The Shining. Stanley Kubrick on Disney

Stanley Kubrick on Disney. I saw Mary Poppins three times, because of my children, and I like Julie Andrews so much that I enjoyed seeing it three times. I thought it was a charming film. I wouldn’t want to make it, but … Children’s films are an area that should not just be left to the Disney Studios, who I don’t think really make very good children’s films. I’m talking about his cartoon features, which always seemed to me to have shocking and brutal elements in them that really upset children. I could never understand why they were thought to be so suitable. When Bambi’s mother dies this has got to be one of the most traumatic experiences a five-year-old could encounter. I think that there should be censorship for children on films of violence. I mean, if I didn’t know what Psycho was, and my children went to see it when they were six or seven, thinking they were going to see a mystery story, I would have been very angry, and I think they’d have been terribly upset. I don’t see how this would interfere with freedom of artistic expression. If films are overly violent or shocking, children under twelve should not be allowed to see them. I think that would be a very useful form of censorship.

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Kubrick vs Astro Boy

Often the enjoyment of Kubrick's film is the obscure attention to detail that they contain. This at times can become obsessive in the level of detail, such as John Coulthart's post about the record store scene in Clockwork Orange . I recently watched the 1980s series Astro Boy with my daughter and started to notice similarities to the film A.I. which at first I thought were coincidence but as is often the case with Kubrick he left little room for chance in his work. The development of A.I. Artificial Intelligence was undertaken by Kubrick but directed by Steven Spielberg in 2001 after his death in March 1999 and for this reason the film is not really taken very seriously by people writing about Kubrick. Although many of the ideas contained in the film were directly inspired by Kubrick's concepts it is ultimately the pairing of Spielberg and Kubrick that doesn't quite work. The film plot centres around the journey of a boy robot in his quest to become 'real...

The Shining and Apache / Navajo imagery

Much has been talked about in the hidden imagery within The Shining. Symbolising everything from the fake moon landings to hidden illuminati symbolism. Personally I don't object to these kinds of readings even if they are a little far fetched. Reading a film's imagery is a matter of speculation because it is open to interpretation and often the most relevant theory is based simply on an educated guess. Kubrick's films are loaded with this kind of symbolic meaning - framing devices, colours, brands, film references and symbols can all be found in abundance in Kubrick films. In terms of The Shining I have seen little analysis of the Apache and Navajo imagery used in the film. Kubrick often doesn't hide the themes in his films as many believe - he often expresses the themes directly within the text. For instance the Apache Navajo imagery is discussed in The Shining quite explicitly by Wendy when she is being given a guided tour of The Overlook hotel: Wendy: Are a...

Kubrick and chess

Kubrick was quoted as saying, "Chess helps you develop patience and discipline in choosing between alternatives at a time when an impulsive decision seems very attractive." He also said, "Chess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble." Stanley Kubrick was born on July 28, 1928 in the Bronx, USA. His father [Jack or Jaques] taught Stanley how to play chess in 1941, when Stanley was 12. Stanley quickly became a skilled chess player and chess hustler in Central Park. At the age of 17, he was offered a job as an apprentice photographer for Look magazine. During this time, Stanley was playing in chess tournaments at the Marshall and Manhattan Chess Clubs. He as also playing in the parks such as Washington Square in Greenwich and elsewhere for money as a chess hustler. He knew when to get a park chess table in the shade during the day and a ta...

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