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We watched "The Shining" last week, oddly enough. And yes it has something to say about "Cabin fever" It seems likely to be an influence on a lot of David Lyn

We watched "The Shining" last week, oddly enough. And yes it has something to say about "Cabin fever" It seems likely to be an influence on a lot of David Lynch's work - in terms of a sense of oddness that's hard to define the cause of, and malign supernatural elements presented without much explanation, but which "make sense" in "logic of dreams" kind of way. I did see The Shining years ago, but have seen a lot of David Lynch's work since then, so it's only now that I make the connection.

causeandeffect 7y ago
You got it backwards. Kubrick actually screened Lynch's Eraserhead to the cast and crew of the Shining to help them prepare for what he wanted to accomplish
- thomasec 7y ago
  Yes! In fact, one at least one occasion, Kubrick proclaimed that Eraserhead was his favorite movie of all time. It blows my mind that Lynch made Eraserhead while he was still in school - imagine having your student film receive that sort of acclaim from the arguably the most respected director in the world.
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
  Apt user name. TIL, thank you: > Making The Shining, Stanley Kubrick announced Eraserhead was his favourite film and showed it to his cast and crew, “to put them in the mood”. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/22/david-lynch-eraserhead https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/22/david-lynch-era... So I was actually thinking of Lynch's later works (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks) that definitely came after "The Shining" But yeah, they share things big and small, from tone to camera angles. There's a scene in The Shining, about 3 /4 of the way through, where Jack is walking down a corridor in a rage, and it's _just weird_ (1), so reminiscent of The Man from Another Place in Twin peaks, and it's hard to say what's wrong, to unpick what's going on technically. I only noticed this on the rewatch last week. I'd guess it's a combination of the acting and sound, camera angle and framing, lens choice, and the camera moving with him over the patterned carpet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZP-OXA-zY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZP-OXA-zY
apozem 7y ago
> which "make sense" in "logic of dreams" kind of way. Exactly. I once heard a film critic say, "Most great movies are either puzzles or dreams." The Shining is definitely the latter, a movie that runs on pure nightmare logic. Nothing makes literal sense and everything makes perfect sense.
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
  > nightmare logic. Nothing makes literal sense and everything makes perfect sense. You can describe _a lot_ of David Lynch's work with that phrase. Lost Highway. Mulholland Drive. Much of Twin Peaks. Any director could splice up some random images and say it's surreal. What's _disturbing_ about Lynch's work is that while your rational mind knows that what you see doesn't make sense, something inside you is meanwhile saying "oh yes it does".
  - dan_hawkins 7y ago
    Zizek explained the meaning of Lost Highway in a very interesting way to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pervert%27s_Guide_to_Cinema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pervert%27s_Guide_to_Cinem...
    - SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
      > Zizek explained Who? (1) https://www.thehairpin.com/2016/07/the-best-time-i-pretended-i-hadnt-heard-of-slavoj-zizek/ https://www.thehairpin.com/2016/07/the-best-time-i-pretended...

causeandeffect 7y ago

You got it backwards. Kubrick actually screened Lynch's Eraserhead to the cast and crew of the Shining to help them prepare for what he wanted to accomplish

thomasec 7y ago
Yes! In fact, one at least one occasion, Kubrick proclaimed that Eraserhead was his favorite movie of all time. It blows my mind that Lynch made Eraserhead while he was still in school - imagine having your student film receive that sort of acclaim from the arguably the most respected director in the world.
SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
Apt user name. TIL, thank you: > Making The Shining, Stanley Kubrick announced Eraserhead was his favourite film and showed it to his cast and crew, “to put them in the mood”. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/22/david-lynch-eraserhead https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/22/david-lynch-era... So I was actually thinking of Lynch's later works (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks) that definitely came after "The Shining" But yeah, they share things big and small, from tone to camera angles. There's a scene in The Shining, about 3 /4 of the way through, where Jack is walking down a corridor in a rage, and it's _just weird_ (1), so reminiscent of The Man from Another Place in Twin peaks, and it's hard to say what's wrong, to unpick what's going on technically. I only noticed this on the rewatch last week. I'd guess it's a combination of the acting and sound, camera angle and framing, lens choice, and the camera moving with him over the patterned carpet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZP-OXA-zY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZP-OXA-zY

apozem 7y ago

> which "make sense" in "logic of dreams" kind of way. Exactly. I once heard a film critic say, "Most great movies are either puzzles or dreams." The Shining is definitely the latter, a movie that runs on pure nightmare logic. Nothing makes literal sense and everything makes perfect sense.

SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
> nightmare logic. Nothing makes literal sense and everything makes perfect sense. You can describe _a lot_ of David Lynch's work with that phrase. Lost Highway. Mulholland Drive. Much of Twin Peaks. Any director could splice up some random images and say it's surreal. What's _disturbing_ about Lynch's work is that while your rational mind knows that what you see doesn't make sense, something inside you is meanwhile saying "oh yes it does".
- dan_hawkins 7y ago
  Zizek explained the meaning of Lost Highway in a very interesting way to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pervert%27s_Guide_to_Cinema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pervert%27s_Guide_to_Cinem...
  - SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
    > Zizek explained Who? (1) https://www.thehairpin.com/2016/07/the-best-time-i-pretended-i-hadnt-heard-of-slavoj-zizek/ https://www.thehairpin.com/2016/07/the-best-time-i-pretended...