THE GOLD ROOM

In the European cut of the film, this is the first scene in which we see the Gold Room. The typography used makes it ambigious - it could be seen as the Cold Room. Jack takes a seat at the bar where the seats constantly shuffle and rotate between shots - a continuity error that adds to the overall air of unquiet menace and that the time and space that the hotel exists within have become distorted.

At this point, the colour scheme of the Gold Room, dark reds - the same as the blood that pours from the elevator at the films climax - become of critical importance. Jacks outfit is framed by a threadbare, dark red corduroy jacket, at from this point on, Jack is not seen without it. The correlation, and assimilation of Jack into the hotel, to become a permanent resident is already occurring as Jack begins to adopt the uniform of The Overlook Hotel�s bar staff and concierges : a blood red and white outfit that stands in sharp relief to the antiseptic, clinical white tiling of the bar.

Here Jack meets Lloyd - The Barman.

At the point that Jack says �I�ll sell my soul for a drink�, it appears the hotel accepts the offer. Before he takes the drink though, he says �White Man�s Burden� - this may refer to the practice of offering Indians �firewater� (alcohol) to perform evil upon them, and by implication, Jack is the Indian that is being subverted - or is it the spirits of the Indians in the burial ground returning the favour?

But Jack also represents the White Man : his coat - the deep lush red, is the same shade as much of the hotels upholstery, and once he dons this coat about halfway through the film, he�s not seen without it : Jack is becoming a chameleon, even so he blends into the surroundings of the hotel without necessarily being seen, much like the spirits that surround the Overlook yet are unseen by its occupants. How many people slept in Room 237 unaware of the dark secrets it held?

Another example here is of how The Hotel acts as a character in itself : the �Two twenties and a ten� that Jack feared would burn a hole in his pocket mysteriously disappear. By buying Jack a drink, or providing him with a spirit, the hotel makes a devils bargain : it trades his soul for something of nominal value. This is not removed from the practice, in old-fashioned times, of drinkers finding a coin at the bottom of their glass - by keeping it, they�d been unwittingly conscripted into the under-subscribed and desperate military forces of the era.

This concept of the hotel removing items from their physical existence has basis in fact. From personal experience, I know that when I spent time living in a haunted house, the spirits within would often move items of importance - such as car keys and cheque books - if it disapproved of the actions or intentions of their owners. It is no coincidence that later on the notes mysteriously reappear in Jack�s wallet : now that he has traded in his soul, he doesn�t need the physical currency. From this point on in the film everything Jack says could be seen as that of The Overlook speaking in human form and manipulating Jack for its own entertainment and amusement whilst allowing Jack just enough of his own personality to operate, use motor skills and function : in effect Jack has become possessed - or spiritually lobotomised - by the large, sterile institution he is trapped in ; in the same way that the civilised Grady is reduced to a menial, and unthinking role, Jack too will become reduced to The Entertainment, the court jester, to amuse the Overlook and its inhabitants.

Parts of the conversation between Jack and Lloyd have been excised in the European cut : Jack describes his wife as a �sperm bank� - dehumanising her so that she would be easier to dispose of later on. At this point he also describes his son as a �son of a bitch�. In the next line, he describes Wendy as a �bitch�. In order to perform the evil he must in order to protect the hotel, he begins to reduce the woman he may once have loved into component parts : a sperm bank, a bitch : it�s always easier to kill someone if you pretend they aren�t human. And as Jack becomes less than human, he becomes easier to kill.

As Wendy appears - interrupting Jack�s interlude with the spirits, Jack asks her �Are you of your fucking mind?� Given Jack�s state-of-mind, that he has just had an shot of spirits from a spirit and being talking in cliches with a spectral bartender who he�s on first name terms with, he could be asking is she is completely sane based upon his idea of what is �normal�.