Labyrinths Of Historical Ruin In The Shining By Stanley Kubrick

The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick, tells the story of one family’s demise at the hands of a hotel. This film is often analyzed for its commentary on gender, capitalism, sexual repression, cinematography, and race. This paper will focus on race in The Shining in order to better understand the scene of Dick Hallorann’s murder.

The appearance of Native American artwork on the walls behind Hallorann as he walks from the front door to the stairs invokes the history of Native Americans with the hotel. In “Seeing is Digesting: Labyrinths of Historical Ruin in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining”, Amy Nolan asserts, “Although they are never the main focus within the film, these [Indian] artifacts command our attention and demand from the

The viewer is first introduced to the sound as the Snowcat machine, driven by Hallorann, climbs over the hill down to the hotel. At first this sound is interpreted as howling winter wind, nothing unexpected in a harsh Colorado winter. However, as Hallorann enters the hotel, this sound intensifies and becomes indistinguishable as the wind or a sorrowful moaning. This moaning, along with the Native American motifs in this scene, reminds the viewer that Native people were laid to rest in the grounds of the hotel or died at the hands of the hotel. The whipping winter wind becomes distinct as the moaning of these dead Native Americans. Though never shown in human form, the rugs and tapestries in the hotel serve as the ghosts of these people whose mournful voices we

As Hallorann, an older Black male, moves through the hotel, the viewer’s sense of anxiety increases until it is beyond bearable and settles into an uncomfortable sensation of terror in the pit of the stomach. This uneasiness and queasiness in the stomach reminds the viewer of Hallorann’s position as a cook at the hotel. It brings to the forefront Grady’s earlier racist description of Hallorann to Jack Torrance as a “nigger cook”. With the use of one word, an entire history of slavery and oppression is invoked. Hallorann and the Native American ghosts share a history of ancestral suffering at the hands of white