This article is a film review published by the official account of "Banjin Baliangwan Movies", and the original copyright belongs to the official account.
Just imagine, if you decide to watch a movie today, you open your hard disk library, and the mouse rolls for half an hour, but you still haven't found it. You realize that maybe you should start with type tags and you won't be so entangled. So you start searching for tags, but can you really feel at ease with tag keywords? If you click on the "Horror Films" tab, "The Shining" must be on the list. You made up your mind to watch it, and the whole process was trembling, until the end of the credits rolled, you would ask yourself-is this horrible?
To this day, you can still see criticisms and even attacks on "The Shining" on many film review pages. The vocabulary is full of tricks, and the directions are all the same-it is not true to its name. As far as "The Shining" is concerned, its criticism at least proves that this is not a scary enough horror film. But why can "The Shining" pass the screening of all tags and appear in front of you? Whether it's horror, horror, psychology, secret room... you can think of it, it will appear. But you questioned: Turn down the sound, it may even be a comedy... So you have to accept the fact that "The Shining" is too famous in the history of film, so famous that it can be a horror film that is not scary. .
What is the height of "The Shining" in film history? This is not the topic of this article today. So is "The Shining" a horror movie?
Trying to transcend a certain type of paradigm is probably the goal that any aspiring creator hopes to achieve. However, this is not enough to give a conclusion to Kubrick's creation of "The Shining". Of course, horror films should be "scary". Scary is the physiological reaction of stress. The Shining is not for you, it is "into the heart". If you are serious enough, after reading it, you are likely to be immersed in an indescribable state.
Today we are going to talk about this "indescribable".
What is the scary principle of horror movies? In addition to the most effective visual and auditory scare method, it must rely on the spatial design of the heart. Horror movies are space tricks. It can be said that how "not scary" the Shining's space design is, how deliberate it is, how indescribable it will be after reading it, and how profound the psychological speculation behind it is.
Give yourself half a minute, aftertaste: Are most of the horror movies you've seen talking about things in a closed and unknown space? For example, entrances, elevators, corridors, toilets, bed bottoms, basements... the uncertainty of space directly leads to your anxiety. "The Shining" does the opposite, it gives a very certain hotel, even a very certain room (Room No.237), these are all known. The long conversations and follow-ups have given enough certainty in this space. It's not scary, it's just a fierce place where bloody crimes have occurred. So, why did the characters in the story end up repeating the same mistakes, or did a similar murder happen?
Because everyone in the film took a return journey, not returning home, but returning to instinct.
The first is the mountain road. A horror film, without any plot to explain, actually used aerial photography to show the landscape? The grotesque symphony and the unknown moving perspective seem to just exaggerate the atmosphere. Let's take a closer look. While scrolling the title of the main creator, the concept of "vertical vegetation zone" is superimposed like a geography textbook. From Chuanze to woodland, from sand to snow line, before the appearance of the OVERLOOK hotel, we have been forced to watch the landform process from water to snow. This is a complete vegetation disclosure, which shows the most primitive landform. The yellow Volkswagen Beetle climbed slowly in the mountains, and Jack returned from the civilized world to the primitive land.
During the interview, Jack was informed by the manager that his reaction to the killing of the former janitor Grady in 1970 was indifferent. After all, it was a historical story that had nothing to do with him. This of course will not prevent him from taking his wife and children up the mountain. On the next road to work, I took pictures of the mountain road again, which made people feel boring. Isn’t this redundant? The difference is that this time the mountain road is inserted into the family conversation inside the Beetle, and the topic again involves the killings in history-the 19th century white American western immigrants were trapped by heavy snow on the other side of the mountain. The historical event of eclipse. It seems to be an aberration caused by isolation, and it seems to have the same reason as the murder of wives and daughters by the hotel janitor in the winter of the 1970s. Everyone who came into contact with the story of the killing, or the narrator such as the hotel manager, or the listener such as Dany, dealt with it indifferently with the usual attitude.
