What THE SHINING Is Really About

Hope you enjoyed this video! Read below for some extra tidbits + my sources: KUBRICK’S APPROACH TO GENERATING FEAR AND FREUD I wanted to mention that my first draft of this video included a ~20 minute discussion just on how Kubrick and Johnson approached horror. In my research, I learned a lot about how Kubrick meticulously approached the question of how to frighten people. He and Diane Johnson studied Freud’s essay on ‘The Uncanny’ where he tries to decipher what exactly evokes the “uncanny” sensation unique to horror and why. They also read classic horror literature to see what’s worked historically (e.g., Edgar Allen Poe). In my journey to decipher The Shining, I followed in their footsteps and read a lot of the same works (including ‘The Uses of Enchantment’). It was fascinating! And a lot of it made it into the first draft of this video but I realized it wasn’t really the topic at hand. All of that is about how they evoked the emotion of fear (and not just any fear but the “uncanny”/skin crawling sort of fear that takes just the right image, sound, or scenario to evoke). But, it doesn’t really get at the heart of what they wanted to say with that fear and that’s the topic of this video. If there’s interest, that may become its own video so we’ll see! - THE ORIGINAL POISON APPLE (DELETED SCENE) There’s a scene that was actually filmed but cut out of this movie. When Jack is suffering from writer’s block, he finds a book of old newspaper clippings in the boiler room. It details all the horrible things that have happened at the hotel in the past. The stories give him material for his manuscript and it finally gets him writing. That scene was cut out of the movie, BUT the prop lived… you can see it prominently sitting on his desk when he’s typing and Wendy interrupts. Diane Johnson didn’t actually know this scene was removed until she sat down in the theater to watch the movie for the first time. She was quite disappointed at that because in her mind, the book was the poison apple. Essentially, the Overlook Hotel offered Jack the book as writing inspiration but in exchange, it drove him into complete madness. That was the turning point after which Jack went totally off the deep end. I actually think Kubrick made the right call in taking out that scene. His philosophy seems to be that evil comes from within and should not be treated as something external. In my opinion, the book feels too much like externalized evil. E.g., Jack wouldn’t know that using the book for inspiration means selling his soul. So, it feels more like he was tricked by the ghosts and what lesson is to be learned from that? Don’t trust ghosts? Not very helpful in the real world. But, the bourbon offered by Lloyd works much better as the poison apple because it represents Jack knowingly betraying himself and his family. He knows that in the past alcohol drove him to hurt them but he chooses it anyway. To me, taking out the scene with the book uncluttered this idea and keeps the theme focused on the idea of evil from within. - 'THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT' PLAGIARISM I mentioned this book a couple of times in this video (because Diane Johnson mentioned it a few times in her interview with Catriona McAvoy, see source below). I felt it worth noting that this book has actually stirred some controversy… not for being inaccurate but for plagiarizing and some dishonesty! The author apparently stole significant portions of the book from others and claimed to work as a therapist for disturbed children… but apparently never did that. Regardless, the book has been well regarded for its ideas despite where they came from. And in this video, I don’t actually take many ideas from it… I used it more as a way to substantiate the claim that Johnson and Kubrick took inspiration from fairytale structure for THE SHINING. - SOURCES Stanley Kubrick interviews: www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.ts.html www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-06-21-8702… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVlXbS0SNqk Diane Johnson quote + Mentions of “The Uses of Enchantment”: ‘The Uncanny, The Gothic and The Loner: Intertextuality in the Adaptation Process of The Shining’ by Catriona McAvoy (doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apv012)

My friends thought The Shining was boring.. I coRRected them.

Just the fact that countless people are still trying to make sense of the movie and all of it's different meanings proves how great this movie is.

You hit the nail on the head in every respect but one imo: I think Danny's the protagonist. He's powerless for most of the film (and even absent for a bit when Tony takes over), but he saves himself and Wendy at the end, which even she couldn't do. Jack's a tragic figure, but he's the villain in the film unlike the book; less of a character to root for, and more like a bomb under the table the audience is waiting to explode from the very beginning. And since King was admittedly writing about himself, I think that's the change that makes him dislike this film so much.

