The Shining is the movie which has never left my mind ever since I viewed it for the first time in my B Tech 2nd year. It is a psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It was produced by Kubrick himself and you can understand the artistic achievements with which he was ready to mesmerize the film lovers. People who have already viewed the film would appreciate this essay better.
The film presents the craziness; loneliness can drive a person to, further exploring the affects of alcoholism on an individual.
A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at an isolated hotel. He arrives at the Hotel and accepts the position of winter caretaker, with the aim of using the hotel's solitude to work on his writing. During the interview he would be revealed that the hotel is built on the site of an Indian burial ground which would be completely snowed during the long winters during which he had to take care of the hotel. The hotel Manager warns him that a previous caretaker turned mad and had killed his family and himself. Jack doesn’t seem to be bothered about it (but it sticks in his mind and assumes greater importance as the days proceed in the hotel) and accepts the job.
Danny (Jacks son) has had a problem and Wendy (Jack’s wife) tells a visiting doctor that Danny has an imaginary friend Tony with whom he would be talking. Danny would be having some frightening visions. It would also be revealed that Jack had hit Danny once when he was drunk and he had given up drinking after that. One the way to hotel, Jack also explains the concept of cannibalism (eating the flesh of one’s own kind) which probably sticks in his mind and might have contributed to the Danny’s frightening visions.
A month passes and Jack’s writing project goes nowhere. He becomes increasingly frustrated, starts acting strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts which frighten Wendy, his wife and Danny his son. The mind transition in all the characters in the backdrop of room no 237 (where the murder by the previous care taker supposedly had taken place) in the lonely, isolated hotel would then assume centre stage and would pave way for a wonderful horror drama (where Jack gets convinced that he should get rid of his wife). These scenes and the implications as perceived by me are explained below.
As mentioned, earlier, Jack’s violent outbursts frighten Wendy and Danny. Danny requests his dad to not hurt his mom and him (haunting images and the ‘cannibalism’ must have been in his mind). Danny’s curiosity increases when he observes Room 237’s door open. Later, he would be shown injured and visibly traumatized (Danny injured himself unknowingly carried away by all his pre conceived notions about the hotel and the room). Wendy (who would be observing the changes in Jack and who never forgets the injury Jack causes Danny when he was drunk) accuses Jack of abusing Danny.
In frustration Jack wanders into the hotels Bar where he meets a ghostly bartender (‘Bartender’ is probably the creation of Jack who wants to explain his point of view most importantly the un-intended mistake he did to Danny when he was drunk).
Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her that a "crazy woman in one of the rooms"(the woman his ‘shining’ tells him) was responsible for his injuries. Jack now quite convinced about the wicked role of Wendy goes to investigated Room 237. He encounters the ghost of a dead woman (his mind creation citing his hope to see a woman naked. Probably he was frustrated/ bored with his sex life with Wendy in that lonely hotel and was hoping for refreshment in his life.) He soon realizes that it was nothing but his own creation and tells Wendy he saw nothing.
Wendy suggests Jack that Danny should be removed from the hotel. (Jack comes to the conclusion that Wendy is using this to create rift between him and his son(remember Danny’s request) and doesn’t want his writing projects to move ahead. Moreover, Jack frequent references to Wendy about his promise to hotel manager ('I gave my word’) that he would take care of the hotel also tells us that he is assuming that Wendy is determined to dishonor his name.
Both of them argue and furious Jack returns to the bar room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here, he meets the ghost of the previous caretaker who tells Jack that he must "correct" his wife and child (this ghost is once again the creation by Jack for convincing himself to ‘correct’/kill his wife). Jack is now ready for his final deed. What then happens is the tragic end where Jack attempts to murder his wife and his son.
What one can observe from the film is the effect of loneliness in an individual and the way it magnifies and contributes to the ‘thought’ process. Jack has come across the thought of the bar tender killing his wife. His mind is ready now to find the reasons to murder his own wife. This epic picture by Kubrick where the camera and the facial expressions is the language has to be viewed again and again to appreciate the artistic content left behind by Kubrick. The film strikes an extraordinary balance between the psychological and the supernatural in such a way as to lead you to think that the supernatural would eventually be explained by the psychological. The novel with the same name was concerned more about the supernatural aspects. Go for it to understand Kubrick better and yourself better.
I think the ghosts are real because they let Jack out of the storage room
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