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. 

No games

The Harford's have a small mini-bar to the left of their dinner table. 

Note the dinner table is covered in a red tablecloth. 

In Victor Ziegler's billiards room, we see the same set-up mirrored. 

Here are both pictures, with Ziegler's room reversed horizontally. 

The visual connection is obvious, while the symbolic connection is somewhat more tricky. Ziegler's room is symmetrical: the easy-chairs are identical, each with a yellow pillow on the right side (left, when reversed). The "back-and-forth" of Victor and Bill's conversation which literally takes them back and forth throughout the room, is disorienting. 

A symbolic connection exists between Victor's "manly" billiards/"game" room and the Harford's warm "family" dining room. If the "Magic Circle" board game details at the end of the film tell us anything, it's that the billiard balls relate to deception. Note that in the scene at the Harford's, Bill goes into the kitchen and looks back at Alice. She catches him looking and smiles, and then Bill smiles. Bill looks more bemused than happy, while Alice appears smug and deceiving. There is a packet titled "Tests" on the Harford's table, in addition to a marbled composition notebook, a Scotch plaid folder, and other magazines/folders that are difficult to identify.  

One thing to note is that the word "Tests" can be framed like Alice's "adventures" at the end, in that there are those that are real, and those dreamed. The hypothetical test problems Helena works on aren't all that hypothetical: money is real and certainly important. Bill's presence, however, suggests that he is also being tested. In light of Bill's adventures, the double bind is something like this: the convincing dream has us ask "is this real?" while a strange experience in real life makes us ask "is this a dream?" One obvious "test" for Bill may be: is Bill holding up his commitment to his wife and daughter as a husband and father? Further, if his missteps have put them in danger, and caused Bill to have a guilty conscience, is their continued security really real? 

Eyes Wide Shut is infamously ambiguous: did Bill show restraint in his desires, therefore making him a hero, or, did his adventures - no matter how impotent - demonstrate his lack of restraint, making him into a post-modern shell of a hero? We want to think Bill has learned something new by the end of the film, but it seems he only increases his knowledge of his own ignorance.

The tests are many, and vary in scope. Alice's confessed thoughts and dreams play like a very real (black-and-white) film in Bill's mind throughout the film. I wonder what the film running through Alice's mind after Bill's adventures and subsequent confession would look like? Or what film was playing when she first questions Bill about the two women with whom he was speaking and promenading at Ziegler's ball? The actual film might not be what Alice imagines, unless this distinction plays on differences in male and female intuition: Bill thinks in black-and-white while Alice thinks in color. And if Alice does think in color then perhaps Alice's vision is not so different from Bill's lived experience, as shown from third and first-person points of view in the film. In other words, that perhaps Bill is living Alice's nightmare, just as Alice lived Bill's nightmare the previous summer. The difference is that it wasn't Bill's nightmare until Alice confessed. At some level, the confession merely unleashes the latent anxiety, fear, and revulsion in Bill. Bill's unconscious/accidental confession seems to unleash similar feelings in Alice. 

A note on the green plaid folder: consider that 3M's Scotch-brand tape with green plaid is called "Magic tape" and has "100s of Uses." The Scotch brand pattern is very similar to that of the folder. Also, when it comes to "100s," Bill tears a $100 bill in half for the cabbie before entering Somerton. The splitting of Bill, whether morally, emotionally, culturally, sexually, etc., is of some interest, considering the exact half-way point of the film (which centers on Bill's masked face) is only a few minutes later. But more on this later.

First, a note on the $100 bill: American polymath Benjamin Franklin is pictured on the bill. Franklin died on April 17, 1790. 1789 is considered the end of the Age of Enlightenment, with 1715 given as the beginning date. In Barry Lyndon, Lady Lyndon finally pays Barry's large debts in December of 1789. This foreshadows the end of Barry, the Lyndons, and the aristocracy in general. The French Revolution would have been underway for nearly a year. Ben Franklin would die a few months later, symbolizing an end of the Enlightenment. Franklin, who had been an active Freemason for over 60 years, achieved the highest rank of Grand Master by age 28 in 1734. 

When Bill rips the $100 bill, he creates two Franklins worth either nothing, or, $50 each. This act can be read as a symbolic gesture in a few different ways:

1.) Bill wants to extend his life, or time. 

2.) Bill is breathing life back into the Enlightenment. 

3.) Bill Harford, like a hundred dollar "bill" banknote, can be corrupted.