"Monsters are real, ghosts are real too, they live inside us, and sometimes they win". ~Stephen King

So…I kind of disagree with what you say regarding “All work and no play…” Because, from my POV, Wendy was the one doing ALL the work. She was cooking, cleaning, taking care of/playing with Danny, taking care of the hotel (which was supposed to be Jack’s job). In fact, I can’t recall Jack doing anything in regards to the hotel upkeep. He spent his time playing hand ball, sitting at a typewriter, and just brooding, feeling sorry for himself…while his hatred for Wendy grows. I think he views being a husband and father as a job.

Yes. In the book, Jack absorbed the Hotel's rage. In the movie, the Hotel fed off of his. As a surviving child of violent alcoholics, I can tell you that Kubrik's feels far, far closer to the real dynamic. Alcoholics/addicts will literally seek out family members who are leaving them alone in order to go into a rage against them. They carry their anger with them at all times and it must be fed on a regular basis. And, like their other addictions, the need for more and more rage increases over time in order to get the same satisfaction. It was only a matter of time before Jack exploded.

Jack, in the book, is an alcoholic. Lloyd, the bartender, represents resentment and alcoholism. Alcoholism is a major theme in the book.

A scene that often gets overlooked is the scene where Jack is just sat on the bed, docile, like a zombie. When Danny asks his Dad why he doesn't just go to sleep if he's tired, he just responds "I can't, I've got too much to do". He wants to write, but when given the perfect environment to achieve this, he achieves nothing. He wasn't even looking after the hotel or spending time with his son, Wendy was doing everything for him. We've all been so overwhelmed with worry, responsibility, resentment, depression, bitterness and work... we do just sometimes find ourselves sat there doing nothing and ultimately achieving nothing. Stephen King knows Horror, but Stanley Kubrik knows people 💔

I always saw it as a happy ending, as mother and son escape and Jack finds peace with new friends who won't judge him for enjoying a little debauchery and spirits.

I think the Overlook Hotel is like Silent Hill in the Silent Hill games. Both places are not actually the evil ones, but rather the places that reveal the evil within people. All the ghosts/monsters are just a psychological manifestation of people's evil that they live with or try to deal with in their lives. Dick Halloran said in the film the Overlook "shines" just like him and Danny, meaning it can imagine people's thoughts and memories like a psychic.

I think when you go for a job interview, if you want the job, you are supposed to agree happily to everything. "Yes, great, wonderful, fine, love it!"

I love for movies to be layered with multiple meanings

Yup. I think I read the same interview. Kubrick dispels a ton of theories. King didn’t like it because Kubrick made Jack responsible for his own action whereas King blamed outside forces. King wasn’t a shiny apple of a family man at the time so in my opinion he took Kubrick’s changes personal.

I just watched this legendary film tonight, and I feel he had no intention to write at all. When he lets Wendy have it for walking into the room and interrupting his “train of thought” I was blown away, I never noticed until now, in 2021, that as he begins to type, Jack begins to type three letters, space, four letters, space, three letters, space, the last is two, then space (all work and no) as the scene ends. His typing of the keys are the famous words Wendy finds in the third act of the movie. I believe Jack went there to repeat being the caretaker and he will always be the caretaker forever and ever and ever. Great post and it’s one of those films where you discover something new every watch.

"I'd give anything for a drink. I'd give my goddamned soul for just a glass of beer" thats the trade....

Trauma, Trauma, Trauma, just like in real life. Virtually everyone has unresolved trauma on this planet. This movie portrays a facet of it.

This was by far the BEST breakdown of The Shining and any other movie I have ever seen!!! I'm shocked it doesn't have more views! Exceptionally well done!!!

There were also actually no ghosts that Jack was talking to since he was talking to them directly with mirrors behind them, they were reflections of his own personality, Lloyd at the mirrored bar, The young/old woman in Room 237, Delbert in the mirrored bathroom, Jack in the storage pantry talking to Delbert with the reflective metal door in front of Jack; when Jack walks to the ballroom and starts thrashing out, he does it each time in front of each mirror he walks past; Kubrick made it clear reflective surfaces are a main theme showing people’s true selves in The Shining

In the movie the plot focused on Jack but I got the impression the book was more about Danny. Danny is psychic and is deeply connected to his parents. He is a victim of an alcoholic father and domestic violence. Jack hated himself for hurting everyone around him. The hotel amplified his addiction which drove him insane. This led to Redrum.