A Blue Saltire On A White Field (TS100-02)

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The 1980 motion-picture THE SHINING STANLEY KUBRICK'S WORK

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The 1980 motion-picture THE SHINING ­ ­ ­ ­

As one of the many oddities of The Shining, I present today the flags at the Overlook Hotel on CLOSING DAY.

The first oddity, for comparison, the shot TS008 from the end of the opening titles sequence (before the "INTERVIEW") shows clearly no flags present (and neither are there flags at later shots after the CLOSING DAY).

TS008-01: No flags at the end of the opening titles – judging from the shadows this was shot at the morning.

But then on the shot TS100 (at the beginning of "CLOSING DAY" sequence) there are now clearly flags present:

 TS100-02: The Flags at the Overlook Hotel on "CLOSING DAY" – the shadows indicate that the footage was shot at the afternoon.

So which flags can we identify?

• #1 is maybe the flag of Belgium or Italy
• #3 is clearly the flag of the USA
• #5 is possibly the flag of the US Forest Service
• #4 and #6 are not identifiable
• #7 seems to be a completely red flag – either the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China come to my mind

But #2 flag is odd.

What is the #2 flag?

#2 flag has what is called a blue "saltire" (or St. Andrew's cross) on a white field. There are some possibilities for what flag we see here – the most likely is the Russian Navy Ensign of imperial (pre-1917) Russia. After 1917 parts of the Whites (during the so called "Russian Civil War") and the Russian Liberation Army (during WWII) used that flag.
The Maltese fishing village Marsaxlokk has a similar flag, but it seems somewhat unlikely. Other flags use a blue saltire on a white field, but usually include other elements, elements which are missing here.

Another possibility is that what we see should be the flag of Nova Scotia, but somehow missing the inescutecheon/shield for whatever reason.

So either the #2 flag is the Russian Navy Ensign, or an inaccurate reproduction of the flag of Nova Scotia, or some other hard to identify flag.

Who put the flag there?

There are three possibilities: Either the management of the Timberline Lodge, or the film crew, or someone else. Now, the last one is highly unlikely, so I'll focus on the other two.

Possibility number one: the Timberline Lodge management put the flag there

It seems to me that the flags at the Timberline Lodge uses are the following:

• An US flag (stars and stripes), presumably because the Lodge is based in the US
• An US Forest Service Flag, presumably because it is governed by the US Forest Service.
• In recent years an Oregon flag has been added it seems – but none of the flags in The Shining resemble an Oregon flag
• And then there are national flags, presumably to represent the guests

Now the #2 flag falls under none of the above categories.

Of course, it is possible that some guests brought the flag with them (e.g. members of company, and it is their company's flag), and that the management was so kind to fly the colors of some possibly loyal and well paying customers. But somehow I don't see that as quite likely – which brings me to

Possibility number two: The film crew put the flag there

I think it is much more likely that the second unit film crew (under Jan Harlan, I take it) put the flag there, and put the flag there under the direction of Stanley Kubrick. Which brings me to the next question: What the heck, Stanley?

Well, I thought about it for a while, and if the film crew put the flag there – which I think is the most likely case – then there are several possibilities to consider:

• A more or less literal interpretation: what we see in the film is an allegory about pre-1917 imperial Russia
• Or somewhat less literal: an allegory about the Soviet Union
• Another a bit more literal interpretation: an allegory about the Russian navy (or possibly the Soviet navy)
• Or in the same direction, but somewhat less literal: The Overlook Hotel is to be taken as a ship (After all, Wendy and Ullman talk about the Overlook as a "ghost-ship" in TS123, and then there is this.)

Some of those are very nice ideas, but I fail to see Kubrick concerning himself much with Russia or the Soviet Union. However there is one more rather literal interpretation: The Russian Navy Ensign is, in the context of the Overlook Hotel, falsely placed – it is literally a false flag. Some party – other than the Russians – are showing a false Russian flag. And what is the only other flag that is clearly identifiable in TS100? It is the stars and stripes, the flag of the USA – right next to the false flag.