“A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later” ― Stanley Kubrick
Geoffery Cocks, Albion history professor, is a theorist featured in the film Room 237. Room 237, directed by Rodney Ascher, discusses the creative process behind the meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining.
Cocks believes The Shining has a subtext about the Nazi extermination of the Jewish people. Not only is Cocks an expert and scholar about this topic, but it is also a subject that fascinated Kubrick the most, as most of his family were affected by this atrocity. Kubrick once said, “I’ve never seen history of Nazi Germany that I did not like.”
Typing Room 237 into the search bar, numerous reviews and articles about the film have been posted on credible and serious publications such as: CNN, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Tablet, GQ, Entertainment Weekly and more.
Cocks never expected the film to become as internationally popular as it has.
“Out of the blue, I got a call from the director, Rodney Ascher, some guy I’ve never heard of, saying that ‘I’m doing a film on the shining and I understand you’ve written a few books on it, and I’m making a little film on the topic,’” Cocks said. “Several months later suddenly, a poster of the film came out, and I realized it was a real movie. Then, a couple weeks after that the director called to say that the film was selected to play at Sundance, a film festival in Utah.”
At first, Cocks was nervous about the backlash of being called a ‘crazy theorist,’ but also thought that he needed to defend himself.
“I wanted to say- listen I may look bad, but there is something to what I’m saying. It came out to be a very well made film, and it became a hit at the festival. Afterwards, Bill Blakemore, ABC News correspondent, and I had a nice Q&A where people asked respective questions, and we were able to elaborate our ideas about Kubrick,” Cocks said.
After Sundance, the film was picked up by various other festivals and has since become an international phenomenon.
Room 237 currently has an average rating of 3.4, 55, 594 ratings, and 316 member reviews on Netflix. It has also made an appearance in the Top Ten for documentaries.
Room 237 is full of rich creative film techniques from the director, who loves to watch and create film, just as The Shining was.
“Intellectual work is also play – in order to understand something, you have to play with it, and taking light on the film and inquiring into something serious shouldn’t be drudgery, but a creative act within itself,” Cocks said. “From Ascher and the producers’ view, it’s about how films are watched once they leave the control of the creator.”
Room 237 depicts an agnostic viewpoint on all the theorists by not stating that one is right, and one is wrong.
Cocks, who enjoys the film’s success and popularity, is still enthusiastic and defending of his ideas, and claims he is open to talk to anyone who questions or refutes his ideas.
Interestingly, the only aspect of the film that is bothersome, is the fact that the Kubrick family and enterprise reject any of Cocks’ ideas.
“They say none of it is true, and they refuse to discuss it,” Cocks said. “Partly because they reject the idea, but they also say that Kubrick wouldn’t want any interpretation to be excluded.”
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