Hope you enjoyed this video! Read below for some extra tidbits + my sources: KUBRICK’S APPROACH TO GENERATING FEAR AND FREUD I wanted to mention that my first draft of this video included a ~20 minute discussion just on how Kubrick and Johnson approached horror. In my research, I learned a lot about how Kubrick meticulously approached the question of how to frighten people. He and Diane Johnson studied Freud’s essay on ‘The Uncanny’ where he tries to decipher what exactly evokes the “uncanny” sensation unique to horror and why. They also read classic horror literature to see what’s worked historically (e.g., Edgar Allen Poe). In my journey to decipher The Shining, I followed in their footsteps and read a lot of the same works (including ‘The Uses of Enchantment’). It was fascinating! And a lot of it made it into the first draft of this video but I realized it wasn’t really the topic at hand. All of that is about how they evoked the emotion of fear (and not just any fear but the “uncanny”/skin crawling sort of fear that takes just the right image, sound, or scenario to evoke). But, it doesn’t really get at the heart of what they wanted to say with that fear and that’s the topic of this video. If there’s interest, that may become its own video so we’ll see! - THE ORIGINAL POISON APPLE (DELETED SCENE) There’s a scene that was actually filmed but cut out of this movie. When Jack is suffering from writer’s block, he finds a book of old newspaper clippings in the boiler room. It details all the horrible things that have happened at the hotel in the past. The stories give him material for his manuscript and it finally gets him writing. That scene was cut out of the movie, BUT the prop lived… you can see it prominently sitting on his desk when he’s typing and Wendy interrupts. Diane Johnson didn’t actually know this scene was removed until she sat down in the theater to watch the movie for the first time. She was quite disappointed at that because in her mind, the book was the poison apple. Essentially, the Overlook Hotel offered Jack the book as writing inspiration but in exchange, it drove him into complete madness. That was the turning point after which Jack went totally off the deep end. I actually think Kubrick made the right call in taking out that scene. His philosophy seems to be that evil comes from within and should not be treated as something external. In my opinion, the book feels too much like externalized evil. E.g., Jack wouldn’t know that using the book for inspiration means selling his soul. So, it feels more like he was tricked by the ghosts and what lesson is to be learned from that? Don’t trust ghosts? Not very helpful in the real world. But, the bourbon offered by Lloyd works much better as the poison apple because it represents Jack knowingly betraying himself and his family. He knows that in the past alcohol drove him to hurt them but he chooses it anyway. To me, taking out the scene with the book uncluttered this idea and keeps the theme focused on the idea of evil from within. - 'THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT' PLAGIARISM I mentioned this book a couple of times in this video (because Diane Johnson mentioned it a few times in her interview with Catriona McAvoy, see source below). I felt it worth noting that this book has actually stirred some controversy… not for being inaccurate but for plagiarizing and some dishonesty! The author apparently stole significant portions of the book from others and claimed to work as a therapist for disturbed children… but apparently never did that. Regardless, the book has been well regarded for its ideas despite where they came from. And in this video, I don’t actually take many ideas from it… I used it more as a way to substantiate the claim that Johnson and Kubrick took inspiration from fairytale structure for THE SHINING. - SOURCES Stanley Kubrick interviews: www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.ts.html www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-06-21-8702160471-story.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nLyci8WElbmyoZ8.html Diane Johnson quote + Mentions of “The Uses of Enchantment”: ‘The Uncanny, The Gothic and The Loner: Intertextuality in the Adaptation Process of The Shining’ by Catriona McAvoy (doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apv012)

My friends thought The Shining was boring.. I coRRected them.

Just the fact that countless people are still trying to make sense of the movie and all of it's different meanings proves how great this movie is.

You hit the nail on the head in every respect but one imo: I think Danny's the protagonist. He's powerless for most of the film (and even absent for a bit when Tony takes over), but he saves himself and Wendy at the end, which even she couldn't do. Jack's a tragic figure, but he's the villain in the film unlike the book; less of a character to root for, and more like a bomb under the table the audience is waiting to explode from the very beginning. And since King was admittedly writing about himself, I think that's the change that makes him dislike this film so much.

"Monsters are real, ghosts are real too, they live inside us, and sometimes they win". ~Stephen King

Yes. In the book, Jack absorbed the Hotel's rage. In the movie, the Hotel fed off of his. As a surviving child of violent alcoholics, I can tell you that Kubrik's feels far, far closer to the real dynamic. Alcoholics/addicts will literally seek out family members who are leaving them alone in order to go into a rage against them. They carry their anger with them at all times and it must be fed on a regular basis. And, like their other addictions, the need for more and more rage increases over time in order to get the same satisfaction. It was only a matter of time before Jack exploded.

Jack, in the book, is an alcoholic. Lloyd, the bartender, represents resentment and alcoholism. Alcoholism is a major theme in the book.

