The Shining Ideology Explained

March 07, 2021

The Shining Ideology Explained

The Shining is a physcological horror thriller film directed by Legendary Director Stanely Kubrick .It is based on famous novelist Stephen King's novel by the same name .It was released in 1981.Initially it generated lukewarm response from critics and audience but gained a cult classic in the years after release.

Why The Shining has become a cult classic and a masterpiece even after 40 years of its release:-

The Shining is somewhat regarded as a horror film but it is more of a physcological thriller film with shades of horror in it.Stanley Kubrick the director filmed it in 400 days with as much as 200 takes of several scenes as he wanted to show the real horror and anxiety a person faces and the minimal use of jumpcuts which is the normal template in most of the horror films and physcological horror is the best sub genre of horror films because scaring with jump scares is easy as compared to creating settings and situations which cause tension and anxiety in the mind of actors acting and audience watching the film.

Also crafting a great horror film is creating a balance between tension,atmosphere and mystery and it's very rare when a movie taps in and utilize all these elements to help tell its story.The Shining 's ability to create horror and physcologically resonate with the audience is unrivaled but it doesn't stop at just being a great horror film because outside of the element of horror the movie is the one that creates said discussion there's an ambiguity that's found within every scene and down every hall of the Overlook Hotel that is begging for further inspection because of that the amount of discussion surrounding the film is unparalleled.

The overlook hotel

Context and Brief Description of film:-

In Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, you watch a writer named Jack Torrance lose his mind while acting as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. The hotel closes during the winter, but someone still needs to stay in the hotel to ensure its assets remain safe, etc. We see Jack grow increasingly restless, hallucinate, and eventually attack his wife and son because he feels convinced that they want to leave or put the hotel in danger.

In the movie, this happens because the hotel is haunted. Jack sees ghosts in various rooms of the hotel, the most notable of which being the bar. The bartender convinces Jack through a series of conversations that his wife and son need to leave the hotel — or die. Jack completely loses his mind, and for this reason, his family flees and leads him to his death in the blizzard that trapped them there.

Now, in the book (which the Kubrick film deviates from to a certain degree), Stephen King writes the hotel as a malevolent force in itself. Many terrible crimes have been committed within its walls, many people have lost their minds. It is also explained in both the film and the book that several caretakers have lost their minds and killed their children, spouses, and others. The twin girls you see in the film represent the children of a previous caretaker, who murdered them with an axe.

Many of the symbols represent the violence that others have enacted in the hotel: the blood spilling from the elevator, for example. All of these things coalesce into a story that focuses on the brutality of human nature, and the isolating and maddening effects of solitude.

Subliminal messaging in the movie:-

Subliminal messages are defined as signals below the absolute threshold level (ATL) of our conscious awareness. The word “subliminal” literally means “below threshold.”

The first thing we need to understand is that we cannot become consciously aware of subliminal stimuli even if we look for it. Absolute threshold is defined as the lowest level of stimulus we can detect, be it visual, auditory, or sensory, etc. When an external stimuli falls below ATL, it cannot be detected consciously.

The second thing we need to understand is that subliminal perception is believed to be a result of a deliberately designed communication technique aimed at generating a response, so that people will do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.In short, both the perception and reaction to subliminal messages happen at the subconscious level.

Some Subliminal and hidden messages in The Shining-

The Shining is no different. It is laden with symbolism, hidden messages, conspiracy theories and what not. Here are some of the most exciting aspects of the film:-

The plot line is that the hotel is built on an Indian burial ground, and Kubrick left no stone unturned to emphasize the point. There are several shots of Native American architecture in the film, and the hotel is littered with Native American decor. One theory is that the film is built around exploring the early American settlers’ exploitation and killing of the Native Americans.

We can see the Native American on the can of Calumet baking powder.

More Native American symbolism: Jack is violently throwing the ball against the Native American decor on the wall.

Another part of the film worth bringing up is when Jack talks to the ghost bartender and says, “White man’s burden,” which is a term for the white man’s need to imperialize and improve the lives of others; similar to what happened.

There is an overabundance of the use of red, white and blue in the film symbolizing the USA.

Stuart Ullman is suited in red-white-blue, has an American flag on his desk, and there is also a bald eagle in the window. Ullman, interestingly, looks like John F Kennedy.

Here is a shot of Danny wearing red, white and blue. Also, he is laying on a teddy bear. The bear is a symbol from other Kubrick films. Some say it is symbolic of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. You can see it in the other films, like right at the end of Eyes Wide Shut when Cruise and Kidman are walking through the toy store.

More red, white and blue!

This colour motif also runs in with the infamous Grady-ghost twins of the film (when Danny sees them dead in the hall they’re wearing white and blue and covered in red blood).

