Analysis of The Shining

Analysis of two scenes from ‘The Shining’

The Shining (1980) is an American horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is broadly a horror however it also falls into the subgenre of psychological horror. As a horror film, it follows several specific conventions of the horror genre. Such conventions as an isolated setting (the overlook hotel), overarching themes of insanity, death and survival as well as technical conventions like point of view shots and extreme close ups. However in some respects it also bucks many of the typical conventions of the horror genre, for example its use of a lot of high key lighting. The ways in which the shining does not follow typical horror conventions could arguably be said to make the film scarier. Audiences expect certain things from a horror movie and by disregarding these typical conventions the movie places the viewer on the back foot, leaving them more open to being surprised and scared. The shining is famous for its strong iconography, images such as ‘redrum’, the overlook hotel and room 237 as well as many other key symbols of the film have become so strongly associated with the horror genre that they are constantly referenced or paid homage to throughout many other areas of media.

The first scene I’ve chosen to analyse is the first time that room 237 is open to Danny and his subsequent unseen assault by an anonymous assailant within the room. As Danny approaches room 237 we can clearly see the room number on the key hanging from the door. This instantly makes the viewer remember earlier in the film, where Danny was explicitly warned to stay away from room 237 straight away this creates tension within the viewer as we are already aware of the dangers that may exist within the room. The room key itself is red and this is connotative of the danger within the room and could also serve as a warning to Danny not to enter as red is the colour of warning signs. The colour red also appears when the scene cuts to Jack asleep on his desk. Jack is wearing a red coat which he is also wearing later during the climax of the film. This could possibly be foreshadowing as during the scene Jack describes to Wendy his dream wherein he murders both Wendy and Danny. The fact that jack is wearing the red coat could suggest that he himself is dangerous or could also represent blood or even his future murderous intent towards his family. Danny’s clothes during this scene could also be symbolic. He is wearing a knitted sweater featuring a design with the words ‘USA’ and ‘Apollo’ the name of the rocket from the first American moon landing. These clothes could be symbolic of America and American values as a whole, later in the scene when Danny is approaching Jack and Wendy in the main room, we see that his jumper has been torn at and now has a large rip in it. Throughout the movie there are numerous subtle references to Native American culture. The most important of which is during the scene where Wendy and jack are being given a tour of the overlook and are told that the hotel was built on a Native American burial ground, this gives us an important clue as to who or what exactly could be causing the disturbances within the hotel. Through these clues within this scene we can assume that the occurrences, and Danny’s supernatural assailant were vengeful spirits, angry at the American values which led to the overlook, a symbol of American innovation with disregard for anything aside from profit, being built upon and desecrating their resting place. Danny’s torn shirt could show some of the anger felt by these spirits towards the family within the hotel.

Later in the film, Jack discovers the party happening in the gold room. The first shot of this scene has jacks head framed against a tapestry in the background. This tapestry has an interesting pattern which looks almost Native American style. This could be symbolic of him entering the world of the spirits of the hotel or symbolise him almost stepping into their world. In this scene there are many of uses of the colour red. There are red chairs in the hallway as he is approaching the ball room. Among the rest of the décor in the hallways which is gold and elegant, the simple red chairs look very vulgar and almost out of place. This could mirror how out of place Jack obviously is in within the party and maybe within the hotel in general. His everyday clothes also look extremely out of place compared to everyone else in the gold room who are dressed extremely formally, they are also wearing dated clothes, giving a clue to what time period these apparitions are from and also foreshadowing the very end of the movie where the camera slow zooms towards a black and white photograph of jack with a large group of people at a party dated from 1921. The colour red comes up again as Lloyd the bar tenders uniform is also red. This could represent that his character is dangerous. The fact that Lloyd’s character is dangerous is also shown through the use of Lloyd’s dialogue upon refusing Jacks offer to pay for his drink, which is incredibly sinister. In it he mentions that he has “orders from the house”. In the context of the movie this has several connotations, the most startling of which is the suggestion that the hotel itself is almost sentient and aware of the events transpiring within it. This also taps into the fear of the unknown convention within horror films, as we can only imagine who Lloyd is receiving these orders from. Grady is also wearing a red jacket later in the scene. Once again this has connotations of danger about the character, and after Jack realises that he is the previous caretaker who murdered his family, his red uniform could represent the spilt blood of his children or his murderous intentions. Grady’s character also seems extremely sinister through his use of dialogue during the part of the scene where he asks Jack is he is aware that Danny is attempting to use the shining to contact Halloran. This seems to be suggesting that he is also aware of the entirety of the situation within the hotel and makes him appear to be an almost omnipotent extension or element of the hotels consciousness. The bathroom during which this part of the hotel takes place is again sticking to the theme of the colour red. This could be symbolic of a number of things as it is this scene which seems to be the turning point for Jacks sanity. It is also the scene where rather than the suggested idea of something supernatural lurking within the hotel this is the point of the film where both the viewer and the characters realise that the supernatural presence is actually incredibly strong and the ‘monster’ is revealed for the first time. It could also be foreshadowing of the danger that is to come thanks to Grady’s suggestions to Jack that he ‘take care’ of his family, the same way that Grady murdered his own, because of this it may be the scene where Jack finally decides to murder his family. The bathroom walls are also covered in mirrors. The use of mirrors throughout the film are recurrent and seem to be gradually building in how noticeable their placement is until this scene where there are many. The mirrors may represent the fractured or distorted representations of reality that are being presented to Jack, or may be representative of the many different sides of his personality shown by the character at this point in the film.