1. Bill gives the cabbie one half at the time, and promises the other half later. "Half now, half later" is something seen in mob movies and shows like The Sopranos, and has a connotation of criminality. Surely in some sense, Bill is clueless, merely trying to boost his ego by demonstrating his power over a low-income cabbie. But Bill's "half now, half later" act implies that the cabbie is "in" on Bill's scheme. The cabbie simply wants the money: if he leaves, he's out $100, and the torn bill is worth nothing. Arguably, Bill is frightened of the possibility that he won't have a good way out of Somerton, if something were to go wrong and he had to leave. Implicating the cabbie in his scheme helps extend the possible amount of time he can spend at Somerton. It's simple exploitation.

Franklin died in 1790, but it wasn't until 1861 that the first $100 bills were minted. Franklin's bust didn't appear on the bill until 1914. With Franklin's lifespan encompassing the entire Age of the Enlightenment, Franklin and the $100 bill share common symbolism. When Bill rips the bill, he is creating two halves. 1790 - 50 = 1740. In 1740, the Plantation Act was passed. This allowed immigration to the American Colonies. It would be 36 years until the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and 43 years before the abolishment of the 13 Colonies and creation of the sovereign republic. Add the "50" back and we arrive at 1790. In that year, The Naturalization Act of 1790 set uniform rules for the path to citizenship. It largely precluded minorities, African slaves, and indigenous people from becoming citizens, favoring white people. Significantly, though, Jews - an ethnic/religious minority - could be naturalized all the way back with the passing of the Plantation Act. An excerpt from an article on Our American Revolution explains:  

Considered purveyors of useful capital and permitted to own land after 1723, Jews retained second-class legal status in England until the mid-nineteenth century. By contrast, Jews living in the British colonies more than seven years could be naturalized under the terms of the Plantation Act of 1740. 

2. The connection we could make is that Bill wants to dial back the Enlightenment 50 years. 1789 - 50 = 1739. This is fine: 1739 or, 1740 places us in the territory where the Plantation Act is imminent. In Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual, film scholar Nathan Abrams considers Bill Harford's urban residence, medical profession, and general unmanliness as indicators of Bill's Jewish identity. These details not so surprisingly parallel those provided in Schnitzler's novella, in which the doctor, Fridolin, who lives in decadent Vienna, is virtually cuckolded by his blond wife. The point is that as an outsider, Bill wants to be included; this is at least a part of what makes Somerton the critical center-point of the film. Bill will be humiliated and singled out. His initiation is illegitimate and he is cast out once again. 

Also of some interest here is that the American Revolution (1776-1783; spanning 7 years) came just 6 years before the French Revolution. The 13 Colonies became sovereign and independent by 1783 via the Treaty of Paris. The American Revolution sparked revolutions across the world, especially in France. The main difference, however, is that the American Revolution was fought to uphold a new government, whereas the French Revolution was fought to destroy the existing one. 

3. This one is fairly obvious. The French Revolution would result in income inequality, death, and destruction, and a coup-d'etat by Napoleon. But it would allow free markets, popular sovereignty, significant reduction of power held by Church and State, and greater liberties. Failure and success are rife in the history of this Revolution. The Marxist-Classic reading regrettably celebrates the idea that the working class wanted to overthrow the elite. In fact, anarchists used violence, destruction, and terror to gain power. Rather than draw meaningful distinctions between powers (I.e., Church and State), the anarchist, proto-Socialist revolt proved little more than a decentralized upheaval. The Monarchy became the bogeyman responsible for all ills of French life. Yet, capitalism grew after the revolution. No Revolutionary leader assumed power or authority in a post-Revolution France. And the revolutionaries were against private wealth, no? Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the anarchist born ten years before Marx, likely supplied the latter with influential ideas - the absurdity of property, economic reform, collective ownership, and demilitarization.  

Bill tearing a bill in half may be an oblique reference to an ouroboros, itself a reference to infinity, wholeness, and destruction. Additionally, defacement of currency is illegal in the United States. So, Bill, whose name obviously mirrors "bill" used to denote paper currency, is paradoxically created in order to be destroyed or denigrated. The snake of the ouroboros eats its own tail: the snake must decrease in size as it eats itself to death. Money, too, is reduced when it is divided. Bill bargains for more with less. He wants more than he can afford. Leave the accusations to Victor who tells Bill, "You've been way out of your depth for the last twenty-four hours." The funny thing too being that many of the things money can buy, or actuate, are infinitely worse than the defacement or denigration of money itself. Of course, Bill's disregard for this secular, Nationalistic/Bureaucratic sin may just be an indication of Bill's inherent corruption and vice. It isn't what "should be," but what "is." 

