The Catcher in the Rye Small world Analysis
Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ was released May 23, 1980. When we first meet Wendy and Danny in the movie Wendy is reading a Novel by an intelligence officer J. D. Salinger called ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.
Less than a year later in December 8th, 1980 Beatle’s member John Lennon was assassinated by Mark David Chapman. Chapman was found waiting at the crime scene reading ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. In court Chapman stood up and said “If you want my defence all you need to do is read, Catcher in the Rye”. Several years later a psychiatrist was sent to visit Chapman in prison and he was still reading ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.
Kubrick deviated from Stephen Kings novel, and changed the color of the VW Beetle Jack drives, from red, to yellow in the movie.
When Dick Hallorann is traveling back up to the hotel, a red VW Beetle is seen crushed beneath an 18-wheeler. Was this a jab at Stephen King?
With the amount of Beatles symbolism in ‘The Shining’ it’s really uncanny with the 1969, Abbey Road artwork having a VW Beetle in the background. John Lennon ordered this 1300 Beetle, license number LMW 281F and used it for daily transportation, which gave rise to months of rumours of Paul McCartney’s death because of the license number 281F.
Stephen King was inspired to name his novel ‘The Shining’ after John Lennon’s 1970 song “Instant Karma!” because of the song’s line “We all shine on” with all The Beatles symbolism in ‘The Shining’ was Kubrick also inspired by The Beatles?
Well, Stanley Kubrick was approached to direct the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ with The Beatles playing the hobbits. Kubrick turned it down saying it would be “unfilmable”. The project ultimately went to Peter Jackson decades later, but we can still wonder what Kubrick’s vision could have been.