moon landing
holy s*** i was being completely entertained by this movie until the whole moon landing hoax part. what the *beep*
i thought i was watching a movie about the shining not some dumbs*** psuedoscience
I thought that Jay Weidner's theory was a very interesting take on a very old topic (Conspiracy Theorists have long supposed Kubrick faked the images of the Moon landing).
You need to remember that Weidner agrees that we have been to the Moon, his argument is that the U.S. Government wanted to keep the technology secret so they got Kubrick to shoot fake scenes. I have also heard mention that some people think that the landings were faked in case anything went wrong with the real mission - The entire world was watching, Kennedy and Nixon had promised success, was there any way they would be allowed to fail? Maybe Kubrick shot footage which was never aired because Apollo 11 achieved their aim?
Weidner deserves credit for pointing out that the VW Beetle is yellow unlike the book which is red. He then shows the car crash has a red VW Beetle which is his sign to Stephen King that this is not King's story being filmed but Kubrick's own. Kubrick's odyssey is a really interesting and entertaining watch and I hope you take the time to view it before coming back to comment.
Bringing up moon landing hoax theories takes away from the film for me.
Let's pretend that the moon landing was a hoax or that such scenes were filmed to protect technology or in case of a Capricorn One scenario. Why...WHY would Stanley Kubrick participate in any type of US Government sponsored attempt to fool the public? To what end? Plus, anyone who knew him or knows of him can't claim he would have participated in such a scheme. To hypothesize otherwise is a wholly unproductive exercise because it simply doesn't pass the common sense test.
Weidner postulates that Kubrick was promised free reign and final editing decisions on any future films he made if he helped NASA. 2001 A Space Odyssey was the film he shot at around the time he would allegedly have been working on the fake moon scenes - Weidner shows in his documentary how closely the footage matches.
Also maybe the American Government sold him the idea as being patriotic - remember the Americans were being beaten in the space race by Russia.
So there are 2 goods reasons - Full control of future films and it being his patriotic duty - would you have done it?
Its interesting that Kubrick moved to England. became a recluse and refused to ever fly again at around this time - coincidence?
When you say anyone who knew him claims he wouldn't have participated in any such sdheme, could you give examples please.
The video and film technology that existed in 1969 was incapable of faking the footage we saw on live television.
Weidner is a pompous marketing pimp whose own rabbit hole ends up at website selling new age snake oil. His Apollo theories are as insipid and only appeal to weakly ignorant minds.
The video and film technology that existed in 1969 was incapable of faking the footage we saw on live television.
Weidner is a pompous marketing pimp whose own rabbit hole ends up at website selling new age snake oil. His Apollo theories are insipid and only appeal to weakly ignorant minds.
I think it is pretty absurd too. But I do kind of like the idea that maybe Kubrick was simply playing off rumours of his involvement in Apollo and trying to conflate them by dropping hints in The Shining. By the time The Shining came out I'm pretty sure those rumours would have been out. Capricorn One came out several years before. Bill Kaysing's book on the subject came out in 1974. I think it was the Flat Earth Society that first put forward the idea the Kubrick had any involvement in the hoax.
I think Kubrick would be well aware of his name being tossed around in reference to the hoax by the time he started work on The Shining and frankly I think he would have gotten a kick out of the accusations and would have fun sprinkling references to them in his work. Not unlike The Beatles referencing the "Paul is Dead" stuff in their own work.
If The Shining is a story about a man forced to lie to his wife about the truth of his life and work, then why didn't Kubrick go completely crazy like his character Jack Torrance did? Maybe the moon hoax references play more in to the questions "What if I *had* hoaxed the moon landings? How would doing that have affected me mentally?"
I could buy that way before I could buy the idea he actually did hoax the moon landings. the technology simply wasn't available and any careful analysis of the front screen projection work in 2001 reveals it's severe limitations (and how easily it can be seen as a special effect in the movie).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFjBU7zIEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXTF6bs1IU