The Shining Film Analysis

Due to a scheduling conflict, I was unable to attend Halloween Con and instead had to find another option. At first, I was not sure I would be able to find an event that drew in a dedicated fandom, but I was lucky enough to be working the Cucalorus film festival at the Thalian Hall venue when The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick was screened. The first thing I noticed the sheer amount of fans with shirts depicting events from the film and famous quotes. Then there was chatting about the different mise-en-scene elements, framing, scriptwriting, etcs they either loved or thought they could make better between different pockets of people waiting outside the doors. Most of the younger adults were film majors at Cape Fear Community College and

At first, I felt like it was a cookie-cutter response from most of the people I interviewed, but within these responses there were a few differences. Now, I collectively interviewed about three groups of between five and seven people and talked one-on-one with three individuals at the screening, most of which gave me this response. However, the look of admiration when the person(s) I was speaking to completely and totally believed the film was a catalyst for their aspiration was obvious. Not to say those that were low-key did not feel the same way, but it was an interesting side note of how non-verbal communication affects perception. In order to diversify my responses, I actively sought out people who had not seen the movie and would be watching it for the first time. However, to my dismay, I was unable to find someone who had not seen the movie in some capacity, which was a major downfall of my

I wanted to save these quotes for the end, because they are slightly long, but I feel they are important to understanding why the fans that attended this screening are so into the film and its director. When asked about why the film is so revered, one fan