'The Shining' (1980) - Film Review

Figure 1: The Shining 1980 [Original Poster]

This review analyses Stanley Kubrick’s well-known psychological horror film The Shining (1980), explicitly focusing about Sigmund Freud’s theory of the uncanny and how this is used within the film, to create the psychological horror within the film. Referring to the works of Freud and his essay The Uncanny (1919), K, Craig’s video documentary The Uncanny Shining (2013) looking at how the uncanny is symbolically represented within the film, Marty’s writings entitled All Work and No Play Makes Sigmund a Dull Boy: Freud’s “The Uncanny” and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (2017) focusing on how the film evokes fear through the use of the uncanny, Stephent1993’s essay on The Shining 2017 Update: Freud’s Uncanny and The Concept of Scare (2017) and how the uncanny is further used to evoke fear in the audience, lastly looking at, Totally Vexed’s online video document Freud on: The Shining (2016) centring around how the uncanny is shown through scene within the film. This review will explain Freud theory of the uncanny, and how this is used within the film’s cinematography to evoke a new form of horror within the film.

The Shining focuses on the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who agrees to become the care taker of the Overlook hotel, which has a long, violent past. Jack brings his family along, and together they experience uncanny situations. Meanwhile Jack slowly gets more violent and angry towards his wife (Wendy) and son (Danny). Danny tries to use his talent referred to as “Shining” to help contact people of the outside, of the danger that happens from within the walls of the isolated hotel. (Golden. J. S. (N/A))

The uncanny is a term first addressed in Sigmund Freud’s publication The Uncanny. “In his 1919 essay Das Unheimliche, Sigmund Freud defines two key German words Unheimliche, and heimliche. Heimliche translates as canny and homey, and unheimliche translates as uncanny or unhomely” (Totally Vexed, (2016)). Uncanny itself Is a psychological experience in which someone experiences something as strangely familiar, that isn’t just mysterious. The uncanny can be encountered in an unsettling way which is clear in The Shining.

Kubrick’s The Shining, really played with the concept of the uncanny using it to enhance the psychological aspect of horror within his film, even in post-production, “American novelist Diana Johnson, who co-wrote the screen play with Kubrick, notes that before they began, they studied Sigmund Freuds’ The Uncanny (1919).” (K. Craig. (2013)) Through looking into the uncanny Kubrick was then able to incorporate the uncanny in different ways into his film, one of them being through the means of cinematography, where he uses a lot of one-point perspective.

In order to create the uncanny effect, Kubrick first makes a pretence to realism, and in doing so makes the viewer believe the conditions of what is being narrated. From this, Kubrick then creates a divergence between reality, and the fantastical events that take place within the film. This is done by removing the audience for their ordinary, initial assumptions that emerge from the first initial sight of the Overlook hotel (see fig 2). To do this Kubrick uses film techniques that create an uncanny vantage, as it combined both fantasy and reality through an illusion of space and time, all within the familiar settings of the ‘ordinary’ hotel.  For example, at the beginning of the film, the camera aligns with the ordinary landscape of the hotel, through this simplistic vantage point, Kubrick intends to promise truth. (Totally Vexed (2016)) This links with Freuds explanation of the uncanny, as “uncanny atmosphere what would otherwise be innocent enough, and forces upon us the idea of something fateful and unescapable.” The Uncanny (Freud, S (1919)).

Figure 2:  The entry to the Colorado Lounge, camera aligning with landscape of the hotel The Shining (1980)

However, once guests begin to leave the Overlook hotel, leaving the Torrance family isolated, camera angles begin to change.  “The viewer is introduced to a new camera angle, which is shown to break this promise” (Totally Vexed (2016)).  This concept is first shown when Danny first sees two uncanny twins while playing darts. (see fig 3) Danny turns and looks at something out of the camera frame, then camera zooms to focus on Danny’s reaction (see fig 4), yet there is no response emotionally shown by Danny, the camera then shows us the two unknown twins, indicating how their appearance is somewhat uncanny to him, increasing the concern of the audience. (see fig 5)

