Thursday, 4 December 2025

Mouths




If you look at the mature 
form of The Xenomorph,
it’s ALL MOUTH — even though 
we are made to understand that 
it no-longer actually 
Has to Survive 
by Eating  People.

Geiger was obsessed with
the image of a mouth,
a mouth with teeth and without eyes, such as are found 
in the nightmarish hellscapes of 
Heironymous Bosch —


You see this also 
in Red Dragon, with 
Francis Dolarhyde, 
The Tooth Fairy.



A mouth that bites
but cannot see,
that eats, blindly, 
but cannot speak

In particular, he took direct
 inspiration from a triptych 
painted by Francis Bacon 
in the aftermath of 
The Imagery of World War II and The Concentration Camp System 
entitled (and he was an atheist), 
Three Figures Descending 
at The Foot of 
The Cruxifixction.  



In The Shining, to the best of My Recollection,
Jack Torrance is never shown 
or seen eating, except once 
in a bedroom mirror, when 
Wendy wakes him up with a full
cooked breakfast in bed

Whereas Danny is seen eating 
a peanut-butter & jelly sandwich
and then later some chocolate ice-cream, and
Wendy, Darling is seen to have 
prepared him a (VERY) late Breakfast 
of Toast and Eggs (sunny side up), 
Jack is never shown 
actually eating them —

Much like Bruce Wayne, 
he forgets to eat all the time, 
and ignores food when in His Cave.

Which really does play into the whole Minotaur angle,
because in that interpretation, if The Overlook 
is His Labyrinth / Mind, with His Wife and Son 
unwittingly trapped inside of it, 
then that would certainly follow, 
seeing as how that would make 
the both of them sacrifices sent in 
by those outside to provide 
for  him some fresh food.








Wendy, Darling :
Boy — We must really be high up.
The Air feels so different.

Jack :
Mm-hm.

Danny, Champion of The World :
Dad?

Jack :
Yes?

Danny, Champion of The World :
I'm Hungry

Jack :
Well, you should've 
eaten Your Breakfast.

Wendy, Darling :
We'll get you something
as soon as we get to The Hotel.
[ Chocolate Ice Cream. ]


Danny, Champion of The World :
Okay, Mom.

Wendy, Darling :
Wasn't it around here that
The Donner Party got snowbound?

Jack :
…No, I think that 
was farther West, 
in The Sierras.

Wendy, Darling :
Oh.

Danny, Champion of The World :
What was The Donner party?

Jack :
They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times.
They got snowbound one winter in the mountains.
They had to resort to cannibalism
in order to Stay Alive.

Danny, Champion of The World :
You mean, They 
ate each other up?

Jack :
They had to! — i
order To Survive.

Wendy, Darling :
Jack, don't --

Danny, Champion 
of The World :
Don't worry, Mom.
I know all about 
Cannibalism. 
I saw it on TV.

Jack :
Y'See...?, It's okay —
He saw it on 
The Television.












JJACK :

Slow night

Mr. Torrance.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Not for long

I imagine.


JJACK : 

You're a Whiskey Man, 

are you not?


Danny, Champion of The World :

I was, most of the time.


JJack

On The House.


Danny, Champion of The World :

This was Your Brand.

Jack Daniel's.


I used to see the bottles in Our Home.

Our real home, before all this.


I smelled one once. It smelled like 

something on fire, which 

I suppose it was.


JJack

I'm afraid you've confused 

me with Someone Else.


It's Lloyd.


Danny, Champion of The World :

— Lloyd.


JJack :

I apologise, Mr. Torrance.

I don't know where everyone 

is, but it'll pick up.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Oh, I know where they are.


And you're right... it'll pick up.


JJack : 

If you don't mind my saying

Mr. Torrance, you seem... 

put upon.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Put upon?


JJack : 

Ain't that the way.

Man just living his life, 

trying to Do His Work;

He gets put upon.

Pulled into other 

people's problems.


I see it all the time, if you 

don't mind my saying.


