Stanley Kubricks The Shining Essay examples -- Kubrick Shining Horror

Stanley Kubricks The flame (1980) initi whollyy received quite a bit of negative criticism. The dash irritated many Stephen King fans (and King himself) because it differed so greatly from the novel. The vivid also disappointed many filmgoers who expected a conventional slasher film. afterwards all, Kubrick said it would be the scariest standoff movie of all time.1 Kubricks films, however, neer fully conform to their respective genres they transcend generic expectations. In the same way that 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968) is not just an opposite outer-space sci-fi flick, The sparkle is not a typical horror movie. The monsters in The Shining broach not from dark wooded areas, but from the recesses of the mysterious human mind-in across-the-board day washy, at that. Perhaps Kubrick said The Shining is the scariest horror movie of all time not because it offers a bit of suspense, blood, and gore, but because it shines a light on the inherently evil nature of humankind on me ntal and sociological levels. After Kubrick bought the rights to Stephen Kings 1977 novel The Shining and hired novelist Diane Johnson to help salvage the screenplay, both Johnson and Kubrick read Freuds essay on The Un rear endny and Bruno Bettelheims book to the highest degree fairy tales, The Uses of Enchantment.2 Kubrick obviously wanted to surpass the intellectual depth of modern-day horror films such as The Exorcist and Omen. He said he was attracted to Stephen Kings novel because theres something inherently wrong with the human personality. Theres an evil side to it. sensation of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconscious we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly. 2 In graze to transfer his vision of the dark side to the screen, however, Kubrick had to substantially alter the allegory in Kings novel. With the help of Johnson, Kubrick threw out most of Kings ectoplasmic interventions-many ghosts, the de monic elevator, the deadly drainpipe, the swarming wasps, and the non-white hedge animals that come to life. Apparently Kubrick could not find special effects to animate the shrubbery in a satisfactory manner. 2 Kubrick also deal with virtually all of Jack Torrances troubled history and his gradual origin into insanity. Jessie Horsting, author of Stephen King at the Movies, said, I loathed The Shining when it fir... ...e film with a shot evocative of Michael S right aways Wavelength1 which moves down a corridor and into a photograph, after which a dissolve provides still closer scrutiny of the photograph. The photograph shows a grinning Jack at the Overlook Hotel July 4th Ball in 1921. The employment links Americas independence with senseless violence, and the image of Jack suggests that his sanity now exists only in the past, while his dark side remains quick-frozen in the snow-covered maze outside. In addition, as the film ends, Kubrick uses the leaden of applause to blend the contemporary movie audience with the twenties audience. The 1920s audience then begins to chatter as filmgoers would when exiting the theater. The contemporary audience members, therefore, commonly overlook this soundtrack-just as they overlook Native American genocide and other instances of humanitys violence against humanity. Thus, even through its final credit sequence, The Shining attempts to dissipate the complacency and security of the audience-to hold up a mirror to viewing audience to show them that they were and are the guests at the Overlook Ball. For this reason, perhaps, Kubrick said The Shining is the scariest horror movie of all time.