Was Jack always the caretaker in The Shining and how did he get into that picture in the end?

Question

Was he always dead or did the hotel take his soul for the alcohol he got from the bartender?

Answer 1

I've got to go with the reincarnation theory.

Here's a direct quote from Stanley Kubrick, the director of the film.

"I hope the audience has a good fright, has believed the film while they were watching it and retains some sense of it. The ballroom photograph at the end suggests the reincarnation of Jack." -Stanley Kubrick

During a scene where Wendy brings Jack breakfast in bed, Jack says... "It's as if I know what's going to be around every corner. I mean, I know we've all had our moments of deja vu, but this is ridiculous." Foreshadowing? Perhaps... there would be no other reason to include this line.

Then, when he has the confrontation with Grady in the men's restroom, Grady says... "You are the caretaker; you have always been the caretaker."

There are extensive essays written on this piece available on the Internet; but I hope this sums it up well.

When in doubt, just remember, it's a Kubrick film; it doesn't have to all fit together neatly. ;)

Answer 2

the photo on the wall at the end is a metaphor. kubrick was a very meticulous film maker and used metaphors often. here's one person's explanation:

Why is Jack's picture on the wall in the end? Why is blood is coming out of the elevator? Why is that fetus floating in space at the end of 2001? Why do all the taxi cabs in Eyes Wide Shut have the same license plate?

Same answer to all these questions. They're not real. They're metaphors.

Metaphors in writing can be easier to accept than those in film. When a writer says "She flitted down the street like a butterfly sampling every flower along the way," we accept that she isn't LITERALLY smelling flowers, its a description of her behavior. What she's ACTUALLY doing is talking to friends along the way. We know it's a simile because the word "like" is there, telling us we're going to hear something similar to what happened, not what actually happened. Leave out the "like" and you've got yourself a metaphor. When Romeo says "Juliet is the sun," we are meant to understand that LIKE the sun, a) Juliet lights up a room, or b) she's a giant flaming gasbag. Whether Romeo meant a) or b) is entirely up to you. That's what makes it a metaphor. It's open to interpretation. It means, no more or no less, than what you think it means.

2001: A Space Odyssey ends with one of the greatest metaphors in the history of film. A bunch of celestial bodies align and suddenly there's this fetus floating in space looking down upon the earth. Nobody thinks that's what actually happened. A pregnant woman wasn't floating by in a space ship and her baby wasn't flung into space. It was a metaphor for rebirth. Something is getting born again. Is it an alien? Is it Dave? Or has HAL evolved into a space deity? Is it the past? The present? The future? That's what makes it great. The more possible explanations, the better the metaphor, and the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey could mean just about anything.
Same with the picture on the wall at the end of The Shining. It means what you think it means. It's not literal. There is not ACTUALLY a picture of Jack on the wall. Nobody walking through the Overlook could see it. Only you can see it because Stanley Kubrick is delivering a metaphor. That's what he's best at.

The Shining also starts with a metaphor. You see a car going up a windy mountain road while on the soundtrack you hear eerie music and the sound of Danny's toy car going around the floor of the Overlook. Metaphor. Not really happening unless a) time is warped and people can hear things that haven't happened yet or b) the whole world's a maze, like the hallways of the Overlook, like the hedge maze outside, the only way out is the way you got in. How did Jack get in? If Jack has always been the caretaker, the photo would be one way to show it metaphorically. Add it to the fact that he's also frozen in a maze and what do you get? What does it mean? Whatever you want it to mean. That's what makes it great. Isn't it nice there was once a filmmaker who asked more questions than he gave answers?

Answer 3

no he wasn't, he was hired to go to the hotel and take care of it for that season. The hotel took his soul at the end of the movie. awesome movie

Answer 4

good question i always wondered that my self. good movie great book jack nichelson was good

i have the answer. someone took him over

Answer 5

I think he was the caretaker in his past life....I love that movie!!

Answer 6

I have always wondered that!!! it's been driving me crazy!

Answer 7

I'll never tell!