The Shining : Film Reading [Horror Themes]

Text: The Shining 1980 (feature film)
Element of Media Language: Usage of Horror Themes

Whenever someone mentions a horror movie, I instantly think of floating white cloaks and undead zombies. They had a huge influence on me when I was a kid, I’d hide under the blankets and make mum check my closet every night. Despite my fear of the boogey man, there was this unseen magnetic attraction between the paranormal and me. Curiosity would always get the better of me and I’d end up scaring myself shitless at night. This fear gradually disappeared, as I grew more intellectual with age, gone were the days that Scooby Doo episodes left me afraid of the dark. However, every once in a while a movie comes up out of nowhere and brings my knees to the ground with fright. An example of this would be Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ one “of the greatest films in the history of cinema” as claimed by Dave Shaw of houseofhorrors.com

Upon closer examination of ‘The Shining’ and its script, it can be seen that this horror film has drawn various inspirations from almost every classical horror film to date. Simply put, ‘The Shining’ is an ‘encyclopedia’ of horror themes.

Obvious to audiences, the basic plot is of a haunted house filled with ghosts, which is actually quite common for most horror films. It is within this haunted house does Kubrick pack all his themes into one.

The mishaps that happen within the hotel can be traced to Jack’s descent into insanity. Jack may have appeared a normal person outside of the Outlook in the interview but a whole new side of him evolves upon arriving. After consumption of alcohol we see a different side of Jack, in this way, it’s sort of like the story about ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. Alcohol here is the magic drug paralleling Dry Jekyll’s experimental potion. He is the aftermath of this consumption, and Mr. Hyde is Jack’s former self, a side that used to be in control. Similarly Dr Jekyll has always been a part of Jack, but suppressed.

Folklore, Werewolf. During Jack’s descent into madness he not only changes his personality but into something that is almost ‘animal’ like, inhuman. His speech deteriorates from coherent & sinister into grunting and moaning towards the end as seen during his chase after Danny. Apart from that further references to wolves can be made such as “Hair of the dog that bit me” during his conversation with the ghostly bartender and “Little pigs, little pigs” followed by “not by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin?” with Wendy. It is clearly seen here that Danny has turned into a werewolf like character.

Danny wields a mysterious power known as ‘the shining’, in the film it is notable that only males posses such a power and this ability can be likened to that of witchcraft & wizardry. As far as history goes, witchcraft has always been damned and in this way we see Jack as the religious witch hunter and his son Danny the witch. Jack persecutes Danny because Danny ‘shines’. We can see this work in different ways thou, it could also be that Jack may be an evil sorcerer himself with his hallucinations and communication with the spirit world. Only Kubrick would know what his intention here was but that secret he took to the grave.

Lloyd the bartender with his slick gelled back hair, smooth talk and sinister appearance reminds me of Count Dracula. With the way he stares at Jack and a hint of Romanian accent, I immediately took him to be very frightening indeed. Although there is no ‘blood sucking or drinking’, a reversal perhaps, the Vampire is the one that is doling out fluids a.k.a ‘blood’ and converting Jack into a vampire too. This ‘recruitment’ can also be seen when Delbert Grady makes Jack his successor. Then there is the Overlook Hotel, all remote and high up a cliff, just like Dracula’s castle. A western version perhaps instead of eastern, where Dracula came from.

There is also the root of all evil, ‘The Devil’ himself. Satan himself has a firm grip on the mind of Jack Torrance. The temptation of alcohol can be seen here as taunted by the Devil himself. Jack makes confirmation that he would very well join the dark side in his fall to temptation. He makes a Faustian bargain with the Hotel & the devil by saying “I’d sell my goddamn soul for a glass of beer.”

Up to date all the films that I have viewed so far have not been able to fit in this many hidden, sub-texts and usage of classical horror themes into one piece of film, just the way that Kubrick has done.  This interesting concept of involving other horror themes is a unique concept that Kubrick himself could only have been able to imagine. Sure, there are films nowadays that draw inspiration from classics such as “ The Wolfman (2010), Twilight (2008) and Blood: The Last Vampire (2000). However they all incomparable to what Stanley has done. The fact that he did not make all these apparent to a normal individual but the subliminal and subtle ways in which he hides from viewers is really incredibly brilliant.

This may have not been the typical horror genre of movies during that period of time. Especially in the sense that this film was more intellectual based than it would have appealed to the masses as Kubrick did not effectively follow the tradition of normal horror movie. Despite this, it broke boundaries on what a horror film really is and has mentally challenged me to accept what should have been horror.

Watching this film, I’m reminded of all the horror movies that I grew up watching, Nosferatu, Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and such. After watching for the first time and realizing the classical themes, Kubrick has made me watch it over and over again in order to explore the different hints that he has dropped along the way and this reminder of all my childhood fears kept me on edge and believe it or not, I’ve been sleeping with my nightlights on once again.

Mohamed Sahdique Caubang

Words: 1033