A striking reference to Nazi Germany is played out in the film, and it's just brilliant.

The number 42 appears throughout the film. Danny wears a shirt with it, Wendy swings the bat 42 times at Jack, and the Nazi Final Solution began in 1942. Wendy and Danny are also watching Summer of ’42 on the television. Also, 2 x 3 x 7=42 (Room no. 237).

The German symbolism of the Eagle (seen on Nazi regalia) is shown in the film. The typewriter that Jack uses is a German Adler, and Adler means ‘eagle’ in German.

Jack is seen wearing a shirt with the image of an eagle imprinted on it in one of the scenes.

• Then there is the “fake” moon landing conspiracy theory that Kubrick actually helped film the ‘fake’ moon landing of Apollo 11. Perhaps, Kubrick made the Grady twins identical because he was referencing the NASA Gemini program, which was used to prepare for the Apollo program.

In Stephen King’s novel, the room number was 217, but rumor has it that Kubrick changed it to 237 so that people at the hotel wouldn’t be afraid to stay in 217. Maybe, Kubrick chose 237 to subtly imply 237,000 miles that it takes from Earth to the Moon, thus referring to the moon mission.

There is also a scene where Danny is arranging what can be termed as a launch pad, and then stands up and launches the Apollo 11 into ‘space’ and travels down the hall to room 237 (remember 237,000 mile journey from Earth to the Moon).

Last but not the least, the classic scene from the film where Wendy starts to see all of the supernatural horrors inside of the hotel. Here, we see the bear with one of the elitist party goers, and there is an uncanny resemblance.

That Bush Sr. reference is some story. Quite fascinating!

These are some hidden messages in this movie.These make The Shining much more scarier than we thought it is.

Characterization and Ideology of Characters in movie:-

There are primarily four characters in the movie :-

Jack Torrance an aspiring writer and caretaker of Overlook Hotel.
Danny Torrance, Jack's son and has ability to shine or communicate via telepathy and to sense the future.
Wendy Torrance the wife of Jack Torrance who later becomes victim of Jack's madness.
Richard Dick Hallorann is the head chef at Overlook hotel and he also has telepathic abilities through which he communicates with Danny Jack's son.

Other characters are:-

Manager Stuart Ullman of Overlook hotel who warns Jack about the hotel's reputation as a previous caretaker, Charles Grady, killed his family and himself 10 years ago.
A ghostly waiter who identifies himself as Delbert Grady meets Jack Torrence in the washroom of Gold Room who tells Jack that his son has the ability to shine ie using telepathy to communicate with other people and he has reached out to Dick Hallorann through that.This is a reference to Charles Grady esentially.
Lisa and Louise Burns,who played the ghosts of the murdered Grady daughters are identical twins.
Lloyd is the bartender in the Overlook Hotel.Jack found Lloyd in the lounge after he had already begun to succumb to the effects of the malevolent forces governing the hotel. He had forgotten that the building was empty but for he and his family. A recovering alcoholic, Jack ordered up a bit of the "hair o' the dog that bit me", which Lloyd gladly accommodated. Lloyd was a man of few words, but kept a keen ear towards Jack's voiced frustrations concerning his wife, Wendy, and young son, Danny. Maintaining a tight smile, Lloyd invoked the old adage, "Women: can't live with them, can't live without them".
Tony is, at first, a mere imaginary playmate.Tony is never shown in the film, leaving his appearance entirely to the imagination. He lives in Danny's mouth and hides in his stomach and "appears" to Danny by showing him a series of visions. He manifests himself through young Danny's finger wagging.
Larry Durkin was the proprietor of a Conoco gas station/convenience store in Sidewinder, Colorado. In November of 1980, Dick Hallorann spoke with Larry over the telephone before beginning his journey towards the Overlook Hotel, located nearby.

Ideology of Jack Torrance:-

Jack Torrance is a troubled writer struggling with finding purpose in his career and within his family. This, as Kubrick himself puts it, means that “Jack comes to the hotel psychologically prepared to do its murderous bidding. He doesn’t have very much further to go for his anger and frustration to become completely uncontrollable. He is bitter about his failure as a writer. He is married to a woman for whom he has only contempt. He hates his son. In the hotel, at the mercy of its powerful evil, he is quickly ready to fulfil his dark role.”As he is evil and reformed alcoholic trying to get rid of alcohol and once abused his son and broke his hand therefore he is consumed by the spirits of Overlook hotel to show evil side of his character which makes him psychotic and forces him to murder his son and wife like hotel's previous caretaker Charles Grady murdered his wife and twin daughters with an axe.

