Analysis Of The Shining

What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but

Recently during this last summer, I have determined to read the book “The Shining” by Stephen King. The reason that I chose this book is that this book was meant to be a backup book for another book, “Peregrine” by John Alec Baker. However, I was incapable of finishing that book because I couldn’t be engaged the premise of the book nor its intricate details of bird observation. On the other hand, “The Shining” was more feasible to enter, as I was already familiar with the book. With that said, “The Shining” was a pleasure to read. It has a simple organization as described in the following: the beginning contains the exposition, the middle introduces the main setting, and the ending concludes with the characters’ departure. The flow and

The creation and consumption of films are a common favorite pastime for many people and have been for hundreds of years, but while some films can seem deceptively simple, many elements go into creating a scene, much less an entire movie. Directors use these elements which include, but are not limited to style, mood, composition and special effects to create a product that we often don’t acknowledge without looking deeper into the film. These components together are called Mise en Scène (Ebert). Of course, film can be enjoyed leisurely but there are so many more aspects of film to be explored and analyzed such as the composition of camera movement, lighting, color, sounds and music. In this case, I chose to analyze the “Redrum” scene from the renowned film, The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. In this scene, Danny Torrence, a five year old boy wanders around his mother’s room with a knife in hand, muttering the word “Redrum” over and over again before scrawling it across the door. I feel that a lot of this scene’s mood and style relies heavily on the camera work of the scene, the lighting and colors, and the music incorporated into the segment.

During the film Steve Spielberg uses music, a mysterious shark and camera techniques such as simultaneous track and zoom, long shot, close up shots and medium shots to build suspense, tension and scare the audience.

An example of the director using lighting to create an atmosphere/mood of entrapment is when Billy is at the boxing hall towards the beginning of the movie. When he enters there is an establishing shot which shows the dark unwelcoming looking room with only a little golden light leaking in from the windows and landing on the boxing ring which has several kids all milling about. In making the lighting land on the boxing ring Daldry is drawing the audience's attention to it so they know it is an important feature for this scene. As the room is dark and not a very friendly looking place it gives the audience the impression the Billy does not enjoy the boxing hall and feels as though he has been pressured by his father and brother to attend the classes as this what a ‘normal’ boy is expected to do. Another example of cinematography being used by the director to show the idea is through the camera angles and shots used throughout the film. A strong use of camera angles being used to portray this idea is when Mrs Wilkinson comes over to the Elliot’s house to talk to Billy’s father. While she is there, Tony forces Billy onto the kitchen table telling him to dance, “You’re a ballet dancer, then lets be having it! Dance you little twat” In this shot it shows a high angle point of view shot looking down on Mrs Wilkinson, Tony and Jackie all yelling at

As well as lighting, sound was used very effectively to stage the story. For example “echoes” were created in the alleyways, to make us think that Eddie’s house was a long way away. These echoes were also used to symbolise Eddie’s loneliness. This could show that there is emptiness in Eddie’s heart that can only be filled by a close friend or a brother. There was a bold use of sound especially in scary, dramatic or important scenes. This added to the drama of the overall performance, it made the audience feel a variety of emotions. In the scene when Mrs. Lyons tries to murder Mrs. Johnston, the sound affects really emphasised how Mrs. Lyons was feeling and her sheer madness. The use of surround sound made me feel like I was in the scene and it made the whole performance much more realistic.

This is achieved through a variety of dramatic techniques, particularly, Space, Tension and Sound. As Ruby takes centre stage we see Ruby’s Tormentors looming above her, representing their power over the broken Ruby. . . a series of

Lighting is used very commonly in horror movies. Lighting is the control of the light. Sometimes it starts flashing and sometimes the light all sudden turns bright or dark. lt is a great way to keep you on your toes. Jaws used the best lighting, for example the dim light in the boat made you really think the shark is coming. The lighting was really well used in most part of the movie. In The Others, they only used a few lighting techniques for one example the dim lighting used in the house. Signs had few lighting techniques used too. One was in the basement when the light suddenly goes out. If you have really good lighting used in your movie, the viewer will feel the something is going to jump out. One more is that light helps you hide something that you don't want the viewer to see what' is happening in the back.

