The Shining
The Shining is just one of them films.For the longest time I couldn’t understand why Stephen King hated Kubrick’s Shining. My naive self just couldn’t get it. I finally decided that I should answer this question. So I read the book, over the summer I went to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, and took the Shining tour.
Now I get it. Kubricks version sacrifices one of the biggest parts of the book. That being the family dynamic, in the book their relationship has so much more depth and character. From an individual standpoint and from their chemistry together. Their history as a family is explored. I learned how much of an autobiography The Shining had been for King. Before making the book, King dealt with alcoholism, writers block, marriage problems, and he was on the last day of a hotel before they closed for the winter. In the novel there is truly good in Jack, he has his demons (which the hotel brings out) but from my interpretation deep down he is a good person, as Danny so adamantly says, repeatedly saying how that’s not daddy.
Here, I feel like Jack is so much more of a shell. He’s truly evil, cynical, hateful. Which obviously King would hate, as he expresses. Anyway Jack Nicholson is phenomenal none the less, both him and Wendy have such a surreal approach that was just so enthralling. Getting back to my point, Kubrick sacrifices the family dynamic for a more mysterious, insomnia type, nightmare approach that is just so masterfully done. To me the family dynamic is just good enough, but Kubrick really made the entire experience of being at the overlook a nightmare. The constant soundtrack, booming noise, intense zoom ins, and overall just a pure horror thriller. Not the mention how it’s perfectly paced. This does not feel like 140 minutes at all.
I may have just been yapping but I see why King hates this. To him the shining is a very personal story reflecting his struggles along with his family struggles. Kubrick throws that away for a pure horror flick. And I love it. Kubrick’s The Shining has so many layers and hidden details about the hotel and its lore that makes the mystery so much more interesting. Where as the book answers so many questions about the hotel and its haunting presence. The film is far more ambiguous which I appreciate.
I know this is a cop out but I can’t say which I like more. I guess technically I’d choose the movie since I gave it a higher score but please read the book, they are genuinely so different outside of the extremely thin outer layer.