The Shining by Stanley Kubrick is regarded as one of the most iconic films of all time. However, I agree that it is one of the most iconic films of all time. The way that Kubrick enhances the film score during the “heart racing” moments is one of the best parts. Music can be used as a great example for a great film. All great films are designated off their soundtrack, such as the example of Interstellar with the “Cornfield Chase” score. The Shining has a great musical score that was designed to amp up the intensity as the film gets more horrific. Especially, with the example of the hallway scene with Danny, where the two little girls end up at the other end. The music amps up because the scares were presented to us in a timely fashion. It’s a perfect example of how good music can be used to present horror in such an inescapable way. It develops to become something that makes a fantastic icon. Beautiful, or shocking music makes for an amazing film.
I remember watching this and being immediately confused, because of the way the film presents itself. I was overtly confused, by the beginning, with the enhancement of the music, then the aura was created. This aura developed the horror aspect of the film. The introduction creates a beautiful balance between unknown and fascination. We are introduced to Jack Torrence, – played by Jack Nicholson – a recovering alcoholic, who fathers Danny Torrence, and is married to Shelly Duvall’s character, Wendy. She is an interesting character, as the actress does a great job of portraying Wendy to the audience. Wendy – in herself – is a character so downtrodden by love, she’s absolutely in love with Jack Torrence. She goes above and beyond to make sure he’s comfortable, but the same cannot be said for Jack’s character. Within the entire movie, we see Jack slowly take a turn for the worst, as he starts to hallucinate the hotel.
At the time of release, The Shining got backlash, but some of that can be equally for the fact of the unorthodox horror film. I mean the film also portrays some of America’s greatest mistakes. Likewise, the greatest mistake of the American age is the murder of the Indigenous people to build the Overlook hotel. Sources have explained that the reviews of the film were severely knit-picky, but with a good film comes bad press. However, from the very beginning, Kubrick’s film was a success! From the box office, all the way to being a technical sophistication success. Modern-era horror films come close to the first time horror – a psychological thriller – genre that this film can be accounted for. Critical resources have been credited to say, that the film’s praise was next to nothing, but the success was evident. A review of The Shining by Michael D. Gibson was done to measure the popularity of the film. They took an excerpt from K.J. Donnelly, where they described The Shining as a box office hit, but the reviews were critically negative. It’s kind of ironic considering the fact that The Shining stands to be one of the most iconic films to ever have been created.
Other Popular sources have spoken up about theories of what The Shining could really mean. The Shining is actually the power to be able to see things that nobody else can see. We discover that Danny – the main characters’ son – possesses the ability to perform The Shining. This is where the film kind of turns to the more paranormal side, as we see Jack Torrence kind of give in to the aura that the hotel contains. Some articles, such as The Shining at 40 by Scott Tobias, compare the native lives lost to the construction of the Overlook hotel. Both Gibson’s article and Tobias’ article have a lot in common, and it’s that they both include American imperialism as a comparison to the Overlook hotel. American imperialism in the sense of ‘we will get what we want. Those lives that were lost were only because of the American do-all attitude. This ideal is harmful to not only the American dream, but identifying problems with the nation that need to be fixed, and corrected. It’s such with how Jack Torrence – the father of Danny – has a personality change. Then through this, meets his own demise, in the end.
Their both interesting in their own sense, but if I had to pinpoint the differences, then one is more focused on the era, or the time of filming, and the other focuses on set life. The Shining at 40 goes more into what set life was really like for the cast as well as the cinematography of this piece of cinema. However, The Shining Review by Michael D. Gibson goes more into the view of the audience of the film. Out of the two of these, the one that I really enjoyed was the popular or journalistic source article. I enjoyed how that one was more user-friendly compared to the scholarly one.
Tobias really speaks on, whether or not the film is meant to be understood. By that, I mean the confusing ending, and what it truly means… For me, personally, the ending was the most difficult subject of the film. However, “The Shining at 40”, is an endless article, that was written to explain that, maybe the film was never meant to make sense. The horror genre as a whole does such a good job of being gotten, that maybe the ending was never meant to be understood. The author really pushes the narrative of the horrific ongoing that happened in the Overlook hotel.
Chernobyl was a huge historical and nuclear disaster. Located in Ukraine, Chernobyl was a city that housed many on the prospect of jobs, but nobody was aware of the frightful day, April 26, 1986. On this day, a routine test was done, and through this, the top of the reactor was blown off. This was the very start of one of the most horrifying nuclear disasters to happen, to this date. Chernobyl took the lives of many, to acute radiation exposure, or other dangerous health effects. The people in this area never knew the type of radiation they were going to come into contact with. Effects, such as radiation poisoning can lead to cancer, mutations in DNA, and lastly death. Chernobyl is fascinating because it didn’t just affect Ukraine, but it affected the entirety of the world. Radiation – to this day – is still seeping through the reactor.
Devastation, of the world, is still prevalent to this day, by enunciating that scientists are still studying different aspects of the explosion. Radioactivity is still heavy, in the area, so it is recommended that if you visit, you bring a Geiger Counter. This way, the visitor can measure how dangerous the area would be. Scientists are studying radioactive waves, in the reactor. Areas such as the Elephant Foot are dangerous to people who are not protected. So, if you know anything about radiation, then you’d know Alpha radiation is the worst type of radiation because it is absorbed by cells. These things are important to know, for the sole reason, that Alpha rays were emitted throughout Europe.
Media can be used to destroy the reputation of anyone, and further destroy someone’s mind. The Central Park Five was a group of innocent, and judicial racism committed towards 5 innocent individuals. “Central Park Five” is an article that can be found on History.com, they enunciate the crime as, “a brutal assault of a 28-year-old 
white investment banker, who had been out for a jog the night before..” The 5-innocent black and Latino individuals were all minors that were convicted of the crime. In 2002, new evidence and a confession were presented, thus giving the 5 their right to freedom. Media destroyed these poor boys’ lives. They painted the 5 as stone-cold killers when in reality they were 5-scared boys.
The Shining by Stanley Kubrick is an amazing film that investigates what people would do, to get what they want. It enunciates the unhealthy familiar life including abuse. But, it’s not that Jack Torrence is an inherent abuser? No, but it’s more about what the hotel did to him, that he would be painted that way. It’s the horrors that go on in the hotel to paint the film that way. Kubrick uses various types of cinematography to depict scenic views of horror. The scene with Danny on his tricycle, with the two little twin girls at the end, shows what happened with the previous family. The music amps up, and as Danny rides on, the music hits its peak once we see the scene of horror in the hallway. This film adds a beautiful depiction of historical violence. The film shows how we destroyed indigenous grounds, to build a new hotel, kind of like gentrification.
Scholarly Review of The Shining by Michael D. Gibson