Thirty-six years after its release and audiences are still at odds when confronted with the final scene from "The Shining," when the Overlook throws that 20's-era photograph featuring Jack Torrence at the audience, a cherry-mindf*ck on top of the entire mystery of a movie.

One of the more popular theories attribute the trippy events at the Overlook to its foundation—formerly a Native American burial ground. Indeed, viewers can easily see the influence of tribal patterns used especially in the decoration of the hotel but also in some of the clothing worn by the Torrance's.

Even more noteworthy are the cans of Calumet baking powder, placed unobstrusively at the center of key scenes, such as when Jack is locked in the kitchen storage closet. The cans depict a stylized Native American wearing a traditional headpiece and interestingly, the name was the Colonial-era word for a Native American ceremonial pipe, whose uses included sealing treaties—such as agreements on land and territory ownership long before the Overlook began breaking ground.

One of the popular critiques of the film focus on what doesn't happen; namely, the allusion to but avoidance of horror film tropes, such as the shots of Danny biking through the hotel halls. An example of how circumventing audience expectations can result in the anti-climatic rather than groundbreaking, perhaps this can also account for generations of audiences unable to agree on a definite explanation for the scenes at the Overlook. After finally watching the film for a class, I too found the popular theories lacking and view the events at the Overlook through a more psychological lens.

Jack's Past

REDRUM spelled backwards is murder, and everything we see in The Shining is a distortion of reality. Jack Torrance, already a struggling alcoholic, an unreliable narrator. Jack killed his family (acknowledged but explained away by his mind as the work of the former caretaker) and the events at the Overlook are his subconscious trying to make sense and justify his actions. We learn during his interview that months of isolation are just what Jack's looking for, possibly to lay low following the murder of his family?

The decrease in dated title cards as the film goes on creates a loss of structure that correlates with the increase in paranormal-seeming activity. As Jack's hold on reality deteriorates, his writing world and the real world begin to converge and confuse.

The Torrance Family and Overlook Staff as Projections

Wendy and Danny represent aspects of Jack's personality, Wendy as the parent and responsible side of Jack and Danny as Jack's inner child and insecurities. There are key similarities between Jack and Danny—not only hearing voices but naming and talking to them. Danny's fear of Room 237 in particular could be seen as compartmentalization, continuing on and isolating the bad memories. Throughout the Torrence family's stay at the Overlook, Wendy is the one dedicated to the actual maintenance of the hotel—cooking meals, clearing the phone and radio lines, checking the generators in the basement. Yet later, when Wendy finally confronts Jack, he gives a long monologue about how seriously he takes his commitment and responsibility for the hotel.

Additionally, the more apparently hallucinated characters such as the bartender and waiter seem to only exist to appease Jack's conscience--to justify whatever it is he wants to do at the time, whether it's start drinking again or teach his family a lesson. Perhaps most key is the scene where the ghost of Grady somehow releases Jack from the kitchen cupboard; if Wendy was indeed a projection of Jack's own mind, it makes sense that the logical part of his personality was trying to isolate himself. Jack's rampage at the Overlook is his attempt to subdue the splintering aspects of his personality.