individualism many times before. Even Full Metal Jacket, with all of its group dynamics, is still very much about the individual experience of those dynamics, dramatized by a war-time setting (further - in the late '60s, when "group" dynamics would have coincided with communalism, socialism, hippies, etc). Barry Lyndon, too, is about one man making his way to his idea of success in 19th century Europe. In Lolita, the story of Humbert Humbert reflects the dual-natured reality of a single, very troubled man's obsessive (taboo, and illegal) pursuit of a teenaged girl. The Killing could be read through the character of George Peatty, who has been taken advantage of by his wife, friends, and employment - the conspirators representing yet again a rogue group dynamic. A Clockwork Orange centers on the experience of Alex, and Eyes Wide Shut focuses on Bill, yet there are significant examples of group dynamics in both too. 

Back to Borges. In "The Immortal," Borges uses first-person narration to describe the journey a Roman soldier (an alienated individual) makes to a mysterious city.

I had made my way through a dark maze, but it was the bright City of the Immortals that terrified and repelled me. A maze is a house built purposely to confuse men; its architecture, prodigal in symmetries, is made to serve that purpose. In the palace that I imperfectly explored, the architecture had no purpose. There were corridors that led nowhere, unreachably high windows, grandly dramatic doors that opened onto monk like cells or empty shafts, incredible upside-down staircases with upside-down treads and balustrades. Other staircases, clinging airily to the side of a monumental wall, petered out after two or three landings, in the high gloom of the cupolas, arriving nowhere. I cannot say whether these are literal examples I have given; I do know that for many years they plagued my troubled dreams; I can no longer know whether any given feature is a faithful transcription of reality or one of the shapes unleashed by my nights.

Similarly, purposeless and immense structures figure into Amerika in the form of skyscrapers, country estates, hotels, and ships. Like many of Edward Hopper's paintings, individuals, not groups, are camouflaged within the loneliness of large natural, urban, and domestic environments. From the introductory helicopter shots in The Shining, the Overlook Hotel appears enormous, imposing, and castle-like. It is ostentatious, sitting completely isolated on a rugged mountain range. The main idea that can be distilled from the excerpt above is this single line: 

A maze is a house built purposely to confuse men; its architecture, prodigal in symmetries, is made to serve that purpose.

Mirrors, symmetries, dualities - this is what Borges suggests is the basis of confusing, deceptive architecture. Literal mirrors and symbolic "mirroring" is at the core of The Shining and much of Kubrick's work. For instance, consider that Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick have the same initials. "SK" mirrors "SK." King's extreme dislike of Kubrick's interpretation of his novel only exacerbates the idea of dualities or mirrors: King = good, Kubrick = bad. Note also that if we wanted to assign numerical values to these initials, we would arrive at something like: S = 19, K = 11. We can read "SK" like a year: "1911." In the film, the final image we see is a framed photograph showing Jack at the center of a ritzy ball at the hotel, July 4, 1921. This would be 10 years after 1911. As others have noted, 19+11 = 30, and, 1+9+1+1 = 12. Both numbers are of some significance. If, for example, "SK" is "12," then the dual "SK" of King vs. Kubrick spells "12" and "12." Night and day. "24" in total, like hours in a single day. 

As a note on the strangeness of mirrors - when Danny writes "Redrum" in red lipstick on Wendy's bedroom door, he spells the "D" and "R" backwards. When reversed, however, the first four letters "MURD" are correctly spelled, leaving the "ER" backwards-facing. "M" and "U" are symmetrical.

During Jack's first visit to the Gold Room where he imagines a bartender named Lloyd, he refers to the bills he's carrying: two $10s, and two $20s. Jack wants to get rid of these bills. If we add these numbers, we get 60. 60 can be divided in two, to get 30 and 30. But, if we add 60 to 1921, we get 1981 - one year after the film's release. If we presume the film takes place in 1980, when it was released, then we can subtract 60 from 1980 and arrive at 1920. Does Jack want to go back in time? Perhaps. Rob Ager of Collative Learning points out that President Woodrow Wilson placed all American banks under the auspices of the Federal Reserve in 1921, allowing for the banishing of the gold standard. A line of thinking is that the Federal Reserve's refusal to lend money worsened and prolonged the depression. The topic has been subject to many conspiracy theories. Ager has written a good deal about the theme of gold - as color, symbol, and subtext - in The Shining. It appears Kubrick was concerned about the reliability of banks and cash, and at some point advocated buying gold, so it isn't out of the question. If we break apart 1921 and add it's individual figures (1+9+2+1) we arrive at 13. 13 is one more than 12, which is the sum of 1911. 1911 also gives us 11, so we see a similar sequence emerging. In 10 years, we advance 1 step (1931: 1+9+3+1 = 14, etc). 

