In The Shining, there's a scene towards the end of a man in a suit/tuxedo, and another man dressed up in a bear costume. This scene is probably the most bizarre scene throughout the whole movie. It could even top the lady in the bathroom scene, but it depends on your view point. Anyways, the man in the suit/tuxedo in sitting at the end of a bed, with the man in a bear suit kneeling down level to the other mans....privates. Now they aren't naked, but we the audience must assume what they were doing. What makes this so bizarre is that there's no explanation. The entire scene is probably no more than 5 seconds long, and have no other refference to it throughout the entire movie. But it does show that Kubrick brought things from the book into his movie...
In the book, one of the former care-takers of the hotel was a man named Horace Derwent, "
a Howard Hughes-like figure who poured millions into restoring the Overlook Hotel in the 1920's." Mr. Derwent has a sercret, romantic crush though. His crush is one of the party guests. The only odd thing about this is that the crush is a man. Horace Derwent was un-surprised by this(if memory serves, Horace was bi-sexual), and said if his crush "dresses like a nice doggy, and acts like a nice doggy, he 'may' be willing to sleep with him."
"
Later on, in the novel, as Wendy is warily navigating the corridors of the Overlook, she begins to see the visions of the 1920's party. And at one point, peering around a corner, she sees the two men on a bed, one in a doggy costume. The two men are Derwent and his extremely dependent lover.
It's difficult to say why this second scene remains in the film; as it's somewhat confounding without all of the set-up that King provides in his book. Perhaps its jarring incongruity is reason enough for its inclusion, illustrating as it does Wendy's extreme disorientation at that point in the film. Another explanation is that the background on Derwent may have been scripted and filmed, but excised in the final cut."
note: Text in quotes and italicized taken from
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/index.html#slot3
So, all seems well that Kubrick simply added this scene into the movie. But one thing just doesn't add up. Why it is a bear, and not a dog? Well, to that question, I have no answer. I simply cannot explain why it is a bear, and not a dog costume. Maybe my eyes have been playing tricks on me,but it sure does look like a bear costume in the movie. I'll leave it to you guys to choose which of the two it looks like:
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/8196/furrylovin3md.jpg
The following was written by FaceDog-alert:
Differences between the book and movie:
In the novel:
We learn a lot of backstory such as: Weny's poor relationship with her mother. Jack and some of his childhood, mainly his abusive father. Exactly why Jack had to get a new job(because he hit a "Jack-alike" student called George Hatfield). Jack and Wendy's relation ship/rocky marriage.
Other peoples stories: Roger the Dogman and Harry Derwent(the homosexual couple who scare the hell out of Wendy at the end of the movie.: (From my other post) Roger (the dogman) and the former owner of the hotel, Harry Derwent. In the twenties they spent a weekend in Cuba, together. Roger is in love with Harry, but his love is unrequited. Roger still "follows him everywhere, wagging his little tail as he goes".
At the ball Harry tells Roger that if he dresses up as "a nice doggy" and does tricks at the party, he will reconsider their relationship.
Roger does as he's told and he and Harry have sex, as seen in the movie, but soon afterwards Harry abondons Roger yet again.
