Literary Analysis Of The Film 'The Shining'

Jessica Adams

WRT 102 M-W

Literary Analysis:

The Shining

4/28/2014

1980. Warner Bros. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Music by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. Cinematography by John Alcott. Editing by Ray love joy.

“The Shining” is a film loosely based on the classic horror novel written by Stephen King. Kubrick, like most directors, takes the original storyline and makes it life-size with his trademark artistic flair to help visually aid in the horror and fright. The plot involves a struggling writer named Jack Torrance who accepts the role as winter caretaker at the grand Overlook Hotel, high in the Colorado mountains. Since the winters can be so unrelenting, the job involves living on the premises for the duration of the seasonal hiatus. Due to the hotel’s isolation, Jack, his wife Wendy, and young son Danny will live alone at the hotel from October to May.

Early on, there is an underlying sense of impending dread that slowly nags its way into the forefront of the story for the climax. Not long after the family is settled in, a snowstorm traps the family in the hotel where the isolation takes a toll, and the supernatural forces come out to play. Jack becomes absorbed in the influences and attempts to murder his family in an outburst of insanity. With unnerving visuals, editing, and smooth cinematography, Kubrick controls the mood and tone throughout, and makes it obvious from the beginning that this isn’t going to be a typical, dream-vacation-of-a-lifetime for the Torrance family.

Part of making a horror movie horrifying, is efficiently capitalizing on the bizarre and supernatural elements of the story, while also making them relatable to the audience. “The Shining” uses both happenings of natural intrinsic psychic abili...

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...iencing, both validating Danny’s feelings and also clueing in the audience. It also brings the title of the movie to the forefront of our thinking, and encourages us to focus our attention on the term and its relevance. The conversation soon shifts to the Hotel. Mr. Halloran uses this opportunity to explain to Danny that there is something special about the Hotel, and gives him a forewarning.

Danny: “Mr. Halloran, are you scared of this place?”

Halloran: “No, I'm scared of nothing here. It's just that you know some places are like people, some shine and some don't. I guess you could say Overlook Hotel here has something about it that's like shining.”

Now that the audience has a better understanding of “shining” and the natural psychic abilities that some people possess, including Dick Halloran and Danny Torrance, the Hotel gets its first mention.