FANTASY PROPAGANDA

PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST #6

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators
1966

Reverberation
(Tommy Hall, Stacy Sutherland, Roky Erickson)

Well, you finally find you're helpless mind
Is trapped inside your skin
You want to leave
But you believe you won't get back again
You only know you have to go
But still you can't get out
You try and try
You die and die
You're stopped by your own doubt

Reverberation
Reverberation

You find no peace
It doesn't cease
It's deadly irritation
It keeps you blind
It's there behind
You're every hesitation
It holds your thought.
Your mind is caught
You're fixed with fascination
You think you'll die
It's just a lie
It's backward elevation

Reverberation
Reverberation

You see reverberation
In your latest incarnation
You think its a sensation
But it's just reverberation

You star to serve
The downward curve
That catches up your fears
Each thing you do
Comes home for you
And pound inside your ears
You star to fight against the night
That screams inside your mind
When something black it answers back
And grab you from behind

Reverberation
Echoing through your brain
Reverberation
Driving your mind insane
Reverberation
Causing your blood to drain
Leaving just charred remains

DANNY'S GONE AWAY, MRS. TORRANCE

Allow me to reiterate my point: it is my opinion that Danny isn't in any real danger at the Overlook. Well, the hotel is indeed a dangerous place, but the child, protected by his mother (whom the hotel deems more resourceful than expected), his "imaginary friend" Tony and his mentor Hallorann, has got everything covered.

First of all, Hallorann seems quite clear that the ghostly apparitions cannot physically harm him, the exception being the woman in Room 237 (we'll get to her soon).

Secondly, Danny is playing a game of chess with the Overlook spirits, with his father Jack as the main pawn. Danny/Tony wants to get rid of Jack because he is a bad husband, father and provider for his family. The Hotel wants Jack back because he is for ever and ever and ever the hotel's caretaker. So, the easiest course of action would be to drop Jack off at the Overlook with Wendy and Danny going off on their merry way. Yet things are not that simple. Danny is a six years old kid, so he has no real choice but to go and live there with his parents for five months. Same with Wendy (we assume she's a stay-at-home mom with no source of income of her own). The other problem is that the Overlook is an evil place, and since when do Evil play fair? So the Overlook's endgame is twofold: get Jack back and get rid of Danny.

Yet Danny/Tony is quite aware of this. For most of the film, Danny isn't really scared at all. Certainly not the way Wendy gets scared as things go along. Unsettled, yes, but not scared. The only time he is truly scared shitless is when he meets the Grady twins. And yet Tony is prompt to remind him what he already knows: none of this is real. And when things get too hairy, Tony takes over completely while Danny is busy communicating with Hallorann. Finally, when Jack's mind finally snaps, Danny keeps cool enough under the circumstances to always stay one step ahead of his father, allowing him not only to avoid being chopped up into little bits, but to "guide" Jack into the hedge maze. The hedge maze, if you recall, that Danny spent some time exploring while Jack has never stepped foot in it. The trap has been laid, all it needs now is for someone to spring it.

As for Wendy, since she is not psychic like her husband and son, she has escaped the more horrifying aspects of the Overlook, until near the end when it decides to show her its real face. And yet Wendy, though completely scared out of her mind, still manage to keep it together to find Danny and escape with Hallorann's snowcat.

Ah, yes, what about Room 237?

Since the Overlook spirits can appear just about anywhere in the Hotel, what's so special about Room 237? More specifically, why is Danny in any more danger in that particular room than anywhere else?

Because Room 237 houses the only ghost capable of hurting living people (i.e. the "crazy woman in the bathtub" to quote Wendy). None of the other evil spirits can. If the Overlook spooks could hurt anyone they want, why take the pain of turning Jack against his own son? They would've just killed Danny as soon as he stepped foot in the hotel. Yet they can't, or more to the point, only one of them can: the Woman of Room 237. This is why Hallorann insists Danny steer clear of the room, and this is why the room attempts to lure Danny in.

(Note, however, that the woman do not actually kill Danny. How Danny manages to escape is left pretty much unsaid. And yet, while the Woman fails to kill the son, she is rather more effective frightening his father out of his tiny little mind.)

Oops!

I originally believed I could get away writing about a Kubrick film in a single (or two-part) post. How wrong I was. Thank's to Mr, Kubrick for making a complex movie full of twists and turns making it absolutely impossible to start talking about it without being engulfed in its labyrinthine structure. The trap has certainly being sprung.

Next Kubrick on the menu?....why not Dr. Strangelove (in a little while).

PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST #5

Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles

1967

I Am The Walrus

(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. 
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. 
I'm crying. 

