Shining Reference

Ghostbusters Discussion General Ghostbusters Discussion
1

I have a two questions. I found something in the original Ghostbusters movie that I think is either a reference or an homage to “The Shining”, and I would like either:

A:) to know if anyone here can confirm my suspicions.

OR

B.) If anyone here knows if Mr. Ivan Reitman answers fan mail and/or has an address I can send my question to.

Here is the question in short. Near the end of the movie there is a hallway shot where the Ghostbusters are entering Dana Barrett’s apartment. In the foreground on the side of the hallway is a Big Wheel. Now, the simple fact is that NOTHING that is in a scene like that is going to be there on accident. Everything in that scene was chosen deliberately. I have a hard time believing that they would put a Big Wheel in the hotel hallway and it not be a nod to “The Shining”. Can anyone confirm?

2

It’s never been confirmed to be a reference to The Shining. I’ve always interpreted it as belonging to one of the apartment building’s tenants’ children.

3

Danny’s big wheel was blue, so I’m going to go with probably not

4

[quote=heroquestelf post_id=4937972 time=1596897005 user_id=53343]Now, the simple fact is that NOTHING that is in a scene like that is going to be there on accident. Everything in that scene was chosen deliberately. I have a hard time believing that they would put a Big Wheel in the hotel hallway and it not be a nod to “The Shining”.

[/quote]

There’s also a kid riding a Weyland-Yutani branded Bigwheel down a hallway in a deleted scene of Aliens, in a vaguely similar fashion, but I’ve never heard any mention of a possible connection/homage to The Shining. If anything, it’s usually a reference to the Bigwheel in The Terminator, Cameron being the director of both that and Aliens.

5

I think it was just a popular toy of the era, so it was easy to get one to use as set dressing.

6

The Real Ghostbusters second intro shows a Big Wheel that’s drawn to look very similar to the one in the Movie.

Now I don’t know if it’s a Shining Reference but it seems odd that they would include a Big Wheel in the RGB intro and have it almost the same exact colours as the one in the film?

7

Wondering same! Just saw this again after many years, with my son and that’s the first time I have actually noticed the big wheel and I said to my husband do you think that’s in reference to The Shining! I think so.