What are the references to Native Americans and what do they mean?
In 1987 Bill Blakemore published an influential essay called “The Family of Man” in the San Francisco Chronicle. Blakemore argued The Shining wasn’t really about the murders at the Overlook Hotel. But about the murder of the Native American race He makes a number of interesting observations to support his case. You can read the entire essay on-line by visiting The Kubrick Site, but here are a few salient points:- (1) The profusion of Indian motifs that decorate the hotel, and serve as background in many of the key scenes represent the fate of the Indians in the USA, woven into the very fabric of the country although denied a voice. (2) the insertion of two lines, early in the film, describing how the hotel was built on an Indian burial ground. (3) The Calumet baking powder cans, in the food store, with their Indian chief logo that Kubrick placed carefully in the two food-locker scenes. (A calumet is a peace pipe.) (4) Blakemore calls these observations “confirmers” such as puzzle-maker