Danny, Champion of The World :

So we lived in Florida.


JJack : 

I'm sorry?


Danny, Champion of The World :

Mom and I.


JJack : 

I'm afraid I don't know who you mean.


Danny, Champion of The World :

We never wanted to see snow again, 

so we lived in Florida.


Tiny place, but it was comfortable, 

and we were happy.


I mean, we were grieving.


We were traumatised

but there was happiness too.


She... She would look away.


She'd look at me, but she'd always 

look away after a second or two.

It took me a while to notice it.


But after The Overlook, she wouldn't 

look me in the eyes, not for long.

Couldn't figure it out.


But it... It was you.


She saw your eyes in me, and 

she'd have to look away.


It tortured her to have to do that.


So, I fixed it.


I fixed it for her, and it was 

the last time I ever used it.


So that she wouldn't see you anymore 

when she looked at me.


I was 20 when she died.


And back then, I saw when 

someone was gonna die.

I saw flies. Black flies.


"Death flies," I called them, circling people's faces.

And in those last weeks, she was covered...


Her whole face.


I could barely see her eyes.


And I... I tried to comfort her, but 

I could hardly look at her.


And she saw that.


She just lay there dying, with her son 

who couldn't look at her.


JJack : 

Maybe something warm to push 

away such unpleasantries.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Don't you wanna hear about it? 

She was your wife.


JJack : 

I think you've mistaken 

me for Someone Else.

I'm just A Bartender. 


Danny, Champion of The World :

Oh, yeah?

Just Lloyd The Bartender, pouring 

joy at The Overlook Hotel.


JJack : 

I'll pour whatever you 

like, Mr. Torrance.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Oh, Dad…..

This drink will cost 

an awful lot.


JJack : 

Your money is no good here.

Orders from The House.


Danny, Champion of The World :

It'll cost more than money.

It'll cost me eight years.


Eight behind me, and 

who knows how many 

in front of me.


JJack : 

Your Credit is fine

Mr. Torrance.


Danny, Champion of The World 

Man takes A Drink, 

The Drink takes A Drink, and then 

The Drink takes A Man.

Ain't it so, Dad?


JJack : 

Medicine.


Medicine is What It Is.

Bona fide cure-all.

Depression, stress, remorse, 

failure, wipes it all away.


The Mind is A Blackboard.

And this is The Eraser.


A Man tries.

He provides.


But he's surrounded 

by mouths.


That eat, and scream

and cry, and nag.


So, he asks for one thing, 

just one thing for him.


To warm him up...to take 

the sting out of those days 

of the mouths, eating

and eating, and eating 

everything he makes

everything he has.


And A Family.

A Wife, A Kid.

Those mouths eat Time.


They eat Your Days on Earth.

They just gobble them up.

It's enough to make 

A Man sick.


And this... is 

The Medicine.


So, tell me, pup —

Are you gonna take 

Your Medicine?


Danny, Champion of The World :

I'm Not.


(GLASS SHATTERS)


JJack : 

Oh. Look at that. I'm sorry.

Clumsy old me, Mr. Torrance. Forgive me.


Let's get you cleaned up.


[ In The Men’s Room ]


JJack :

Management is concerned.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Concerned?


JJack : 

It's horrible what she's done to you.

Pulled you into her mess.


A smart man?

He'd let her handle it.


Let things unfold as they're meant to.

Why should you pay her tab, Doc?

And for what?


For this little girl who 

started all this Trouble?


Danny, Champion 

of The World :

And what would 'Management

Have Me do about that?


JJACK :

Nothing.Easiest Thing in 

The World to Do, Son —

Just bring her inside.


And then, well

You accept The Things 

You cannot Change.


ABRA:

Dan! She's here.


Danny, Champion of The World :

Okay.


This place is sick.

Sick like my momo was sick.

It's Cancer, only worse.


(ELECTRICITY HUMMING)


What do we do now?


Danny, Champion of The World :

We head inside. She'll find us.