And now to a series of darker connections. 

From the $100 bill we arrive at the Franklin Scandal (1988-1991) - again, the keyword is "Franklin." These stories would have been calming down (or heating up?) by the late nineties, when Eyes Wide Shut was being filmed. Lawrence E. King Jr., manager of Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Omaha and Republican Party donor, had defrauded the bank of $40 million, creating for himself a lavish lifestyle replete with multiple homes and wild parties. White collar crimes aside, male and female sexual abuse victims named King among other elite abusers. Through force and intimidation, the Douglas County court safely dropped charges, concluding that such allegations were a hoax. King would spend ten years in jail, but the prostitution leads would be forbidden. Gary Caradori, the Senate-appointed investigator into the Omaha, Nebraska prostitution and child abuse case, was mysteriously killed in a plane crash along with his young son days after solidifying seemingly damning evidence which could have changed things entirely. The 1994 documentary Conspiracy of Silence which, though set to air, never made it to television, covers the story in shocking detail. For example, the witnesses, such as Paul Bonacci, Alisha Owen, and others were threatened with perjury charges if they continued with their case. Owen spent over four years in jail. Others, including victims' family members, were mysteriously disappeared and killed. King would relocate to the Swamp, aka, Washington D.C. upon his release and subsequent domestic exile. 

Around the same time, Craig Spence was being investigated for credit card fraud linking him to a homosexual escort service. As The Washington Times reported in 1989, Spence had obtained keys to the White House in order to give secret late-night tours of the building to male prostitutes. Spence, who worked for the State Department and lobbied for Japanese and American business relations, later committed suicide in a D.C. hotel room. Also in the mid-80s, former House of Representatives member, Barney Frank, was involved in a scandal that brought to light his relationship with a male prostitute who conducted escort services out of Frank's D.C. townhome. Apparently, this did little to hinder his nascent political career. 

I guess the logical thing to do here is mention that 1,200 human bones from 15 bodies have been discovered in Ben Franklin's old townhome in London, on 36 Craven Street ("Craven" being a coincidental echo of Wes Craven, pioneer of American horror film). The main excuse is that anatomy was a new science and experiments with human bodies were necessary. Likely, the bodies were already deceased, retrieved from graves to be studied. 

The mystery persists: Freemasonry, money, the dual-symbology of the Enlightenment and subsequent "decline" into the Industrial Age (commodification, capitalism, Lassiez-Faire economics, etc). Notably, Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution. Franklin's 13 virtues had some influence upon the newly founded Hasidic Jewish community in mid 18th-century England in what is known as the Musar movement. Franklin, as we are taught in America, would document performed virtues on a calendar, like a moral equivalent of present-day calorie-tracking apps. His self-improvement agenda arguably rivals Strauss-Howe thinking on cycles and generations. 

The Musar movement, concerned with Jewish ethics, adopted a similar methodology. The research on Ben Franklin presented in the video by Dr. Michael Shire is revealing and somewhat fascinating. The irony is that the "Franklin Prophecy," printed in 1934 by pro-Nazi American William Dudley Pelley, and supposedly transcribed from Franklin's notes by Charles Cotesworth Pickney, the Minister to France and southern Federalist statesman in the early 1800s, suggests the opposite: namely, that Franklin hated Jews, thought they were vampires, that they preyed on the blood of Christians, and were a degenerate "Asiatic" race. Clearly, Franklin was a rationalist, a free-thinking person of privilege. There's no good evidence that Franklin was an anti-Semite. As the Franklin Scandal shows, evil is perpetrated by all people - a fact which is as damning as it is hopeful - Lawrence King Jr., aka, "Larry King" was black, Midwestern, and Republican.  

But, back to the table:

Scotch is a possible nod to the Scottish Rite (Freemasonry) which, though its origins date to 17th century England, were promulgated by the well-to-do in Colonial North America in places like Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Jamaica. The Scottish Rite was formally created in Charleston, SC, in 1801 by eleven members, at least six of whom were Sephardi Jews, the others being French, Scots-Irish, and English. We just finished establishing the connection between Franklin and the Enlightenment origins of Hasidism - the theme of Jews and Freemasons simply won't abate.

The presence of Helena working on her math problem involving money (coded as class and power) could be banal, or, tragic. Again, the $100 bill. Banal, because these elementary math problems are very common. Banal, because Alice is helping. Tragic, because money can be substituted as a type of moral virtue or value and taught to children at a young age. Tragic, less obviously, in that Helena is symbolically present at Ziegler's billiards table. Bill deceives Alice - or does he? And similarly, Bill deceives Helena - or does he? There could be implied a particularly dark reading of Helena as a cynical, privileged only-child. The stereotype of the only-child as narcissistic, spoiled, and controlling, may be a warning. Note the resemblance to Alice Helena has: reddish blonde hair, pale skin, etc. Helena's age is given as seven years old. Mandy is dead by thirty, and Bill wants some explanations during his talk with Victor. 