So…I kind of disagree with what you say regarding “All work and no play…” Because, from my POV, Wendy was the one doing ALL the work. She was cooking, cleaning, taking care of/playing with Danny, taking care of the hotel (which was supposed to be Jack’s job). In fact, I can’t recall Jack doing anything in regards to the hotel upkeep. He spent his time playing hand ball, sitting at a typewriter, and just brooding, feeling sorry for himself…while his hatred for Wendy grows. I think he views being a husband and father as a job.

A scene that often gets overlooked is the scene where Jack is just sat on the bed, docile, like a zombie. When Danny asks his Dad why he doesn't just go to sleep if he's tired, he just responds "I can't, I've got too much to do". He wants to write, but when given the perfect environment to achieve this, he achieves nothing. He wasn't even looking after the hotel or spending time with his son, Wendy was doing everything for him. We've all been so overwhelmed with worry, responsibility, resentment, depression, bitterness and work... we do just sometimes find ourselves sat there doing nothing and ultimately achieving nothing. Stephen King knows Horror, but Stanley Kubrik knows people 💔

Jack’s hunger to escape being sober is so much that when he asks for bourbon he gets served Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, but real bourbon is from Kentucky, meaning he doesn’t care what it is after it’s being poured, he’s back to being the “real” Jack that’s been missing for “5 miserable months and all the irreparable harm it’s caused.”

I always saw it as a happy ending, as mother and son escape and Jack finds peace with new friends who won't judge him for enjoying a little debauchery and spirits.

I think the Overlook Hotel is like Silent Hill in the Silent Hill games. Both places are not actually the evil ones, but rather the places that reveal the evil within people. All the ghosts/monsters are just a psychological manifestation of people's evil that they live with or try to deal with in their lives. Dick Halloran said in the film the Overlook "shines" just like him and Danny, meaning it can imagine people's thoughts and memories like a psychic.

I love for movies to be layered with multiple meanings

There were also actually no ghosts that Jack was talking to since he was talking to them directly with mirrors behind them, they were reflections of his own personality, Lloyd at the mirrored bar, The young/old woman in Room 237, Delbert in the mirrored bathroom, Jack in the storage pantry talking to Delbert with the reflective metal door in front of Jack; when Jack walks to the ballroom and starts thrashing out, he does it each time in front of each mirror he walks past; Kubrick made it clear reflective surfaces are a main theme showing people’s true selves in The Shining

I think when you go for a job interview, if you want the job, you are supposed to agree happily to everything. "Yes, great, wonderful, fine, love it!"

In the movie the plot focused on Jack but I got the impression the book was more about Danny. Danny is psychic and is deeply connected to his parents. He is a victim of an alcoholic father and domestic violence. Jack hated himself for hurting everyone around him. The hotel amplified his addiction which drove him insane. This led to Redrum.

I just watched this legendary film tonight, and I feel he had no intention to write at all. When he lets Wendy have it for walking into the room and interrupting his “train of thought” I was blown away, I never noticed until now, in 2021, that as he begins to type, Jack begins to type three letters, space, four letters, space, three letters, space, the last is two, then space (all work and no) as the scene ends. His typing of the keys are the famous words Wendy finds in the third act of the movie. I believe Jack went there to repeat being the caretaker and he will always be the caretaker forever and ever and ever. Great post and it’s one of those films where you discover something new every watch.

Danny had an advantage in the labyrinth even as a child bc he PLAYED in it before. Jack was always WORKING when Danny & Wendy would play in the labyrinth. All WORK, no PLAY, makes Jack a DULL boy. He couldn’t figure out how to get out, this dying in the end & Danny escaping. Just wondering if anyone else thought this?

This was by far the BEST breakdown of The Shining and any other movie I have ever seen!!! I'm shocked it doesn't have more views! Exceptionally well done!!!

Yup. I think I read the same interview. Kubrick dispels a ton of theories. King didn’t like it because Kubrick made Jack responsible for his own action whereas King blamed outside forces. King wasn’t a shiny apple of a family man at the time so in my opinion he took Kubrick’s changes personal.

I think that the approach of making Jack evil from the get-go and having the Hotel essentially unlock his capacity for evil is much better than King's "tragic family man". The reason why is that I think it fits better into the idea of repetition/recurrence that the subject material focuses on. As I'm sure all of you are aware, the idea of recurrence is paired (at least for Nietzsche) with Amor fati- the desire to live your life the same way, again and again, and not resist your fate but rather pursue it. Nietzsche looked at amor fati positively- as being an impetus to live a life of adventure, of danger, of great projects, so that when you die, you say, "I want to do it all again". Of course, he wouldn't look at Jack Torrence as being a representation of the life he was trying to promote with the concept of Amor fati. Nevertheless, Jack is stuck in a cycle- he is always the caretaker and is reincarnated. And he takes up his fate of going to the hotel willingly and happily. And when challenged- he constantly refers back to his obligation to the hotel and his opportunity to ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING by being there- he sees the hotel and the fate it gives him as affirming himself, rather than trying to resist it. Overall, the idea that Jack is itching for the overlook hotel and its fate is far more believable given the fact that others have reacted to the concept of repetition calling to the love of fate.

