This documentary is interesting. It explains a lot of symbolism and meaning behind the movie “The Shining”. It looks at underlying themes of  racism. Also, it looks at a massive cover-up of a Native American genocide.

To begin, this documentary looks at many scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s movie “The Shining”. In one famous scene, an impossible window exists in the middle of a building. Nevertheless, light shines through this window. Maybe, Kubrick was trying to hint at a strange American history in this scene. This documentary looks at the meaning behind scenes.

Also, the documentary looks at the NASA Apollo 11 moon landing hoax. In one scene, we see Danny wearing a sweater of an Apollo 11 rocket. It was said that Kubrick was contracted to produce the NASA hoax. In this scene, he hints at his cover up.

Furthermore, the documentary deals with the Jewish Holocaust. In another scene, Jack recites “The Big Bad Wolf” which is a reference to an antisemitic character of a Disney Production.

Notably, children’s authors produced racist propaganda at this time. Dr. Suess, who wrote “Green Eggs And Ham,” made racist cartoons about African Americans and Asian Americans. These racist cartoons addressed war time, too.

In the documentary, Kubrick points out the fact of a Native American genocide covered up. The Overlook Hotel was built on a Native American graveyard. The hotel is covered with Native American imagery. Yet, it’s built on a Native American graveyard; furthermore, the graves are unmarked.

Similarly, the US government has covered up Native American genocide. For example, in many US Indian Residential schools, the government gave deadly smallpox vaccines to Native American children in the 1900s-1800s. These government vaccines dosages weren’t precise like many vaccines of the time, so lots of children died. Today, unmarked graves of children are still being found near these schools.

Stanley Kubrick’s character of Dick Hallorann gives the message of “The Shining”.  In one scene, Dick tells Danny how to deal with his shining abilities. He explains the pictures in Danny’s mind are just pictures of the past, and they can be forgotten. Here, Kubrick reminds us of holocausts and genocides while at the same time helping people let go of those horrors. This is Kubrick’s message of hope.

Room 237 is a great watch. Like great poetry, the movie “The Shining” makes you “take a double take”. It offers lots to think about.