Ideology of Danny Torrance:-

He has the "shining", which allows him to detect spirits, thus making him a prime target of the Overlook Hotel. His ability also allows him to see past, present, and future events through his 'guide', Tony. Danny learns about his gift from the Overlook Hotel's cook Dick Hallorann, who also shares the gift.

Ideology of Wendy Torrance:-

Wendy Torrance is drawn, like many of King’s female characters, as a traditional wife and mother. Wendy has some psychological problems of her own: She is always unconsciously competing with her mother, who resented Wendy for the death of a younger sister, and who has derided her choice of Jack as a husband, and criticized the way she is rearing Danny. Wendy tries to be patient and understanding, but she has little pity or forgiveness for Jack (in this way she is her mother's daughter), forever reminding him of his failures. She does not trust her husband to be alone with Danny and competes with him for Danny’s affection. However as the situation deter at the Overlook, Wendy proves to be remarkably brave and resilient as she acts to protect herself and Danny from her insane husband and the malicious ghosts that haunt the hotel.

Ideology of Dick Hallorann:-

Dick was first introduced in The Shining, in which he worked as a cook at the Overlook Hotel. Like Danny Torrance, Dick possessed the gift called the Shining, and warned young Danny that the Overlook could be dangerous to those with the Shining. He later attempted to rescue the Torrance family after Jack Torrance became possessed by the hotel. Later he got killed by Jack Torrance by an axe.

The Shining ending explained:-

You've always been the care taker. I should know sir. I've always been here.”

That scene in the bathroom with Grady alludes to the final shot of the picture of Jack.

It could mean a number of things. I take it to mean people reinact the cycle of abuse and madness over and over again. It doesn't necessarily mean Jack was always the caretaker or he has been to the hotel before. But he always was in his mind. The hotel was a metaphor for his mental state. The place seemed like home to him because of it's isolation. The kind he always felt. Like with past inhabitants. Killing themselves in the bath. Or hacking their family up.

Or he was literally a reincarnation of one of the people that worked there. The picture is not him but his soul in another body from the past.

Or the hotel consumed him and added his picture was added to show that he will still be there. Part of the hotel's evil for all eternity.

Theories explained:-

There are many theories actually

a) The man on the picture may be his father, Mr Torrance. They reference him on the book, and Kubrick may have divided Nicholson’s role to be actually 3 people: Jack, his father and Danny (pretty weird)

b) Jack is trapped in the hotel, he got possesed by the hotel itself and their entities so much he became a part of it

c) The everlasting presence may be a symbol of the cycles of abuse that the family suffered over and over.

d) The portrait with all the famous people at the 4th of July ball may represent that the Overlook Hotel is actually a symbol of the creation of the United States over the Natives, and there are many references to support that.

Theory 1:-

Stanely kubrick said "The ballroom photograph at the very end suggests the reincarnation of Jack.”

That means that Jack Torrance is the reincarnation of a guest or someone on staff at the Overlook in 1921. This corroborates many theories involving Charles Grady, the man who went stir crazy and killed his family in the Overlook (which Jack is informed about during his interview for the position) was the reincarnation of Delbert Grady, the ghost butler Jack meets in the hotel bathroom. The Overlook seems to have the power to recall reincarnated versions of its past guests and employees. Delbert Grady tells Jack that he’s “always been the caretaker,” implying the hotel continues to revisit its past inhabitants. It keeps calling back Gradys and Torrances to offer them a good vs. evil scenario, and they choose evil.

Theory 2:-

A popular conflicting theory is that the photo is effectively a collage of all the guests the hotel has “claimed” over the year - when Jack dies, his spirit gets absorbed into the photo, and thus into the hotel’s history. Even though the reincarnation theory came directly from Kubrick, the absorption theory is still plausible.

Theory 3:-

This theory is very disturbing and makes movie quite scarier.Actually Jack was an evil man already and he sexually abused his son Danny.This is evident in the scene where Danny goes in Room 237 while playing and after coming back her mother wendy saw blood on his neck and he put his thumb in his mouth which he does while talking to his another personality tony.Also in one of the scene Jack was reading playgirl magazine justifying his character.Also on that cover of the edition it was written why parents sleep with their children.The Bear costumed man which wendy saw in the movie with owner of Overlook hotel had a homosexual relationship and he was in the same posture as his son Danny while brushing his teeth.Also danny 's pillow is also bear costumed and there were photos of two naked girls in the Jack's room.Also when Jack went in Room 237 after his son Danny was attacked to look into the room he saw a naked lady lying in bathtub.As he was an evil man therefore unable to control himself he started kissing the naked lady which then turned into ghost of Old lady .All this suggest that Jack was an evil person who sexually abused his son which wendy also realised in the end.