Room 237

Though King's novel and Kubrick's film adaptation depart in some significant details, they share the same premise. Jack Torrance, a would-be professional writer, takes on a job as the winter caretaker of the sprawling Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. His wife Wendy and son Danny accompany him for the season, the child exhibiting a psychic power called "the shining". Hotel chef Dick Hallorann also possesses psychic powers and offers advice to the youngster about managing his unusual abilities. As the months wear on, the isolated family suffers from cabin fever and begins to experience paranormal events.

Room 237 is told entirely through voice-overs by people with theories about The Shining. According to one, the film is about the cultural assimilation of Native Americans,^[9] because, according to the story, the hotel was built on a Native American burial mound; and there is imagery throughout the film associated with the American West. Cans of Calumet Baking Powder are noticeable in the background of two important scenes. Because a calumet is a ceremonial pipe, and the cans featured the image of a Native American, one analyst believed that American imperialism was the subtext of the film.

Another theorist believed that Kubrick had directed the footage disseminated by NASA to fake the Apollo 11 Moon landing. He believed that there are telltale signs of the use of front projection in NASA's footage and that Kubrick was contracted to produce hoaxed footage of a fake Moon landing. He points to the knitted Apollo 11 sweater that Danny wears and claims that "237" refers to the mean distance of the Earth to the Moon. He also refers to the fact that a carpet pattern resembles the Apollo launching pad as evidence that the film is an elaborate apology of sorts for Kubrick's involvement. The analyst feels that the tirade Jack delivers to Wendy about how she does not understand the duty of work and honoring a contract with an employer portrays Kubrick's own sense of isolation from keeping so big a secret.

One theorist connects the Overlook's hedge maze-labyrinth with the mythic story of the Minotaur, believing that a skier in a poster is actually a minotaur. She bolsters her theory by pointing out that there is no maze in the original book and that Kubrick's 1955 film Killer's Kiss, was made for Minotaur Productions.

Kubrick's unrealized project about the Holocaust, Aryan Papers, suggested to another critic that The Shining is really about that genocide. He connects Jack's sinister recitation of the Big Bad Wolf's refrain to a Disney production where the wolf is an anti-Semitic caricature. The analyst also feels that Kubrick embeds a message of hope in Dick's advice to Danny about how to deal with his shining abilities. Dick explains that the images Danny sees are just pictures of the past and they can be forgotten. The analyst feels Kubrick is trying to remind his audience of the Holocaust while at the same time helping them to let go of its horrors. There is an extended sequence where the film is superimposed over itself in reverse. By running the film forwards and backwards at the same time, parallels are created, such as Danny walking in on his father and the previous caretaker as they discuss Danny's murder.

The filmmakers do not attempt to promote the claims made by their interview subjects.^[10][11] Director Rodney Ascher offered his own interpretation in an interview for Complex:

My personal take on it is, for one, I don’t think it's nearly as visionary as any one of these folks have found. I just see it as sort of a story about juggling the responsibilities of your career and family and as cautionary tale of what may happen if you make the wrong choice. And even maybe looking at the ghosts as these figures that represent fortune or prestige or things that you might be chasing at the expense of paying proper attention to your family.^[12]

The film features narration by Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, John Fell Ryan and Jay Weidner. Buffy Visick appears as the VHS enthusiast.

The film also contains archival footage featuring Stanley Kubrick, Stephen King, Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Joe Turkel, Barry Nelson, Philip Stone, Barry Dennen, Keir Dullea, Martin Potter, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.