Kubrick’s “The Shining” is an interpretation of a book written by Stephen King. The film depicts Jack Torrance’s gradual descent into madness through the influence of the Overlook Hotel. Involving his wife and son, the vast majority of the movie revolves around the three individuals in a massive space that is the hotel. I would characterize this movie as as psychological horror due to its eerie take on human feelings, emotions, drives and mind. Running two hours and twenty-six minutes, this film is very long but every minute is necessary to the develop the story. The movie’s plot itself is terrifying but Kubrick does an amazing job at keeping you on your toes mostly by his use of MES, cinematography and most of all sound.
This film is compromised many long shots and plays around with depth very well. I think it is a way to keep the audience at distance. The movie itself starts off with a very high angled long take and long shot of a car driving through the mountains. This makes the audience question where the car is going and how whatever the destination, it seems quite isolated. When the head of the hotel is showing the Torrance’s the halls, ballrooms and open spaces, we see them walking around from a far view. This aids in creating the sensation that the characters are very small compared to the hotel pointing at how isolated they will be the minute everyone leaves; the ceilings are high, the halls are long, the area is large, etc. One gets a feeling that we are not part of the family undergoing the horror but part of the Overlook Hotel; one just stares from a far without doing anything. A scene that resembles this is when Jack is writing in the main room and Wendy questions him about hurting Danny. Here we are at distance, which not only makes the character small (has to yell across room) and one distant but also enlarges the gap between Wendy’s sanity and Jack’s mania. Scenes where little Danny is riding his tricycle we seem to follow him around the halls of the Overlook Hotel; again not as part of the family but as accomplices to what occurs. Sometimes, little Danny turns around and it feels as if he is staring at you as one follows him. At any of these scenes, the movie is actually scary as in a violent action/chase is occurring; however, the tension is slowly rising and one is at the wait of something bad occurring which keeps on building the pressure.
There is a particular scene in the movie where object placement struck me. When the head chef, Dick, takes Danny for ice scream in the kitchen, in the background all the knives are pointing downward right above Danny’s head. This automatically foreshadows that a terrible thing is going to happen. In this same scene we learn what “the shining” is and the connection that Dick has with Danny as well as Tony’s (the little boy inside Danny’s mouth) role. This scene also foreshadows that Dick will somehow be involved later on in the movie. This is a way to use MES and themes to create horror without any gruesome action actually happening making this a psychological horror film.
I think that the strategy that Kubrick best employed to create horror was the use of sound. The score in this film is very high pitched and I find this even more daunting than a lower pitched sound. Even in scenes where nothing was really happening, the score was creating tension and an unworldly feeling. In scenes like when the family is being shown the hotel, I felt that the score would lead me to a climax and something would occur but it almost always led to a dead end. No action actually occurred for me to be at the edge of my seat and trying to listen for a cue ready to scream for most of the movie yet there I was. I took a class called the psychology of music and I remember discussing sounds that we cannot hear but feel and I wonder if Kubrick used this type of sound wave to maintain the audience in constant fear.
Between the precise MES, the cinematographic style and the high pitched sounds, this movie overall kept me at the edge of my seat and left me with very tense shoulders. Kubrick did an amazing job creating a horror film where fear is developed with the main characters gradual descent into madness. I would consider this film a psychological horror due to the stress/fear it causes not by gruesome graphics but by the manipulation of mental states and emotion.
I am not a fan of horror movies, but this one is worth the stress! Loved it!
-C.
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Claudia,
This is an excellent post on various aesthetic strategies Stanley Kubrick uses in The Shining to produce a sense of unease and horror in his viewers. As you persuasively argue, cinematography, MES, and sound are all key. Occasionally Kubrick will use these devices in ways codified by the horror film industry, but usually he defies expectations. For example, the score is eerie and reminiscent of classic horror film scores. But, as you say, he doesn’t use it in predictable ways; oftentimes we’ll hear sound that would typically be paired with a scare jump, but nothing happens. This is deeply unsettling for many viewers, because they can’t rely on the score to tell them what will happen narratively. I also really like your point about camera placement. You argue that the camera keeps its distance from the characters and instead aligns the viewer with the Overlook itself. That’s an interesting claim–as with the shot in Psycho where we merge with Norman and look through the peephole, here we are placed in the role of the supernatural antagonist, and that’s an uncomfortable position to occupy.
Very thoughtful post. I enjoyed reading it.
MT
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