I've now seen the film closer to 237 times than zero, and it wasn't until last night's viewing that I really paid attention to all the cartoon references in the film. It's something we all know is there, but we're either dismissive of these repeated references because the relationship between a child and cartoon characters seems so logical, or simply because the horror going on all around these references is far more attention-grabbing. We tend to overlook them, if you will. I'll start by listing each reference:
Dopey on/off the bathroom wall: At home in Boulder, Danny stands facing his bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth. As the camera tracks in and passes through the bathroom door on the left, we notice a sticker of Dopey- one of the Seven Dwarfs. Danny then asks Tony why he doesn't want to go to the Overlook. "Tony" says he doesn't know. Danny persists, then has the vision of blood pouring out the elevators. A couple scenes later, the Dopey sticker is missing from the bathroom door. The disappearance of Dopey, the unenlightened character, coincides perfectly with Danny's discovering the forces at play at the Overlook Hotel.
"What's up, Doc?": Nothing Kubrick shows us is coincidental, so we should not overlook (sorry, can't help it) the first instance of shining between Halloran and Danny being about Bugs Bunny. As we all know, Halloran already knew Danny's nickname. What's even more fascinating is that when Halloran impersonates Bugs Bunny, he lowers himself to the child's eye level, stares directly into his face and says the line. He also completely shrugs off and dismisses Wendy's inquiry in order to do so. When we see this we tend to think of it as Halloran just being a tad creepy and awkward with children, but given the number of cartoon references pouring out of this film, I have to wonder if in that instant Halloran is deliberately establishing the foundation of a bond between he and Danny. Just think, how much do an old black man and a young white boy have in common in the late 1970s?
Steamboat Willie Sweater: In the scene where Danny tiptoes quietly into the family's apartment to grab his fire engine, in fear of not waking up Jack, he is wearing a sweater with the black and white Mickey Mouse character from the 1928 Disney animated short. Again, this is another instance of a cartoon being put directly in front of our faces, but we are eager to dismiss it because we claim to understand that there is not much more to this costume than it being typical of a boy. But how bizarre is it that Danny is wearing a sweater of a cartoon that is at least 50 years old at the time of the film's plot? This is too much of a coincidence, especially considering the hotel's illustrious history of housing royalty and diplomats during the 1920s. To me the odd sweater being worn at this point signifies the hotel's past becoming more obvious, and yes, a part of Danny's present.
Roadrunner and Coyote theme song: This scene always frustrated me, because the television Danny stares into while Wendy talks to him is so damn loud. Why does he not look up to her? He is so intent on staring at the cartoon. But we cannot blame his staring intently at the screen simply on his being possessed by "Tony." And again, nothing in any Kubrick film is just arbitrary. In other scenes where Danny is possessed, he hears Wendy perfectly clear and communicates with her, albeit terrifying. There is something important going on in the cartoon- he is shining. If we listen to the television's audio, the Roadrunner and Coyote theme song goes: "Roadrunner, the coyote's after you / Roadrunner, if he catches you you're through." This line of this song is playing on the TV as Dick Halloran has just rented a car and is racing up the Sidewinder to get to the Overlook Hotel. Halloran is the Roadrunner, and Danny is either trying to communicate this to Halloran, or he is possibly experiencing some sort of foreshadowing vision of his own future himself, in which he has to evade his father who is chasing after him; Danny will be forced to outsmart his "coyote" father if he is to survive.
Jack as Fred Flintstone/ The Wolf: At the point in the film where Jack is now completely insane and breaking into the family's apartment with an axe, we have to remember that his insanity is not entirely delusionial, and that his mumblings throughout the rest of the film might not be all that nonsensical. In the Gold Room restroom, Delbert Grady informs Jack that Danny has been communicating with "a nigger cook." Now that Jack is aware of this communication, he not only is more intent on killing his family due to his prior loss of control, but I believe that in the famous axe scene, Jack is actually mocking Danny's attempt at saving his family. Upon breaking down the hallway door, Jack yells out, "Wendy, I'm home," which can't be anything other than an allusion to Fred Flintstone's "Honey, I'm home." Seconds later, before swinging at the bathroom door, Jack yells out the famous lines of the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs story. While this story is originally from folklore, it is undeniable that Nicholson's delivery of these lines is so hyperbolic that he is mimicking the animated rendition on the popular story. The mocking of course culminates in the delivery of the film's most famous phrase, the impersonation of TV's Ed McMahon: "Here's Johnny!"
What does this all mean?: I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's important to remember that while Danny possesses an incredible power, he is just a small child who does not know how to communicate things very well at all. He is no genius. In fact, Wendy even mentions Danny's poor adjustment to schooling in the doctor's visit. As a 4-5 year-old, television seems to be Danny's only real access into the outside world, as evidenced by his inquiry into the Donner Party in the family car ride up to the Overlook. Going even further, Danny's line, "It's ok, I saw it on television," is a moment where Danny explains to his mother that he is actually comfortable addressing disturbing subject matter if in the greater of context of television. Not to mention, with asshole parents like Jack and Wendy, what kid wouldn't find some sort of solace in television? As far as Jack, and more importantly The Overlook Hotel's becoming aware of Danny's shining, the scene where Jack chops down the doors while spewing cartoonish references can be seen on some level as an annihilation of Danny's consciousness. The Shining is a film where we the viewers tend to become swept up in the terror and confusion of the final chapters, and we often forget about the implications of what impact this has on Wendy, and more importantly, Danny.
Which brings me finally to the Bear-man! Following the NY premiere screening of the Room 237 documentary, the film's director posed the explanation that the man in the tuxedo receiving oral sex from the bear-man is supposed to be the hotel owner, because in the novel Wendy sees a tuxedo man and a bear-man, although they aren't doing what they're doing in the film. But because I'm not interested in the tuxedo man today, this is neither here nor there, and everyone knows Kubrick didn't care in the slightest how true he was to adapting the novel to the screen. Keeping in mind all that I've just written about Jack/The Overlook's assault on Danny's consciousness, the bear-man seems to fit the theme quite well, given the fact that I believe the vision of the bear man is in fact Danny's teddy bear from his bedroom in Boulder. The bear-costumed man is the same color as the teddy bear, and even has a yellow snout and eyes, just like the teddy bear. We must remember Danny is lying against the teddy bear after fainting, and responding to the doctor's questions. What's also striking is that the bear-man's costume is ass-less. What's more disturbing, or plainly symbolic of a child's loss of innocence than the sodomizing of his beloved childhood teddy bear? As much as it pains me to bring up this connection, I believe this devastation is symbolically foreshadowed also by the fact that Danny isn't wearing any pants while lying on his bed with the teddy bear. Just why are his pants off? His shirt is on. Are we really to believe this was all just part of the doctor's examination of Danny? Is it really customary to remove someone's pants after they've had a fainting spell?
I haven't posed any new theories or secret meanings like the people in Room 237 have. But I believe that these are all symbols deliberately used by Kubrick to depict Danny's suffering, which we are only so conscious of when trying to navigate our way out of the Overlook's maze.
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