Stanley Kubbrick The Shining Analysis

The well-known director, Stanley Kubrick, did a brilliant adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Although he did maintain certain concepts, such as the idea of expanding to the west for new opportunities, he made numerous alterations to the novel in the presentations of these themes (King, The Shining: pg. 7, par. 1, & pg. 17, par. 6 & Kubrick, “The Shining”). Instead of Grady wielding the ax, when Jack finally went mad, Kubrick decided that Jack should employ an ax in the murder of his family, in place of the roque mallet that he used in the novel (Kubrick, “The Shining” and King, The Shining: pg. 10, par. 4, pg. 12, par. 5, pg. 586, par. 14, pg. 587, par. 5, pg. 621, par. 9, & pg. 622, par. 1). In this depiction, Jack was acting as a native in the Overlook by protecting his land from the whites, who were Danny and his wife, Wendy (King,

1). In addition, the history of the Overlook was discussed by a member of the Hotel’s elite employees, Mr. Ullman, who stated that the Overlook was constructed on the site of a Native American burial ground (Kubrick, “The Shining” and King, The Shining: pg. 6, par. 3 – par. 5). The fact that paranormal phenomena occurs at the Overlook is plausible since final resting locations of natives were sacred, and curses were made if people trespassed on them (Kubrick, “The Shining”). Since the natives died on their homeland due to white trespassers, their spirits could work to destroy white settlers, such as the Torrances, from entering their land, which now included the Overlook (Kubrick, “The Shining”). Although King made a reference to Native American culture becoming supplemented into modern society through the fact that the Torrances lived on Arapahoe Street, Kubrick adapted this implication through the embellishments of wooden carvings of natives on horseback and tapestries of favorite native patterns that adorned practically the entire entrance to the Overlook (King, The Shining: pg. 81, par. 1 & Kubrick, “The