Trauma, Trauma, Trauma, just like in real life. Virtually everyone has unresolved trauma on this planet. This movie portrays a facet of it.

Stephen King blamed the hotel for Jacks evil actions. Stanley took issue with that. The Bible quotes Jesus as saying "All things evil come from within". Kubrick was right to address this. Stephen King wants people to blame someone or something else for their wrongdoing. Stanley made it clear that if you kill someone in cold blood you have nobody to blame but yourself.

My theory is Jack in 1920s was the one who built hotel on Indian burial grounds or cemetery. Cursed to walk its halls forever and ever......leaving to find victims only to return to live his cursed existence. At end frozen. But died? Doubt it. Curse will happen over and over

This interpretation is very close to what I got from the movie. It is the reason that it scared the hell out of me on my first viewing a couple days ago. But it didn't make me scared of Jack, it made me scared of myself! As someone who's greatest fear is losing my mind and control of it, and someone who has struggled with mental illness for years, this film forces you to dredge up thoughts, experiences, and feelings that you DONT WANT TO!!! Also, I couldn't help but think that the film was intentionally filmed in a way to make it seem like you, the viewer, we're stalking the family (notice the little differences when stalking Jack vs stalking the other family members). This made me think that the POV might be from the hotel's "shining" spirit and hence the viewer themselves takes part in the film as the evil spirit. Pretty stinkin meta if that is the case but I won't elaborate on that.

I think there's an important metaphor in the hotel, which symbolizes society as a whole (not just human evil), the model maze inside the hotel which symbolizes society's model of "the ideal life", and the real maze which symbolizes the true journey of life and meaning. Jack never leaves the hotel until the end of the movie - he only watches the model of the maze. In other words, he never looks outside of society's box. Danny and Wendy go outside, play in the maze, etc., they explore meaning and life outside of the box of society - something which Jack isn't able to do. Instead, he is preoccupied with work. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. There's a serious overtone here that society's instrumentalization of people (having them "take care of the hotel" in exchange for false promises of happiness (the model maze)) turns them slowly mad. Jack eventually freezes to death in the real maze - he can't find the way out despite having watched the model maze inside the hotel. This symbolizes how society's "ideal life" image is a lie and fails to bring Jack fulfillment, instead filling him with bitterness, anger, etc. - it literally steals the warmth of his humanity away from him, freezing him solid.

"I'd give anything for a drink. I'd give my goddamned soul for just a glass of beer" thats the trade....

My take on the Kubrick’s The Shining: There were no ghosts in Kubrick’s Shining. Danny let Jack out of the dry-closet. Remember that Dani has a “friend” he calls Toney. And that Dani is always using his index finger pointing up when talking to him. This he got from Kellogg’s Toney the Tiger who in its commercial Toney the Tigger points up with one finger and says “THEY’RE GREAT!” Toney the Tiger is big and strong and admired by all his friends. This was a symbol of strength for little Danny. It was his alter personality. Note that when Danny is Toney he calls his mom Mrs. Torrance. Toney is Danni’s strong persona. And this Toney persona is the one who decides to kill Jack. Notice that in the begging of the movie Dani is watching the Road Runner. This is where Toney gets the idea to having Jack chase him into the maze. Like the road runner would do to the coyote. When Wendy knocks Jack out and drags him into the dry-closet you can see a Kellogg Frosted Flakes box with Toney the Tiger on it on the counter when she is dragging Jack in. Look for it; you can’t miss it. This is a sign Kubrick puts in telling us Dani is there listening. Just think. Where was Dani when Wendy was Crying and hits Jack with the bat and all that upheaval was going on. Dani was there listening. After hearing Jack pleading with his mom, Dani or Toney knew his mom would give in soon and let Jack out and if she didn’t, they would have to when winter was over and they had to leave. Then Jack would continue to molest poor Dani and abuse his mom. That’s right, Jack was molesting Danny. Dani was attacked by Jack in room 237 and made to perform falashio on him. That is why Danny had bruises on his neck. He told Wendy and old lady attacked him because Dani was scared. The old lady being a symbol for Jacks penis. Notice that when Wendy tells Jack an old lady attacked Danny, Jack’s look on his face shows he does not believe it at all. This is because he knows what really happened. Then in room 237 Jack remembers what he was imagining when Dani was performing the falashio on him and then came to the reality of what he really was doing and what the old lady really represented, him doing evil. And when Jack was having the nightmare was Jack lying. Jack did this to cover for his crime and to imply the threat of murder. What a piece of shit. Well, Toney wasn’t having any more of this. Dani’s alter ego put into action his plan. When he heard Jack talking to his Id or Shadow (Jung’s), he knew he had to act and let Jack out so that he could run him into the maze. Kubrick was a genius. All the supposed ghosts were the characters and their Shadows or Ids or alters. Jack was a man-child, the puer aeternus, that was completely irresponsible and could never amount to shit like a lot of people are. He never had what it took to be a writer. All he did was play the rich man in the hotel and pound his tennis ball around while Wendy took care of the place. When Wendy sees his work it all comes forward-the man-child jack really is. Jack did try but he always let “The Imp of the Perverse” get the better of him-like most do with their dreams and aspirations. And he was a child molester. Danny, I mean Toney took care of it. I have seen this movie so many times I have lost track; and I will continue to see it until I die. Kubrick’s The Shining is giant and just like the three little pigs it will be watched over and over again until man ceases to exists