These techniques include using personification, visual imagery and the use of a anaphora. Firstly, Jackson presents the audience personifications in this text. The personification in “You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it/ You try to freeze as horror looks you tight between the eyes” (Line 3/4) shows the non human characteristics of horror and terror. This relates to how nightmares can be a part of reality which brings frightened feelings, because it shows how terror can get the audience, and it confirms how it can be real since the girl is screaming but terror is getting her. The diction of “horror looks you tight between the eyes” shows the audience the terrifying scenes how it is really occurring, which bring the audience a feeling of fright. Also, the use of visual imagery plays a big part in conveying the spooky images to the audience. There are various visual imageries in this text. Jackson shows the audience how “Night creatures call and the dead start to walk in their masquerade/ There’s no escapin’ the jaws of the alien this time” (Line 19/20) visualizes the scary night creatures walking to the girl and that she has no space to escape. This implies that Jackson is frightening the girl by proving the horrific scenes. The diction of “There’s no escapin’” shows a casual register to show the audience how this song is shown scary and casually. The theme of the reality of having horrific scene is demonstrated by this visual imagery, putting an image to the audience’s mind the reality of what is happening to the girl. Finally, the use of anaphora in “You hear the door slam and realize there’s nowhere left to run/ You feel the cold hand and wonder if you’ll ever see the sun” (Line 10/11) portrays how the girl is locked in horror and she has no freedom.

Jack isn’t the only character that is observed differently in the movie. Unlike the film, five year old Danny adores his father. Danny, although younger, is more vocal and responsive. This probably corresponds with his in-depth “shining” visions. In addition to the disturbing images of The Overlook, Danny knows what his parents are thinking. This includes his father’s past suicidal thoughts and his parents’ thoughts of divorce. Such mature topics develops Danny into a clever child. Next, Wendy Torrance is portrayed much differently. She’s still emotional, but fights The Overlook for her family’s well being. This is shown throughout the book. For example, she doesn’t leave Jack after his maniacal outburst because she is aware of Danny’s love for his father. Shelley Duvall’s portrayal of a submissive Wendy isn’t criticized by only King for being “misogynistic”. She received a Razzie for ‘worst actress’ back in the day. Duvall is not the one to credit for the hysterical woman that screamed bloody murder in the film. In fact,

One cinematic technique that Wells used was the Montage, the cinematic technique used to provide a lot of information in a very short amount of time or to show the passing of time. There are many of these used throughout the film which include the use of newspaper reels, opera shows, and my

The action really starts when Jack starts seeing things himself. For example the ballroom/bar being filled with people and alcohol. The people he sees are ghosts of the hotel's previous victims, such as Delbert Grady, who has become the bartender, and is more than happy to give Jack a drink or two. He does, however, tell Jack that people are worried that

Television today serves as a method to confront our societal fears in a comfortable setting, like books and oral tales did hundreds of years ago. The film The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick, although a modern medium, still draws from the original gothic novel. Compared to The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Shining plays on the same classic and applicable anxiety of finding terror within the nuclear family. Kubrick uses the gothic theme to address horror originating from family relationships, additionally taking the idea of “the gothic novel” to a heightened level through invoking despair in his audience rather than hope as Walpole did in his novel. Despair in The Shining is conveyed by

The character of Dan “Danny” Torrance is best known for his role in the fictional story of The Shining and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. As a child Danny goes through a large amount of heavy trauma ranging from domestic abuse from his father to being inside of a hotel during a mass boiler explosion. His life as he grew up was riddled with night terrors and hallucinations driving Danny to become an alcoholic in order to drive away the nightmare images and the memories of the explosion and the death of his father.

The classic elements were invented by Horace Walpole in 1764 in his novel The Castle Of Qtranto. These elements have been used in a variety of ways in different aspects books films short stories even today. Stephen King uses these elements in his novel The Shining alternating them to fit his needs.