Dick Whitman
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- Joined
- May 1, 2009
- Messages
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As most probably know by now, David Chase revived the great "Sopranos" debate yesterday by telling a writer for Vox that "Tony didn't die." (Apparently Chase later walked it back somewhat.)
Got me to thinking about what some of my favorite ambiguous endings to movies, TV series, and novels are.
A lot to choose from, but I'll pick one to start things off:
At the end of "The Shining," the movie version, the camera zooms in on a photo hanging on a wall in the Overlook Hotel. The black-and-white caption says something along the lines of, "July 4, 1921, Overlook Hotel Celebration." Smack dab in the middle of it is Jack Nicholson's character, Jack Torrance, dressed to the nines.
My working interpretation is that the photo is purely symbolic, and that Nicholson in the photo is meant to represent the evil that always has and always will inhabit the Overlook. Since he was the face of that evil the entire movie, that's who we see in that photo representing it. This is supported by the dead-on similarity between Nicholson's pose in the photo and the tarot card of the devil.
Two problems that make my interpretation unsatisfactory:
(1) I don't think that "The Shining" is a movie about evil. I think it's about the frustrations of domestic life, of feeling trapped; and
(2) It's purely symbolic, and to work, symbolism should work on both levels - as symbolism, and as a part of the actual plot of the work.
Anyway, what are your favorites? Or weigh on "The Sopranos" or "The Shining." Could be a fun discussion.
Got me to thinking about what some of my favorite ambiguous endings to movies, TV series, and novels are.
A lot to choose from, but I'll pick one to start things off:
At the end of "The Shining," the movie version, the camera zooms in on a photo hanging on a wall in the Overlook Hotel. The black-and-white caption says something along the lines of, "July 4, 1921, Overlook Hotel Celebration." Smack dab in the middle of it is Jack Nicholson's character, Jack Torrance, dressed to the nines.
My working interpretation is that the photo is purely symbolic, and that Nicholson in the photo is meant to represent the evil that always has and always will inhabit the Overlook. Since he was the face of that evil the entire movie, that's who we see in that photo representing it. This is supported by the dead-on similarity between Nicholson's pose in the photo and the tarot card of the devil.
Two problems that make my interpretation unsatisfactory:
(1) I don't think that "The Shining" is a movie about evil. I think it's about the frustrations of domestic life, of feeling trapped; and
(2) It's purely symbolic, and to work, symbolism should work on both levels - as symbolism, and as a part of the actual plot of the work.
Anyway, what are your favorites? Or weigh on "The Sopranos" or "The Shining." Could be a fun discussion.
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