Great video, well explained! I also saw a theory on YT about the shining. He explained that the whole story revolves around sexual abuse towards Danny. This is noticeable from many scenes. Both the scene where he enters the hotel lobby with his clothes ripped to pieces. and the scene where everything is revealed. You see the bear lying on the bed with the butler bent over him. This bear was also seen in Danny's bedroom at the very beginning. Also the ball that roles towards Danny while he's playing with his cars. The same ball Jack was throwing.. Oh man.. this movie is so genious.

I always assumed the Shining was about inheriting your father’s demons. Figuratively and literally. Jack was a dysfunctional, arguably previously abusive alcoholic. Both physically and sexually. The hotel just helped to physically manifest his psychological troubles into the eyes and experiences of his family and lead him into a homicidal state. His inner monsters came into fruition through himself and on to his wife and child, damaging them both; His son has the same Shining that he does.

Bravo! After all of the commentaries I have read and listened to, this is the most sensible, comma sensitive, comma and clear analysis I have ever heard!! Thank you so so much for such an accurate analysis of a movie and story that I simply love. Please follow up this analysis by discussing Doctor Sleep.

A good family man who dislocated his son's arm in a fit of drunken rage before the hotel. Yeah ok.

I love when a new video about The Shining arrives for viewers to watch, thanks. What a series of moving images to talk about and absorb the potential meaning of what the meditation of evil that resides within us can drive us towards

_"The point of The Shining is you're supposed to identify with Jack"_ I didn't identify with Jack.

Another theory is that Jacks alcohol problem never stopped after the Dany incident. It was the isolation at the overlook hotel with LACK of alcohol that drove him crazy and made him hallucinate. Otherwise Wendy and Dany would have seen him drinking. We know for a fact that no alcohol was left in the hotel by mr ullman himself. So I don’t agree with the theory that alcohol drove him mad, but the lack for it and hallucinations of wanting to drink again. With other words he gave in to the ghosts of the overlook since Jack has the shining himself and alcohol takes it away (as we see in dr sleep). the hotel never wanted jack, it wanted Dany but used jack as a tool to get him but failed. Jack is a ghost in live form driven to the overlook just like Grady and all the others that committed crimes there. But I do agree with the theory that Kubrick shows the evil inside a man already and what could make him snap

No one has ever gotten the message is an understatement. Thank you. I miss these the most by you. The philosophy. I can't even watch the film after listening to this book and No Country for Old Men every week for almost seven years, I never stop learning something new. I miss who King use to be, and who Kubrick was.

something I recently noticed, the bathroom in the "apartment" they show in the beginning of the film is very clean. At the end of the movie with the murderous Jack on the rampage, the bathroom is very much in need of a deep clean. There is dirt and mildew, and what looks like mold, covering surfaces, like it hasn't been cleaned in years - not a few months. There are even chips and damage on the door (before the axe treatment). Cleanliness has not been maintained by the Torrances.

I think it's one of the reasons why King hates the movie. Cause King himself identifies as the protagonist. He is a good man, atleast wants to be percieved that way. But the movie showed that he was done way before he came to the hotel, and that makes King look unapologetic.

Its mind blowing to see all the details that went into this apparent genius in the movie field.

Really enjoyed this assessment! Also just a side note: not much scares me. I’ve been watching horror from literally younger than I can remember (which was probably not good for kids LOL). But that scene with the “bathtub hag” scared me to death for years!

when Grady lets Jack out of the storage room is Exactly when you CAN argue the ghosts are real there's zero evidence that the ghost inhabiting the Overlook are manifestations of Jack's weaknesses ....if they're Jacks weaknesses then how is his wife able to see them?? What would the meaning be of a guy in a bear costume giving head to a poofter in tails mean in terms of jacks own weaknesses? The drink Jack accepts is like the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden, by partaking of the drink, he's accepted the terms and conditions of the evil that lives at the Overlook he's given them dominion over himself....and they council him towards the ultimate evil

I read the book before the movie came out and it was really frightening , I enjoy all of Kubrick’s films a big part being how they were filmed the look , sound, editing , lighting etc almost like walking through an art exhibit thanks for sharing your excellent analysis

Jack hurts danny before they get to the overlook in the book as well. He’s already a bad person. He beat up a student when he was a professor and that’s why he lost his job and turned to alcohol in the first place. He hurt danny as a form of punishment and he does it more than once? I’m confused how he’s meant to be a good family man

The scene where Jack rages at Wendy for interrupting him as he typed was a dream/delusion in the film. The frame after Wendy leaves confirms this and Kubrick deliberately removed the chair in the background to tip off the viewer that something was different.