The pacing of The Shining largely reflects the novelty of steadicam which allowed for long, balanced tracking shots. For this reason, the pacing and visual language of The Shining is architectonic in nature. The rectilinear, maze-like halls of the Overlook Hotel dictate how characters (and the camera) moves. There are certainly exceptions: when Jack intimidates Wendy, forcing her to walk backwards up a large set of stairs, the movement does not follow a straight line. The excessive size of Jack's "writing room" is cartoonish: thirty-foot ceilings, gothic "wheel" chandeliers, Native American tapestries, furnished sitting areas, fireplace, enormous windows, etc. 

13 is a loaded number whose relevance and significance in the film Fell Ryan has shown in a number of instances. If we add 1981 in a similar manner (1+9+8+1) we get 19. 19 mirrors the century in which 1921, 1980, 1942, and 1981 all took place (though we would say twentieth century, not nineteenth). Still, we have 20 and 10 and 19. A lot of bad things happened in years beginning with "19," arguably, too many events to list. 

Consider the office of Stuart Ullman with the impossible window where Jack interviews for the caretaker position. But first, a note on the window: the window is considered impossible because the office is located in the interior of the Overlook Hotel; however, I would speculate that there is a similarity between the office's impossible window and the maze's possible center. Perhaps the Overlook Hotel has a hidden courtyard, like, say, the Pentagon in Arlington County, just across the river from D.C. The Pentagon is a very strange, powerful, and physically enormous example of American Federal architecture. It is, oddly, or not, a modern version of a colonial "star fort," a military fortress built in geometric pattern to maximize defense from invasion. 9/11 would "prove" the compound's weaknesses in a modern warfare environment. Ullman appears very presidential behind the mahogany desk with the small American flag and fountain pens. The White House doesn't have a courtyard, but the Pentagon does. "Caretaker," while a euphemism of "gravedigger," could also be read as "defender" or "protector." It seems Ullman wants Jack to protect and preserve the Overlook. The Pentagon, of course, houses the Department of Defense. Ullman's appearance has been compared to JFK, an idea that, in 1980 as well as now, hints at the dark, dirty story of the late president's assassination. Since his televised, public assassination in 1963, countless conspiracy theories have gained near-mainstream status. 

It would take too much time to recount the significance of the Aleph. But I'll give an overview: the maze as reality and concept is explored several times in The Shining. We are reminded of the Ancient Greek myth of the minotaur in the maze. The mini-epic poem "Catullus 64" by Roman poet, Catullus, is as labyrinthine as the labyrinth at Knossos which it depicts. Theseus, the hero, will slay the minotaur in the labyrinth, and marry Ariadne. Her love has helped him to defeat the minotaur. 

Jack follows Danny into the maze at the Overlook hotel to murder him. Danny outsmarts Jack and reunites with his mother, Wendy, after hiding, and retracing his steps. To the left of Ullman's head is an eagle carving which almost looks like the letter "X."  

Or, does it look like the Aleph?

As has been noted before, the eagle, which appears on Jack's "Stovington" t-shirt, and indirectly, in the Adler typewriter ("Adler" being the German word for "eagle") he uses to type hundreds of pages containing the same 10 words (and 42 characters), is a small but blatant reference to the literal embodiment and representation of the eagle as a symbol of total power and terror. It is less well-known that the Nazis found inspiration in American notions of Eugenics which proliferated with popularity in the early twentieth century. But the eagle does allude to Nazi Germany. The number 42 figures into The Shining in a variety of ways, pointing to the fact that the Final Solution was carried out in 1942. The freezer Hallorann shows the Torrances during the tour of the Overlook Hotel has been compared to a photograph of concentration camp barracks. The resemblance is uncanny. 

"Adler" begins with the letter "A." "A" is the Aleph, and so "aleph" is also "eagle." The eagle carving coincides aesthetically with the Hebrew Aleph. The Aleph was descended from the Phoenician alphabet. The ancient linguists based the shape of the letter on the head of an Ox, which is quite similar to a bull or Minotaur (part bull, part man), as it is a horned cattle/bovine animal. We also have the strange skier poster in the game room where Danny has a vision (of the twins) that may suggest the presence of a minotaur. 

 

The poster is also given the title "Monarch" which suggests the idea of Kings, Kingdoms, and castles. "A" is mighty, and close to God. The Overlook is itself a maze of the Escher kind: the stairs lead down and up simultaneously, depending on our perspective. Wendy ascends or descends; Jack follows or leads; Danny escapes or deceives.