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. 
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody tuesday. 
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long. 
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob. 

Mister city policeman sitting 
Pretty little policemen in a row. 
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run. 
I'm crying, I'm crying. 
I'm crying, I'm crying. 

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye. 
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess, 
Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down. 
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob. 

Sitting in an english garden waiting for the sun. 
If the sun don't come, you get a tan 
From standing in the english rain. 
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob goo goo g'joob. 

Expert textpert choking smokers, 
Don't you think the joker laughs at you? 
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, 
See how they snied. 
I'm crying. 

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the eiffel tower. 
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna. 
Man, you should have seen them kicking edgar allan poe. 
I am the eggman, They are the eggmen. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob goo goo g'joob goo goo g'joob. 
Goo goo g'joob goo

PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST #3

The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Byrds
1968















Wasn't Born to Follow
(Carole King, Gerry Goffin)

Oh I'd rather go and journey where the diamond crest is flowing and
Run across the valley beneath the sacred mountain and
Wander through the forest
Where the trees have leaves of prisms and break the light in colors
That no one knows the names of

And when it's time I'll go and wait beside a legendary fountain
Till I see your form reflected in it's clear and jewelled waters
And if you think I'm ready
You may lead me to the chasm where the rivers of our vision
Flow into one another

I will want to die beneath the white cascading waters
She may beg, she may plead, she may argue with her logic
And then she'll know the things I learned
That really have no value in the end she will surely know
I wasn't born to follow

PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST #4

Are You Experienced
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1967

Are You Experienced
(Jimi Hendrix)

If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me
We'll hold hands and then we'll watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea

But first, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have

I know, I know you probably scream and cry
That your little world won't let you go
But who in your measly little world
Are you trying to prove that
You're made out of gold and, eh, can't be sold

So, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have

Let me prove you...

Trumpets and violins I can hear in distance
I think they're calling our names
Maybe now you can't hear them, but you will
If you just take hold of my hand

Oh, but are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful...

 YOU'RE MONEY'S NO GOOD HERE, MR. TORRANCE

Time for a recap, don't you think?

1. Danny Torrance is a six years-old boy living with his mother Wendy and his father Jack. Unfortunately the Torrances are a dysfunctional family: Jack is a violent alcoholic who just can't keep a job, and his career as a writer is going nowhere fast.
2. However, Danny is not an ordinary boy. He has an innate psychic ability called "the shining". The "shining" allows Danny to see the past, the future, and establish telepathic contact with other "shiners" (like, for instance, Hallorann and his father). 
3. Danny is much too young and immature to deal with this ability, so his subconscious has created Tony, a little boy who lives in his mouth. It's Tony who apparently decides when and how Danny "shines". King's novel establishes that Tony is not a little boy at all, but a manifestation of Danny's future, grown up, self. 
4. Tony understands that Jack will, one day, hurt Wendy and Danny for good. Jack has grown resentful of his family over the years, and believe they have fucked up his life. Divorce is out of the question. While Wendy is a good mother who tries very hard to take care of her son, she is too weak-willed to leave Jack once and for all. 
5. So, Jack has to go. Fortunately, fate provides Tony with the perfect opportunity. 
6. Jack is about to land a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, perched on top of the Colorado Rockies. For Jack and Wendy this is a godsend. Jack thinks he may finally complete a writing project, and Wendy welcomes her husband's new job as a stabilizing effect on his mood. 
7. However, the Overlook is haunted. Several people have died already within its walls, and the whole place reeks of malevolence. Sending Danny up there with a half-crazy Dad and mousy Mother is a perfect storm in the making. On the other hand...
8. It may also be the perfect way to get rid of Jack. Tony surmises that the Overlook will use Jack to hurt Wendy and Danny. Logical, since Jack already hates his wife and son. Furthermore Tony understands one crucial element: Jack also has the "shining", however he does not know it, nor does he understand the implication of such a gift.  While up there, Tony can protect Danny psychically, while his mother will care for him physically. Adding Danny's natural calm and unflappability, Tony figures that Danny will not be in any real danger at the Overlook. Hallorann, the Overlook's chef, is an unexpected yet welcomed ally: Hallorann can "shine" as well and knows about the evil of the Overlook. It's risky, but the risks are well within the bound of acceptability, 
9. So there we are, Danny subconsciously sets a trap for his unworthy father. All he has to do is keep out of the way when the shit hits the fan, stay calm and remain one step ahead of the Overlook ghosts.

All very well, but can I prove any of this? as Wendy would say "let's just wait and see, we're all going to have a real good time...."