I don't watch these types of videos to see where I disagree. I watch these videos because I enjoy seeing what others take from a movie and fiction in general. This was very well done and well thought out.

Jack is a far more sympathetic character than one might at first realize.

Domestic violence is what I see the most out of this film. The ghost are a visual aid that shows the horrors for which the family endures while experiencing the violence.

I’ll speak to the movie since it’s been decades since I read the book. It helps IMO if you recognize the hotel as being alive. The hotel is the villain, and Wendy seeing the apparitions at the climax demonstrates that it has fully come to life. Jack spent too much time alone within the hotel and was more susceptible to its influence than the others. The question is what force brought Jack and the hotel together

Barry Nelson and Scatman Crothers scenes were my favorite from the movie I could listen to them talk about anything for hours

The hotel they stayed at was called the Overlook Hotel but this story is based on an actual hotel that is believed to be haunted and where Stephen King stayed called the Stanley Hotel.

The most iconic scenes were based on a hotel in Yosemite National Park, The Ahwahnee Lodge. Went there when I was 9 years old and recognized it immediately.

Your analysis is so thorough. Outstanding.

The most concise take on this film I’ve ever seen.

"No beer and no TV make Homer something something ..."

Jack never drank any alcohol. There was no alcohol left in the hotel; Thats was all in his imagination -- you can tell because as soon as he takes his first swig of the spirits he acts drunk. Noone gets drunk that fast. It's instantaneous.

I love these well thought out very insightful takes about film as they relate to the human condition. I watched this and the Castlevania one back to back. I hope you do more with other films and shows. You’ve gained a huge fan in me. Looking forward to more great takes.

Like every movie ever made, The Shining, at it's core, is about Hot Pockets. It's essentially a deep allegory for the frustration one feels when the outside and/or from one to all four of the corners are burning hot while the filling is ice cold. Again, every movie, when you break them down into their component parts, is about Hot Pockets. Even, or rather ESPECIALLY, movies made before Hot Pockets came onto the market are about Hot Pockets. Of course the message of an allegorical movie about Hot Pockets in the 1950s such as Ben-Hur is going to be quite different from a satirical take on the glaring inequality of Ham and Cheese with other kinds of Hot Pockets. Even with that said, movies are ultimately about Hot Pockets. That's why the US is the Hot Pocket-est nation on Earth. Viva la Pocket!

I believe that the film is subjectively open to interpretations based on the deliberate continuity errors and misleading set design of the hotel’s interior and exterior by Kubrick to trick the audience. If you observe the scenes throughout carefully it has various elements of a dysfunctional family related to trauma,alcoholism,abuse,lust,denial and violence projected by the visuals created within the characters minds. In addition another fascinating factor about the direction is the foreshadowing of scenes through symbolisms and props as if they are setting the tone for the upcoming events like jack playing with the ball in the lobby and colorado lounge as axe swinging and murder of Dick Hallorann. My interpretation is the chain of violence throughout history shown in the film.

In the book no explaination is given for the Overlook's dark history, whereas in the movie the Overlook is revealed to be cursed by being built on Indian land. Also in the book the hotel manager-Stuart Ullman-is depicted as an arrogant, rude, self centered man who makes no secret of the fact that he throughly dislikes the Torrances (though the hotel board is pressuring him to employ them anyways)-whereas in the film Barry Nelson portrays Stuart Ullman as any Tom, or Dick or Harry bland, one note character who has no opinions of the Torrences one way or the other. The movie had a deleted epilogue in which Wendy Torrance ends up with Stuart Ullman (Shelley Duvall with Barry Nelson??? Uh uh. Can't see it!) In the book Jack Torrance's mental instability/drinking problem has it's origin with Jack's abusive childhood at the hands of his violent father (in one scene he remembers his dad striking a woman at a dinner table and causing her to be seriously injured). But alas the film left that out.

Great interpretation of my FAVORITE film. We all have a little of Kubrick’s Jack Torrence in us - and THAT is what makes the Shining (movie) so scary🙏

Sweet! Can't wait to see your take on this one, Gil!

Excellent. There is so much twaddle written about this fil; this is clear, thoughtful, and - in my humble opinion - accurate.

Amazing research and great explanation. Shining is one of my favorites.

The bar scene in "Passengers" looks suspiciously like the one in The Shining.

Awesome interpretation. Makes more sense than alot of theories about this film.

