“The Shining” is a 1980 psychological horror film that was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. At the beginning of the film, we see Jack Torrance, who is a writer and recovering alcoholic take a position as a caretaker at an almost abandoned hotel that is built on a Native American burial ground. Kubrick uses the hotel to his advantage as he uses the hotel to echo any and all sound. This is able to happen because of the hotels emptiness and size. All through the interview process the manager warns him that the previous caretaker developed cabin fever and ultimately killed his family and himself. But, his ultimate goal of taking the job was to use this abandoned hotel as his place to write. His young son, who lives there along with Jack …show more content…
But, the most important use of filmmaking that is exemplified throughout the entire film is the use of sound. Kubrick used both Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound to help the audience through the movie. One example of mise-en-scene is the first scene in movie where Kubrick shows the audience an amazing image. These openings consist of a lake that gives us a reflection of the island and the mountains surrounding it. As stated in the Kubrick Reading Part 2; Pages 438-439, theses stunning helicopter shots were done at Glacier National Park in Montana. When Kubrick decided to send a crew there, they deemed that location uninteresting. But, after Kubrick saw the test shots he concluded that this was the perfect location. Kubrick sets the stage right away as he uses the opening soundtrack to create tension for the audience and put you on the edge of your seat right from the start. Directly after the first shot, Kubrick gives the audience a great tracking shot of Jack’s car. This view gives us the impression that Jack is already trapped before anything even happens. Throughout the film, Kubrick does an outstanding job on matching the music to the pace of the movie. With Diagetic sounds like talking, relaxing, or just acting normal, the music is slow but, once the action being to pick up so does the music, which adds to the tension and speculation on what is
First and foremost, The Shining uses setting as a main factor to help portray America and its instability. The film starts out with a deep winding road along with the Rocky Mountains that can be taken to pursue the idea of the struggle that lay ahead for the characters in the film or for the Natives that this film tries to implicitly show. The scenery can represent America and as it is shown in a continuous shot, it also displays the endless opportunities America is known for, however as the camera continuously pans for a few more seconds, a sense of despair comes across you and the long twisty road suggests the impossibility of escape. The manager of the Overlook, Ullman suggests that the Hotel is haunted which ties in with the fact that the Hotel and America has had a very aggressive history that may still haunt us today. Reporter Bill Blakemore pointed out in Room 237 that Kubrick’s team had to research the town and hotel’s history, which showed Navajo tribe tensions with the the white men in the early 1900s. Blackmore also writes about how the name of the hotel connects with the fact that this film addresses the fact that America overlooks the Native American genocide or even the racism in the country.
The music throughout the film plays a big role in the way it is perceived and the overall tone and message. The directors and producers used background noise and music very wisely in order to convey the emotions of a scene. In the movie, it reaches a certain point where it almost looks as though things are looking up for education. It is when the documentary starts describing the “new acting chancellor of the district of columbia schools”, during this scene the makers want you to really pay attention and become almost shocked by this turn of events. However, they do not only grab your attention by the words and clips shown, but also by the loud, upbeat music that is suddenly played while she is being announced. Also, later in the movie they use this same
The Shinning, a horror movie that was released in 1980, featured Jack Nicholson, as a writer who is left in charge of the Overlook hotel during the winter. During this time Jack began to developed schizophrenia among many other personality and mood disorders and attempts to murder his own family. After reviewing this film it became apparent that there was a mixture of accuracy and exaggeration of the development of schizophrenia. Jack had this disorder, but also had symptoms of other personality and mood disorders. For the sake of Hollywood the film did take schizophrenia to entirely new levels. Some of this hype was generated around Jack becoming a full fledge killer. The delusions that he
For many, isolation is a terrible thing and can lead to madness. Dictatorships prosecute individuals who do not agree with the government and sentence them to imprisonment in solitary confinement. Isolation is a form of torture and it causes insanity. The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a truly interesting case study of human psychology and how the descent of an individual into the depths of insanity can cause them to experience creepy and vivid ghostly encounters, which do not actually physically occur but rather originate from within the depths of the person’s psyche. Examples of such hallucinated encounters surround the main character, Jack Torrance, who, as the movie progresses, transfigures into the deranged antagonist the persons see at the end of the movie chasing his family with an axe. Jack’s psyche and subconscious mind produce visions and ghostly apparitions, all of which embody Jack’s deep violent desires. Jack seems to suffer from a split personality disorder, which is intensified by his loneliness, emotional instability, and feelings of isolation. Jack’s mind is literally falling apart.
For those who have not read The Shining, its protagonist Jack Torrance is a clear mirror to King at the time of writing it. When the book is analyzed through the psychological lens it becomes clear that his purpose was meant to be a warning to those with alcoholism. This can be seen from the several types of rhetoric strategies used in The Shining. Due to the fact that King himself is a recovered alcoholic, the idea that the purpose of The Shining is a warning to any others who are also effected by alcohol poisoning is a high possibility. The most prominent strategy used by King in The Shining is foreshadowing.
