Note that discussions of child abuse follow.
While there are many hard-to-believe conspiracy theories about the film's secret messages, most of these interpretations do have quite in-depth reasoning to back them up. One such theory is also one of the darkest, which is put forward in a thorough analysis by film scholar Rob Ager in his book, "Mazes, Mirrors, Deception and Denial." Ager makes the argument that there is a horrific, secret meaning behind the disturbing bear suit scene, which would also explain why there were slight changes from the event as it is written in the novel.
In the book, a man in a dog costume performs a sexual act on another man, but in the film, he is dressed as a bear instead. Bears are a recurring motif in Kubrick's film and in fact, their image is associated with Danny several times in the movie: Danny lays down on a large bear pillow at the therapist's office, there's a picture of bears above his bed in the hotel, and we see a prominent bear skin rug in the lobby.
Ager notes that the use of this bear imagery connects Danny to the man in the bear costume, which speaks to a much darker and more sinister subtext: Danny has been sexually abused by Jack. Ager points to other evidence of this potential trauma, such as the Playgirl issue that Jack is reading, which features a story with the title "Incest: Why parents sleep with their children." There's also the similar use of a mirror between Danny's dream sequence in room 237 where Jack meets the rotting old woman (whom Ager argues is a manifestation of Jack himself) and the "fatherly love" scene with Danny. While Ager's interpretation is his own, he does make a powerful case for this reading of Jack as a man and father, which makes him even more of a monster than he already is.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