Thank you, One Take, for this balanced analysis. I'd like to add somethings from my own analysis: 1. Kubrick always gave his mature films a double dimension: one individual small-scale dimension, centered on the main character development (here the Torrance family's drama); and the other a large scale dimension representing humanity, or in the Shining specifically, America itself. There is virtually no shot in the film where red+blue don't appear (though I must say Kubrick uses this curious color palette since his first color film, 2001); 2. About the ghost being real or not "in the film", Kubrick made it clear he used a concept from the TV film "Blue Hotel" where one character played by David Warner is apparently a paranoid but, after being killed in a duel after slandering his card opponent of cheating, we find that he was really being cheated in the game. Similarly in The Shining the ghosts are eventually taken as real as they "unlock" the pantry door for Jack (though, to add to the ambiguity, we only hear it being unlocked). The ghosts are real not in a conventional way but as an allegorical fairy tale, since I believe, as you too apparently, that the ghosts here are projections from the id subconscious of the characters. Bathrroms being Kubrick quintessential place for the human repressed thoughts to manifest themselves, but here with the Overlook Hotel being a isolated hotel with lots of rooms, the ghosts have more space to wander. The Shining is Freudian film, not Jungian (like Full Metal Jacket); 3. The Uncanny essay by Freud used by Kubrick and Johnson is a curious one, since it gives a blueprint of how the uncanny can be expressed in dreams or in fiction. The way it manifests itself is by generating an unpleasing feelings when we see not strange but familiar situations. That is, it is a strangement in the familiar, the habitual day-to-day reality of a American family unit. Also this allegorical dream reality is revealed by the use of repetitions of names, numbers, images, etc. In The Shining repetitions abound: colors, number 2, phrases, situations, doubles, that I'll let for you to find since I am extending mysel already in this comment.

Excellent Analysis! Good Job Thank you from Denver NC

Great analysis of the film! I've just started the book. Will have my complete view when I finish it. Def loved ur vid! Got a like, comment and share!🤘🎸🤘🍻🍻🖖

I always got the feeling this was the prequel to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Thank You Sir. A superb easy to digest breakdown of a film I could never actually watch myself, even though Ihave wanted to.Thumbs up!

“All work and no Play makes Jack a dull boy” is an old school typing exercise. It’s meant to test your agility on an old typewriter. The repetitious writing of this wrote phrase is King’s externalization of the main character’s decent into madness.

Brilliant analysis. You nailed the quintessence of this great movie - summarizing all the different interpretations out there I fully agree with all your points.

Kubrick said the film suggests reincarnation...not that it contains reincarnation. We also know that we can't take reincarnation literally, since Jack Torrance was born before Charles Grady died. The main characters are Jack, Wendy, Danny/Tony...and more peripherally Dick Hallorann. Others have suggested another character...The Overlook Hotel itself. I propose another character...The Caretaker. The Caretaker is the manifestation of The Overlook. Charles Grady, Jack Torrance, etc. are embodiments of that manifestation. This helps to explain how Jack has always been The Caretaker. Delbert Grady, who has alway been there, could be a manifestation of The Overlook itself. Another interesting thing is that Jack is frozen. Come spring will Jack thaw out? Perhaps Jack is dead, but The Caretaker will be released. The Overlook is always looking for the next person to become The Caretaker.

Really great analysis. Thank you. An inspiration: there seems to be similar themes going on in the 2019 movie 'into the Labyrinth' Parallels being e.g.: labyrinths (the hotel itself is a 'labyrinth'), the importance of mirrors, the room number 23 is used for almost all rooms in into the Labyrinth like the focus on 237 in Shining , how darkness influence us , the hidden hints in both movies about deeper layers I am brewing on an analysis of this to be shared on my channel ..

Some great analysis you've done there. I saw the film first day, first showing and the original ending was very much different. In that ending Kubrick went out of his way to make it clear that as Wendy says, "Oh Danny, he doesn't remember a thing." Sort of implying Danny is doomed to repeat the sins of his father. Two: questions, what is the significance of Halloran's warnings. Three: what are the significance of the periodic title cards that count down to Jack's explosion?

According to the novel The Shining; Jack Torrance was bad from the get go. The haunted Overlook Hotel just acted as a catalyst for Jack Torrance’s murderous rage.

in the book, Jack purposefully hid the boiler situation from the entity possessing him, allowing the hotel to blow up as a redemption arc. I think the lack of that is what made SK mad.. that and lack of the diary, the blackmail threats.. it's a good movie, but it lacks the depth in the book. [edit] And while the Native American bit is mentioned in the movie, it's absolutely not in the book.. Kubrick was just using the Poltergeist trope..and it's kinda infuriating.

