Stanley Kubrick, fake moon landings, and The Shining
A confession: I love conspiracy theories. I couldn’t have spent an entire year writing about the 9/11 conspiracy theorists if I didn’t. Note: This isn’t to say that I buy into conspiracy theories. I don’t. The CIA didn’t kill Kennedy; George W. Bush and Dick Cheney didn’t bring down the World Trade Center; and the United States didn’t fake the moon landing.
Or did it!? And if it did, did Stanley Kubrick film the fake landing and then make The Shining as a secret confession of his crimes? This is the theory put forth by Jay Weidner at his website. It’s also the Greatest. Theory. Ever:
Mystified by where the ball came from, Danny stands up, and the audience finally sees what the nature of the Project really is about:
As Danny stands up, the answer is revealed in an instant. Danny is wearing a sweater with a crudely sewn rocket pictured on the front. On the rocket clearly seen on Danny’s sweater are the words: APOLLO 11.
The audience watching the film literally sees the launch of Apollo 11, right before their eyes, as Danny rises from the floor. It isn’t the real launch of Apollo 11, it is, of course, the symbolic launching of Apollo 11. In other words – it isn’t real.
What happens next is crucial to understanding everything else that happens in the film.
Danny, bewildered, walks down the hallway. He sees that Room 237 – the room that Halorann warned him about – has a key in the lock and the door is wide open.
It is important to note that the room in question was numbered 217 in the Stephen King version of The Shining. For unknown reason’s Kubrick changed it to 237.
Those unknown reasons are about to be come known.
Danny is literally carrying a symbolic Apollo 11, on his body, via the sweater, to the Moon as he walks over to room 237. Why do I think this?
Because the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 237,000 miles.
Seriously, you have to give the whole thing a read. As far as “lunatic conspiracy theories” go, this one is a doozy. A tip of the fedora to fellow WAFCA member Brandon Fibbs for the pointer.