Figure 3: Danny turning look at something outside of camera frame The Shining (1980) 

Figure 4: Camera zooms to see Danny’s reaction The Shining (1980) 

Figure 5: Camera captures the two twins, one-point perspective The Shining (1980) 

 The uncanny is also shown within the cinematography through breaking the barrier between the third person view and first. “The Barrier between the third person and the first-person perspective slowly fades away as the camera moves forward. The effect of this makes the viewer feel as if they are walking down the hallways, which is Kubrick’s way of establishing an element of homeliness within the hotel.” This is clearly depicted once again with the character of Danny, and the twins.  Danny is on his bike riding down the halls, with the camera placed behind him following along, still using one-point perspective. The camera then fades into first person as we focus on the twin, and slowly his face reaction (see fig 6). “(The Shining) Instead drills a sense of horror and dread into them that they cannot quite understand or identify with, primarily through atmosphere.” (Stephent1993. (2017)) meaning that Danny doesn’t quite understand what he is seeing making the situation as a whole uncanny.

Figure 6: The camera switching to first person The Shining (1980)

To conclude, the horror aspect of the film, is truly enhanced through the use of the uncanny. “It is Kubrick’s incorporation of the viewer through his cinematography, that establishes the presence of the uncanny and thus becomes the films true source of horror”. (Totally Vexed (2016)) By taking a different psychological approach to horror, Kubrick leaves the audience horrified on a conscious and unconscious level. 

Harvard Illustration List

Figure 1: The Shining 1980 [Original Poster] S. Bass. (1980). The Shining. Available: https://filmartgallery.com/products/the-shining-3  Last accessed 07/12/2018.

Figure 2:  The entry to the Colorado Lounge, camera aligning with landscape of the hotel The Shining (1980). Juli Kearns. (N/A). AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF STANLEY KUBRICK'S FILM THE SHINING - CLOSING DAY. Available: http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/shining_closing_day.htm  Last accessed 02/12/2018.

Figure 3: Danny turning look at something outside of camera frame The Shining (1980) N/A. (N/A). Physical Cosmologies: The Shining Part 2 (excerpt). Available: http://www.mstrmnd.com/log/865. Last accessed 08/12/2018.

Figure 4: Camera zooms to see Danny’s reaction The Shining (1980) shiningmovie. (2008). Danny's First Siting of the Grady Sisters. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEViaacw9LM. Last accessed 08/12/2018.

Figure 5: Camera captures the two twins, one-point perspective The Shining (1980) shiningmovie. (2008). Danny's First Siting of the Grady Sisters. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEViaacw9LM. Last accessed 08/12/2018.

Figure 6: The camera switching to first person The Shining (1980) Jacobson, M. (2013). Know What The Shining Is Really About’: Inside the Crowded Cult at the Overlook Hotel. Available: https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-shining-cult-at-the-overlook-hotel.html. Last accessed 08/12/2018.

Bibliography

Craig, K. (2013). [Online] The Uncanny Shining KCraig. Available: https://vimeo.com/64542975  Last accessed 05/12/2018.

Freud, S. (1919). [Book] The Uncanny. Imago: N/A.

Golden. J. S. (N/A). The Shining (1980). Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/plotsummary Last accessed 08/12/2018.

Marty. (2017). All Work and No Play Makes Sigmund a Dull Boy: Freud’s “The Uncanny” and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Available: https://marty28blogs.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/all-work-and-no-play-makes-sigmund-a-dull-boy-freuds-the-uncanny-and-kubricks-the-shining/  Last accessed 07/12/2018.

Stephent1993. (2017). The Shining 2017 Update: Freud’s Uncanny and The Concept of Scare. Available: https://stephenonfilms.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/the-shining-2017-update-freuds-uncanny-and-the-concept-of-scare/  Last accessed 05/12/2018.

Totally Vexed. (2016). [Online] Freud on: The Shining. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyypK2GKBW4  Last accessed 05/12/2018.