The Shining (1980)
The legendary Stanley Kubrick directed only 16 films in the course of his remarkable career. Of those, 11 were based upon literary works. Stephen King became numbered in that company with The Shining – his third novel. While Kubrick’s version deviated from the source material quite significantly in parts, the film itself became an instant classic in psychological horror, and a new benchmark in general cinema.
Starring Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, the story follows his descent into psychosis as he takes a job as caretaker of the remote Overlook Hotel during the winter. He brings his young family – wife Wendy (Shelly Duvall), and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) – along with him, and we gradually learn more about the three of them – and the hotel – as they begin their isolated stay. On winning the job, for example, Jack is told that the previous caretaker developed ‘cabin fever,’ and consequently murdered his family before killing himself.
Danny has an imaginary friend named Tony, and has psychic visions that are often disturbing. He sees many visions while at the hotel and seems to regard them as a portent of doom. Jack is a recovering alcoholic with a temper, who was apparently prompted to address his addiction after dislocating his son’s shoulder. Jack is a former school teacher with ambitions to become a novelist, and is convinced that a quiet winter, snowed in at the Overlook Hotel, will give him the opportunity to write his great novel.
Danny bonds with the hotel chef, Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers), before he leaves for the winter, and is heartened to hear that Dick had family members with psychic abilities, too. He refers to it as “shining,” and tells Danny that the hotel also has a “shine” – particularly room 237. As winter deepens, along with Jack’s mental descent, Danny sees more and more visions as he ventures further around the property. Ultimately, it’s his bond with Dick Halloran that enables his escape with his mother when Jack begins stalking them with an axe.
Kubrick’s film succeeds most clearly in its refusal to explain what’s happening at the Overlook Hotel – preferring to leave that determination to the viewer. In this respect, Kubrick’s narrative strategy found the perfect partner in Stephen King’s source material, as The Shining, in particular, leans heavily on the most familiar theme of the novelist’s work: the use of ‘supernatural’ powers and phenomena as a metaphor for very human fears and scary misdeeds.
Jack is a violent alcoholic – would he have snapped at the Overlook Hotel anyway, or did he succumb to its spiritual manipulations? While the brilliant final moments of the film are the closest thing resembling an explanation, Kubrick leaves us with an air of unnerving doubt – and this is the triumph of the piece.