Disagree with this interpretation. Jack said his wife and kids could handle being in the hotel is a stock answer to give at a job interview. What is he goign to say? That because someone got killed years ago that his family won’t be able to stay five mo the alone in a hotel? Jack in the movie is a good dad to Danny. But there are some underlying issues tied to his alcoholism and you can tell he has a lot of resentment towards his wife. He’s dismissive of her. He’s condescending. He thinks she’s a bitch who won’t ever forget that he hurt Danny. But as he tells Lloyd the bartender it was an accident. And it appears that it was. So I don’t buy that he would have killed his family had he not gone to the hotel. When he’s driving the car to the hotel he is not very dismissive of his wife or his son when they are talking about the donner party. He laughs that Danny knows about cannibalism but that isn’t a sign that he is a monster. The first time he lashes out at Wendy is when she interrupts him while he’s writing and he tears her a new asshole. It’s so mean and dismissive that it take her aback. But if he was like that all the time prior to going to the hotel would she have ever approached her husband to ask her how he was doing and offering to make him a sandwich? She would know that approaching him in that way would be something she wouldn’t do Becuase he would have lashed out at her like that before. So being in the hotel amplified whatever resentment he had towards his wife and made it murderous. Had he not been in the hotel he would probably just be cranky. But not more than that. Additionally, when he tells her he had Deja vu and it was like he had been in the hotel before they are having an intimate conversation where jack exhibits no anger at his wife and she doesn’t expect that he would lash out at her the way he did when she interrupts his writing later. If he had such a bad relationship with his wife prior to going to the hotel they wouldn’t have had that initial conversation because Wendy wouldn’t be comfortable enough to let her guard down with jack to even talk to him in a friendly manner. Not saying that jack would be the father of the year had he not gone to the hotel. And not saying that he probably wasn’t an asshole to his wife even before he went to the hotel. But I don’t think it was inevitable that he’d kill his family but for the fact that he went to hotel.

Great explanation! Creative and extensive. Good job!

Really incredible analysis…. The vulnerability to evil message was succinct and brilliant… thank you

AWESOME! You made this video ON MY BIRTHDAY & The Shinning is one of my all time favorite movies! I love Jack Nicholson!!

the Shining is about a guy that "would sell his soul for a drink". the evil obliges in the form of Lloyd the bartender, who purchases the aforementioned soul with the bourbon. after the drink... the evil has taken over and goes after Wendy and Danny.

This was a brilliant analysis! Excellent job!

This is the most plausible meaning of the shining imo thank you.

Great video. I would love for you to post and do a video about the 20 minute discussion just on how Kubrick and Johnson approached horror. It would give more insight to this film. I agree about your fairy tale comparison. But i don't think there were any ghosts at the Overlook. Jack was drunk. He would see/hear illusions of ghosts when he was in front of a mirror or reflective surfaces. Hence, the reason why we are led to believe Grady let him out of the Storage room (reflective door). We see the ghosts because we are watching the film the perspective of the ironic protagonist, Jack. Go back and study his facial reaction when he took his first drink. That is the EXACT expression that he had when he was frozen to death in the snow. I'm not sure what the connection is but it is related to his alcoholism. Cheers =)

I think if you looked at the reviews when the movie first came out, you would see that people didn't think Jack was that bad at first, they liked Jack. They knew the story, they blamed the hotel. Jack never shows any fondness for Danny, that is true. But he does show some for his wife up until the the ball against the wall scene. People may have complained Jack went nuts too fast. Kubrick always got a lot of flack for his movies. People didn't get what he was doing.

Ya but the “All work and no play…” aspect was straight from the book. That wasn’t Kubrick focusing on something people could relate to. If anything it was King doing so. Also, Jack had hurt Danny in the backstory of the book too. He just felt really guilty about it, whereas movie Jack showed no remorse at all.

Interesting and very fine analysis. Here's something I've noticed, though. I've read the book. I've seen the film. And I've seen quite a number of KZfaq videos analyzing the film. They all have their own takes, and all of those takes are, for the most part, valid. Or, at least, they all have some validity to them. So I have two takeaways from all of this. 1 - The Shining has more depth as a film than most other films. 2 - It may be that The Shining serves as a Rorschach Test for each and every viewer/analyst. What do you see when you watch and think about this film? Then that's what the film is about. It's about us. And maybe that's the true horror.

It is that house as well. Something In Jack's energy(His patriarchal nature perhaps) matched the energy of the place. But it's the house which bring's it up to the surface. The more time he spend's there, the more he act's like a lunatic. Those "ghosts" probably can't murder the innocent out of Karmic Law but they can prod a "twitchy" guy into choosing to do it. A place's "negative" energy need's to feed off people's energy in order to survive. It's vampiric + can have an invasive effect when it finds someone with a similar vibration. It trigger's his addiction to make a Soul CONtract or Karmic agreement. There's no alcohol there but they're called "spirits" for a reason! It can lower a person's mental to(le)rrance + let in doppleganger Johnny Carson's 😊 or percolate old "entity" attachments? There is a momentum to it too. As there is with isolation. Jack says 'I'd never hurt you Danny, I love ya." That's the most accepted + common response. But the longer they're stranded, the more he drops society's standards. He "drinks," is more hostile + bangs a ghost behind his wife's back...etc! He almost seem's to be inhabiting 2 conscious states too. His normal, awake state + a more "ethereal" one. He either shut's down in denial, lies or isn't much aware of his other 'state' until it's influence takes over completely + inhabits him. Where does that "evil" go when we die? Do we have to reincarnate until we accept that "evil" + choose to not let it consume us? Rather than deny or repress it until it control's us subconsciously + then trigger's us into murdering our so-called beloved? That's how I see it anyway. There is something out there but it only feed's, uses + controls our own "evil" to do it's bidding.

