I mean those are the interpretations I’ve always had. I don’t see what’s so elusive or mysterious about the endings tbh.
It’s interesting to watch some of the theorists’ YouTube videos though. There’s one guy who goes on and on about the monolith representing a movie screen (turned on its side) and finds tiny continuity errors that he insists are deliberate and planted by Kubrick as clues to a hidden meaning.
I think they’re just errors.
And the “who let Jack out of the freezer” debate - he insists there are actually no ghosts in the Overlook and every supernatural occurrence is movie symbolism of Jack’s sexual abuse of Danny, so he has to find clues to another exit hidden in the way the interior freezer set doesn’t align with the kitchen set, and once again brilliant never wrong Kubrick planted clues for us.
Dude, it’s a Steven King story. The hotel is literally haunted for real by actual ghosts. That can still be symbolic representation of Jack abusing Danny, but in the story it’s ghosts and a ghost unlocked the door.
