How does Stanley Kubrick adapt the “horror” in Stephen King’s novel The
Shining for the visual medium of film? Discuss with close reference to both
the novel AND Kubrick’s film.
This essay will examine key scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Stephen
King’s novel The Shining and the resulting portrayal of how the “horror” is portrayed
to the audience compared to the original novel.
The transformation of The Shining from the medium of text to the medium of film,
like most novel adaptations, translates Stephen King’s novel into a more concise form.
The purpose of this is to enable the audience to make their own judgements, guided
by Kubrick’s visual adaptation of the text. This is a common feature in the horror
genre, however more prevalent in the translation from novel to film.
In the book the narrator is omniscient, in the book that is portrayed by the thoughts of
the characters, such as, ‘Jack had done this, she had no doubt of it. … He was having
a breakdown of some kind.’ The way that Kubrick adapts this sequence to film is by
creating an idea through the use of shots, rather than Stephen King’s use of the
omniscient narrative to explain the thought processes of the characters. In the film
Jack has just admitted to having a dream where he murders both his wife and child
which sets the tone of the scene and creates the idea in the audiences mind that jack is
capable of hurting them. The scene then cuts to a steadicam shot of Danny entering
the room where his mother tries to defer him until realising something is wrong and
runs closer to him, Jack is left out of focus and far away which creates a sense of
distance between Jack and his family. Wendy finds bruises on Danny’s neck and she
turns to face Jack he is in the frame however out of focus from the back, this is to
convey that she has formed an opinion about Jack and the situation which is evidently
that Jack had caused the bruising to Danny’s neck, and then we see a close up of Jack
himself completely oblivious to his fatherly duties of caring for Danny, he is
consumed in thought by his own madness.
One of the most iconic scenes in Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining is where
the characters of Wendy and Danny’s safety is jeopardised by the realisation of a, now
psychotic, father and husband, Jack, is at the door to their sanctuary of the bedroom
attempting to break through with an axe. In King’s novel this scene is built up over a
series of frenzied attacks from the character of Jack on his wife Wendy while Danny
is asleep in their bedroom. Kubrick has adapted this by moving the threat immediately
to the bedroom scene where mother and son are supposedly safe. During this scene
the camera cuts between Wendy cradling her son, moving him in to the bathroom, and
Jack’s frenzied attacks on the door to the bedroom. By placing the characters of
Danny and Wendy in the bedroom setting Kubrick creates the imagery of predator
versus prey as the innocent parties are cornered and unable to escape.
Two of the most sacred bonds within human interaction are the paternal and maternal
instincts. By Kubrick choosing to show Wendy’s protection of Danny the imagery of
her intact maternal instinct is contrasted with the shots of Jack attempting to violate
his paternal responsibilities as he attempts to break down the door and kill his own
son. Kubrick plays on the fear of Wendy failing the maternal instinct to protect her
child; this is shown by the physical proximity of both Wendy and Danny. Wendy’s
frantic effort to protect her son is shown visually by her holding him to her bosom and
moving him physically to the bathroom.
During Jack’s short, inter-spliced scenes, the camera moves with the axe, making this
the focal point of the shot. The imagery of the axe is unique to Kubrick’s adaptation
as in the novel Jack is using a roquet mallet in an attempt to break through the door.
The horror of an axe is more immediate in the semantics of the minds of an audience
as it is a weapon seen in many horror films and the connotations of this being used as
a weapon conjures stronger imagery instinctually in the heads of an audience;
Kubrick’s adaptation therefore creating a more concise and immediate horrific climax
than demonstrated in King’s novel.