I think yours & others analysis of Jack Torrence at the beginning of the film, in some ways, is “seeing what you want to see” & also applying a more “modern take” on how family dynamics are portrayed in film & in real life compared to what they were in the past. The “Jack” in the movie interactions with his family, up until the typewriter seen, very much reminds me of my Father, while I was growing up in the 70’s to the 80’s. Men were “Men” & were much less openly affectionate with their families and in general.

A well executed assessment. Bravo!

Dick Halloran is also a character, the same character, in the book IT. King was building a universe even back then.

This is what I got from the movie too when I saw it for the first time last night. TL;DR The hotel feeds off your evil and your evil feeds off the hotel. Those with the shinning are easier targets cause that negative energy can communicate with them more directly. Almost as though the evil and negative energy that has been in the hotel and even part of the hotel's origins itself almost becomes sentient and gets stronger when met with more evil or potentional for evil and in turn, that evil within us is strengthened. Just as the chef said, some (those with the shinning) can see these things more than others. I believe that the shinning exists on a spectrum, some have it stronger than others, Danny obviously having it very strong within him. I believe that Jack also had it though and the sentient evil energy took advantage of this to tempt and further corrupt Jack. Danny meanwhile, probably being a child was not nearly as easy to corrupt. Wendy doesn't see the paranormal stuff in the hotel until far later which makes me think that average people can't see it unless that demonic or evil pressence is extremely high. The chef speaking of which only works in the hotel when it's open for business and can still see or sense what is wrong with the place while the space is occupied by tons of people and their varying energies constantly going in and out of the hotel. That demonic energy has a harder time flourishing the more people and activity is there. With a family of 3 though, honing in on a target is far easier. Not to mention the effects that isolation had on their psyche. Speaking of which, Kubrick is something else. Like he turns and treats people like objects for the sake of art. Putting the actors in The Shinning through mental and emotional abuse so that energy and those reactions would come out on the big screen. That's just chilling to me.

Gil, What an outstanding analysis! My favorite horror/thriller of all time! ❤️❤️

Excellent breakdown, thanks for the video! 👍

the sub plot is the hotel is the usa, ullman is the potus talking the place up (the usa flag on his desk)- he even says 'its SUPPOSED to be built on an indian burial ground, and not 'its supposedly built', he says they had to fight off indians to build the place, he says 'all the best people / film stars etccome here' wendy asks royalty? he doesnt say yes. the murder of scatman represents the terrible historical treatment of aa's, the date of the ball at the end- 4th of july. the usa is forever haunted by its violent founding past.

Very well done! Concerning how many annoying KZfaq-"experts" are out there trying to "explain" this movie, your video is the very first one that actually hits the spot. I'd edit one more layer of interpretation: according to several interviews, SK actually believed in paranormal phenomena. Although I find this fact about the genius of Kubrick a bit strange, it helped me to accept that the ghosts in this movie are meant to be "actually there" and not just the family's isolation-induced hallucinations. Concidering the immoral history of the hotel itself (as described in your fine video here), I'd connect the actual appearance of the ghosts with the reason WHY exactly the hotel is cursed. Meaning, Jack - as the privileged white man - has "always been there", just because he carries the bloody fate of his ancestors in a way. To me as an atheist/realist, this is a reconciliation and validation of the ghosts to be taken seriously. Besides that, I agree that the mentioned Jungian psychological ambivalence of Good and Evil is the most important factor in The Shining (as contextualized in other masterpieces such as Clockwork Orange or Full Metal Jacket, too)

Jack being agressive and angry before getting to the hotel has always bothered me, but your point of view is very interesting!

i never took the ending as that...It makes soo much sense though. I always tried to make it seem like soo soo much more but thats very spot on

I think Jack indeed does resent and despise Wendy, the way he belittles her to her face, and his even more vicious words about her to others. I don't think he resents Danny, at least not in the same way, but is frustrated by a family he never really wanted. Jack was abused as a child. Therefore, the likelihood of abusing his own child is significantly higher. If Jack is cognitive of this, it would imply that Jack doesn't despise Danny, but is aware that he's not "Father Material". Ultimately Jack attacks Wendy. No Wendy, no Danny, no soul-crushing responsibility to provide for them both. This is made pretty clear in Jack's bar scene monologue in "Dr. Sleep". He hated the shackles and responsibilities of fatherhood and of being a husband. Which, for better or worse, is a very common theme in the "American Nuclear Family" of decades past, which now has led to a sharp decline in marriage altogether.