We may describe a coworker in terms of what they "bring to the table," i.e., their talents, skills, etc. Enough evidence paints Victor as a skilled liar and deceiver. He brings magical deception to the billiards table where he attempts to play Bill (note "Bill" and billiards - Bill is an inanimate object meant to be "knocked around"). The tragic irony of having a truthful, serious discussion in a game room is proof enough of Victor's craftiness - hence the name "Victor:" history is written by the victors. The girl is "history" and Victor gets to "write" her story. The tabloid's story is little more than some details surrounding an unknowable mystery. Victor insists that Bill is "playing" when in fact Bill is pursuing truth, while Victor's supposedly true story is a poorly-crafted lie. But the expression has some literal meaning when it comes to the symbolic presence of Helena at the other red table. Bill brings his family to Ziegler's billiards table, because he fears for their safety and well-being. The comedy or tragedy of Eyes Wide Shut is that the most significant part of the story takes place after the film ends. It offers no resolve, and therefore seems designed to say hope is necessary, while also criticizing the often misguided forms of hope that plague the blind, materialistic Harford's. 

This would be a thesis on Eyes Wide Shut read through the lens of Aquinas's morality ...which I don't really have time for. Though I would point out that Aquinas documented seven vices and seven virtues. And I would also point out that the number "7" figures considerably into Eyes Wide Shut and other Kubrick movies, and that, though the mystical significance of "7" is nothing new, it should not be ruled out when considering Kubrick's many masterpieces. 

Also:

An uncanny connection between The Killing and Eyes Wide Shut potentially exists in a framed picture in George and Sherry's bedroom and the actual figure of "Red Cloak" in the latter film. The figure in the picture appears to be cloaked, either seated or floating, near a cloud of smoke. Red Cloak wears a hooded cloak and swings a censer of burning incense which clouds the hall at Somerton. Also, as others (KDK12) have noted in The Shining, there is a subtle detail which crystallizes the notion of evil and sin: Red Cloak swings the censer in counter-clockwise circles, while himself walking a counter-clockwise circle with the eleven figures around him. Like Ziegler's billiards balls he's just "knocking around," Red Cloak bears an uncanny resemblance to the notion of a careless, destructive tyrant. Or, to the contrary, as we know Victor is a deceptive liar, a careful, meticulous tyrant. A tyrant like this is tied to Lucifer. The difference, though, is that these men were never angels. 

The eleven slaves/victims are like planets which revolve around a central mover. Sherry, as a sex symbol, would be the unmoved mover in The Killing, as she simply sits back and watches death and destruction ensue. 

I'm closer to accepting a hypothetical gambit that all of Kubrick's thirteen (13) feature films are meant to be viewed and analyzed in relation to each other, like chapters in a single novel. Borges used a myriad of voices to write stories which frequently and intentionally explore interrelated themes, time periods, and symbols. In Kafka, too, single chapters could comprise entire novels: characters, setting, mood and atmosphere conspire to create interminable complexity and drama. 

Even the "01 and 10" theory about Radiohead's 3rd album, OK Computer, and 7th album, In Rainbows, fares pretty well for music fans. 3 and 7 added equals 10. For one, both album titles are spelled with 10 letters (two-lettered word followed by an eight letter word, and one space), OK Computer was originally conceived as "Ones and Zeroes," and the transitions starting with the end of the first track of OK Computer and the beginning of the first track of In Rainbows are somewhat uncanny when using a 10-second crossfade. Each track's lyrics are said to correspond to the same numbered track of the other. And, though OK Computer has 12 tracks (making 22 total), 22 is echoed again because there are 11 characters in each album title when the single space is counted (two OK Computer tracks play back-to-back at the center). 

One could simply join the two album titles to get a statement "OK Computer In Rainbows," which might suggest striping or splicing the albums, which is exactly what 01 10 is about. Also, computers, like Compact Discs, use binary (codes containing only variations of 0s and 1s) for data storage. Plenty have dismissed the fan theory as nonsense. I don't really care whether its valid or not, because there's enough evidence and coincidence to make it interesting, which is what matters when its music, art, or film that we're talking about. We don't know what it means, but we know that it means, and that is something.