MovieChat Forums > Room 237 (2012) Discussion > The 'impossible window'

The 'impossible window'

posted 12 years ago by lmcshanag
5 replies | jump to latest

Enjoyed this doco but took a lot of it with a grain of salt, although have to admit am a little intrigued by the "impossible window" in the managers office, which shows natural light and what looks to be a tree or bush behind it, yet with the layout of the hotel it seems it can't be possible.

Would like to hear others interpretations of this, obviously if the shot was set up it would take some effort unless theres some hidden alcove with a garden behind the office never mentioned.

One good thing about this is it has made me watch 'The Shining' a few more times over the last few days and have to admit there is a lot going on there, even if I can't comprehend it all!

[–] Matt_Layden 12 years ago

I think the hallways simply go further than that room.

Kinda like a U.

http://onefilmadayreview.blogspot.com/

[–] shk_okwd 12 years ago

It was a studio. They did for visual reasons. They never imagined people would look into as much as they have.

[–] jdcl95 12 years ago

Probably true. However, I do think that the strange geometry of the hotel WAS actually something Kubrick did with pure intention. The long shots of Danny riding the big wheel show this plainly, I think.

And that window wasn't "impossible" at all.

[–] mptxyz 11 years ago

The entire scene was over the top: bright sunlight, nice trees, cheerful people. Everything at the start of the film is far too nice ... a great way to lead into a horror film.

Kubrick probably assumed that hardly anyone would figure out that the window was impossible. I certainly missed it.

I think that a lot of the things described were real, though there are simple explanations for most of it. For instance the food labels; when the feel of the film was cheerful the tins were lined up so they were easy to read - but later on when there was total insanity they were all jumbled up. There were many details arranged very carefully to set the atmosphere. Who knows, maybe a few of the subliminal messages were really there as well

But most of the theories were nonsense.

[–] emmareden 9 years ago

what annoyed me was how they would point out things like this, like the "impossible window" but then not give an explanation to what that might mean. it was all like half-cooked theories. if you're gonna say hey theres this weird window, you need to then go on and say what that might be alluding to?