The Shining is significant for many things. First, it contains rich themes, some of which are presented outright while others hinted at. For instance, many may argue that it is a film about classes, with Jack representing the failing, marginalized middle class while the hotel the ruling elite capitalist class. Secondly, it employs techniques and technology that render the film truly horrifying and terrifying. For example, the camera makes a turn following Danny’s cart, and then the audience is suddenly introduced to two mysterious, strange-looking girls. This is also what makes the film special and significant. Thirdly, it creates mysteries that cannot be solved without careful thinking and even psychological analyses. Film critic Roger Ebert raises such questions in his review: “Who is the reliable observer? Whose idea of events can we trust?” The immediately visible conflict between Jack and his supposedly beloved wife and son gradually accumulates through the events depicted, which contribute to Jack’s insanity bit by bit.

Jack’s “craziness” does not come unnaturally fast but rather reasonably. He was trapped in his personal hell. His career was going nowhere and he could have taken on a much more decent job instead of fraternizing the interviewer just to obtain such an “inglorious” and somewhat even shameful job. Many viewers of the time may find this situation quite easy to relate to. They harbored their own American dreams, many of which ended up being shattered. Worsening the situation, such values and the stability they created were being challenged by terrorism and the dark secrets sometimes the government intentionally hides from public view. The psycho-thriller’s official trailer features the classic scene where blood pours out from the elevator, as the music gradually builds up in volume and in scariness (“The Shining – Trailer”). Bloodshed was the de facto harsh reality upon which a fake sight of prosperity was projected.

Jack was indeed influenced by his surroundings. As noted by Barham, the film’s musical sound world acts as a potent aesthetic, intellectual and personal signifier of the very greatest and the very worst the sublime, ridiculous and monstrous — of human culture and identity (34). The howling wind strengthened his sense of isolation, as he could find no solace from his wife or son, nor could he vent his negative emotions building up in him. His Shining began to exert its influence on him but he was oblivious to the strangeness and horror of such uncanny visions. The Shinings of the spirits of the dead kept on influencing him, enhancing his belief that his wife and son were the obstacles lying between him and the recognition of his worth in the world created by the ghosts.

The film is a successful for the general audience and Kubrick himself but perhaps not so for Stephen King, who authored the original novel—The Shining. “At the time of the production, King publicly expressed certain doubt about whether both Kubrick and the actors he’d chosen were in fact the best possible option for the adaptation of the novel” (Mikulec). This is where the film distances itself from other films following norms and conventions by not adhering carefully to the original ideas in the original work. The film is successful in its storytelling also due to its references. In one scene, Jack was standing in front of the window, looking outside. The camera focused on his face, showing a menacing look with his chin low but eyes high. This typical look can be found in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange as well. It is an ominous look signifying that something bad is about to happen. By then, Jack was adamant that his wife was someone he had to kill.

Jack had to be crazy, in a sense. Jameson noted that the film arrived at a time when horror films just began to trend: “the horror genre would be in full cry, the most marketable field in filmmaking, by the time his movie was ready for delivery”. So, what drove Jack the dull boy crazy? It is his wife, his son, his childhood, the howling wind outside the hotel, the Shining, and most importantly, the audience of the time.

Works Cited

Barham, Jeremy. “INCORPORATING MONSTERS — Music as Context, Character and

Construction in Kubrick’s The Shining.”

Ebert, Roger. “Isolated Madness.” Rogerebert.com, 18 June, 2006,

www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Jameson, Richard T. “Kubrick’s Shining.” Film Comment, vol. 16, no. 4, 1980, pp. 28-32.

Mikulec, Sven. “Stanley Kubrick’s original treatment for ‘The Shining’.” Cinephiliabeyond.org,

cinephiliabeyond.org/stanley-kubricks-treatment-of-the-shining/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

“The Shining – Trailer.” Youtube, 29 Sep. 2009, uploaded by Youtube Movies,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEew7zvpAWE&ab_channel=YouTubeMovies. Accessed    11 Oct. 2020.