The Shining, one of Stephen King’s most famous novels, was inspired by The Stanley Hotel (in the novel, the Overlook Hotel), where the writer stayed for a night. At the time, he and his wife were the only guests in the hotel. According to Stephen King, that night he had a strange dream about his son “running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose.” (Beahm 1998)
"I would not think of quarreling with your interpretation nor offering any other, as I have found it always the best policy to allow the film to speak for itself."
Stephen King’s The Shining has maintained its cult status since its release in 1977. The Shining begins with Jack Torrance receiving a position as the winter caretaker for The Overlook Hotel, an isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Jack hopes the stay will be therapeutic and allow him to focus on writing, family, and less on alcohol. As time progresses, unsettling events begin to transpire for Jack, his son Danny, and his wife Wendy. The intensity of the gothic novel came to life by the legendary Stanley Kubrick in 1980. The book was admired by fans, but Kubrick’s reimagining made it the iconic classic that it is today. Stephen King was not as fond of the movie. Although some of Kubrick’s take on The Shining complements the book, King
The Shining is indeed a tragedy. Jack Torrance is the story’s villain, but it’s easy to feel sympathy for him. Jack is a tortured man and had to watch his father physically abuse his mother when he was a child. He has witnessed domestic abuse first hand, and now as an adult, he became the same man as his father. In the novel, the ending is quite depressing. Jack is a good man, but he is deranged. He’s tormented by his inner demons and the demons of his past. The Overlook is seemingly haunted and is beset by a vengeful spirit dwelling inside of it. This “spirit” possessed Delbert Grady, the previous caretaker to murder his family. The same spirit that possessed Grady is after Jack, and Jack slowly loses his mind and descend into madness. Jack
In Stephen King’s classic 1977 horror novel, The Shining, the Torrance family’s limits are tested as they are sent to the Overlook Hotel and face the brink of isolation. Jack, Wendy and Danny all start to break down from the isolation in their own individual ways. Eventually, similar to other works of literature written by Stephen King, the Torrances reach a breaking point. Though the three of them all go through different horrors in the novel, all of their troubles trace back to the theme of isolation. This sense of being alone in the world, whether it be not having anyone around or mentally being detached from reality, can be one of the most horrifying things in one’s life. In The Shining, added to the detachment from society and humanity, the supernatural lurks as well. This supernatural presence only adds to the fear of being stranded for a few months. The mind tends to over think in times of isolation and despair, jumping to horrifying possible outcomes. This could surely be the reason Stephen King and other writers of horror novels use the theme of isolation. Using references from articles and literary criticisms such as “The American Culture of Horror: Folklore and Stephen King” by Stu Horvath, “Isolation and Horror” by Kevin Bufton, “Horror In American Literature” by Richard Matheson and “The Overlook was at Home with the Dead” can prove isolation is a commonly used theme in American horror
Mechanics: The Stanley Parable has very limited set of control mechanics. The player is given W,A,S, and D along with left the mouse and left mouse button. As for color schemes The game goes from very sterile and warm colored environments, to messy and colorless places. In some of the environments there are weenies in the form of light that help guide the player along potential paths that they can make.
At the time the initial release of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, several people reviewed the film. In this essay, some online reviews are explained, analyzed and then compared. Reviews by John Bozelka’ argues that Kubrick did a great job of replicating Stephen King’s horror novel. Bozelka maintains that the film could leave one’s room creepy and unfamiliar because of the events and episodes contained. However, he feels that the film was quite empty in the beginning. Bozelka seems to have his own review of the film. He points out that the film changes from being empty to changing emotions engulfed by Nicholson’s character Jack. He feels that Jack’scharacter is presented as weird with a mysterious edge. According to Bozelka, each character in the film sees visions making it hard for the audience to identify the character at any given point.
Jack considered taking the job, as a way to get his book finished. Lesson #1: Being a father in unassuming terms means to be selfless. The hotel/winter wonderland was located in the mountains, basically isolated
In The Shining, recovering alcoholic and novelist, Jack Torrance, becomes the winter caretaker with his wife Wendy and son Danny at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado in hopes to cure his writer’s block. As the film progresses, snow piles high outside, and Jack’s mental health begins to deteriorate as he starts to succumb to the seductions of the hotel telling him what to do. Danny begins to have psychic visions of the hotel’s previous events, and Wendy believes that Jack has been hurting Danny. Furious about the accusation Jack goes insane, finally falling prey to the influences of the hotel, and concludes that he must murder Wendy and Danny. Jack then grabs an ax and begins to
Many people may ask themselves “what makes a good horror movie?” That can easily be evaluated by one of the most ambiguous horror movies out there, The Shining, a horror film by Stanley Kubrick, that tells a story of a family that has moved into a hotel called the Overlook, which was inhabited by ghosts. Throughout the film, the plot develops around the Torrance family: Jack, Wendy, and their son Danny. Some of the Criteria that can be evaluated in “The Shining” are the acting, the backstory, and the cinematography.