Film Review - The Shining (1980)

Figure 1. The Shining - Overlook Hotel (1980)

The Shining is a film that was made in 1980 and it was directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the  1977 novel by Stephen King titled The Shining. The film follows the story of Jack Torrance who is played by Jack Nicholson, who travels to Overlook Hotel, which is shown in figure 1, where he acts as winter caretaker. He plans to use the job as an opportunity to write. In isolation over winter he was previously warned that the last caretaker went mad and murdered his own family. His son Danny has a premonition that is about the hotel being filled with blood, shown in figure 2, which leads to him falling into a trance. Jack's wife, Wendy is an innocent throughout the film and she is the one who ends up saving her sons life at the end of the film when Jack goes mad.

                                                         Figure 2. The Shining - Dream Sequence (1980)

The film has a repeated theme of madness which is explored through Jack who is literally shown to have grown mad as the film goes along, but there is also madness explored through Danny as he is shown to possibly have physic powers which allow him to see possible premonitions of the future."The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them." (Egbert, 2006) Perhaps the madness of the film is due to the isolation of the hotel which give the characters a certain freedom, away from the rest of society one can loose their mind in peace and let loose in ways that test the sanity. "Alive with portent and symbolism, every frame of the film brims with Kubrick's genius for implying psychological purpose in setting: the hotel's tight, sinister labyrinth of corridors; its cold, sterile bathrooms; the lavish, illusionary ballroom. This was horror of the mind transposed to place (or, indeed, vice versa)." (Nathan, 2012) This shows that even the environment of the hotel and not just its isolation and position in the world, mean that there is this heightened sense of insanity through the labyrinth of corridors that are shown in figure 3, which link in with the winding way that thoughts work and the constant mental push that Jack experiences. 

                                                             Figure 3. The Shining - The Corridors (1980)

The Shining also explores themes of family and how in different situations family members will all react differently, "Shining is a deeply upsetting story of familial dysfunction. Strip away the supernatural aspects and what remains is a claustrophobic study of domestic horror, child abuse and psychological turmoil." (Gracey, 2014) This suggests that there is another, deeper aspect to the Shining which is domestic abuse and the ways in which a family in isolation would react to being away from society, leaving little help and support for the members suffering.

Bibliography:

Ebert,R. (2006) 'The Shining Review' At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980 ( Accessed on 11/01/2017)

Nathan,I. (2012) 'The Shining Review' At: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/shining-2/review/ (Accessed on 11/01/2017)

Gracey,J. (2014) 'The Shining Film Review' At: http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-shining-1980-film-review-by-james-gracey (Accessed on 11/01/2017)

Illustrations:

Figure 1. The Shining (1980) [Film Still] At: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/overlook-hotel-producer-says-the-shining-prequel-is-completely-its-own-film-226 (Accessed on 11/01/2017)

Figure 2. The Shining (1980) [Film Still] At: http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-20-best-dream-scenes-in-movie-history/ (Accessed on 11/01/2017)

Figure 3. The Shining (1980) [Film Still] At: http://www.tboake.com/443_shining_f09.html (Accessed on 11/01/2017)