It should be noted that Jack's position is more complicated. He is both a listener and a narrator. The former is a reminder that the successor will inevitably hear before taking office, and the latter is a former teacher who pointed out his wife's historical common sense was wrong and was interested in revealing cruel history. They are all in the modern civilized space, luxury hotels, cars, and the civilized space is located in the primitive mountains with the mark of killing. In the end, Jack hurt his wife and children as the perpetrator, but he also became the victim—frozen to death on the top of the mountain. Jack is not only the awakener of primitive killing, but also the martyr of more primitive killing (the labyrinth trap will be mentioned later). "The Shining" is a loop of killing, starting with him and ending with him. He is a contemporary killer and a representative of the white elite in the 1920s (still based on the killing of natives).
If the mountain road is just an open space before the narrative begins, it is not enough to believe, then the two main spaces inside the hotel-the Colorado lobby and the kitchen, are the most exaggerated specimen exhibition halls.
Jack claims to have resigned for full-time writing. The Colorado Hall is the only space to show his "writing" process. The percussion of a German typewriter echoes in the empty hall. The bored Jack occasionally knocks on the wall with a tennis ball. A tapestry of Indian national totems hanging on the ceiling. The lines and shapes of the ornaments all over the hall are full of offensive meaning. In the second half of the film, you can even see a whole white bear skin carpet spread out exaggeratedly on the floor of the rest area.
The only time the history of the hall was told was when the hotel manager introduced Wendy to the origins of the artworks. The saddest thing is that the narrator himself couldn't tell whether the tapestries and other ornaments came from Navajo or Apache. In any case, the exhibits in the hall are the products of plunder after the killing and conquest. Each display item marks the white people's boasting of their own history. Jack, who "writes" here, has never really been able to write well, but has gradually entered a state of madness. Before coming to the hotel, he was at most a perpetrator of domestic violence. Domestic violence was not simply a fist, it was a terrible act of violence, and an alternative manifestation of a murderous impulse that was disciplined by a civilized society. After arriving at the hotel, isolated from the world, man gradually approached the darkest part of his soul-the killing instinct, Jack changed from a violent to a killer.
In the lobby of the hotel, Jack stared at the mother and son in the maze, staring at the mother and son outside the window in a hysterical state, and dreamed of killing his wife and children and dividing the body in the lobby. Writing is a creative act in the true sense, and it is bound to require constant inquiries into one's heart. In the Colorado Hall, Jack knocked out his own killing instinct as a human being, a collective unconscious that he was not controlled by himself. According to psychological terms, the kind of thing that appears in hallucinations is unconsciousness. The collective unconsciousness mentioned by Jung in "Psychology and Literature" refers to a certain psychological tendency formed by various genetic forces... When the consciousness is dim, such as in dreams, in anesthesia, and madness In the state, certain psychological products and psychological content surface and show the characteristics of psychological development at the primitive level. Jack's evolution from psychology to behavior coincides with Jung's description of "collective unconsciousness". Of course, the collective unconscious is not limited to killing, but in the film, Kubrick focuses on this.
Correspondingly, when the black chef introduced the cold storage to Wendy and Dany on a routine routine, he showed a kind of inexplicable excitement, boasting to Wendy with the unique rhythm of black speaking and counting all kinds of frozen meat that she would not need in her life ( Corpse). Blacks were once a tool for whites to kill and oppress, but blacks who have entered the middle class of white society (top hotel chefs and have their own house in Miami) still carry the role of narrators of killing history and enjoy them.
What's more interesting is that the black chef is the only person in the movie who can accurately point out Shining. He not only pointed out Dany's primitive abilities, but also taught him that "everything that has happened can be traced." However, he actually warned Dany, "What you see is fake, just like the photos (pictures) in the book." This is tantamount to telling you: You have picked up a credit card with unlimited overdraft, and I have it myself. , But now neither of us can use it, this card is invalid.
The black chef’s “death a thousand miles” can be understood as the Shining awakening he once had, but I am more inclined to think that he is exhausted, his so-called ability has long been domesticated by civilized society, and he has been disciplined. Only simple sensing ability, and lost the true ability of "being able to observe the past and the future". The role of the black chef is not to give lunch, after all, he proved and pointed out Dany's "ability". Before meeting him, Dany's ability was identified as a psychological problem by his family doctor and his parents.
In the 143-minute North American version of the film, Dany suddenly fainted. The family doctor talked to Wendy after the examination. We learned that Dany had been dislocated by his father’s domestic violence. Tony talked. All this was implied that Dany was suffering from schizophrenia-like psychological symptoms due to domestic violence. It wasn't until the black chef told Dany that he also had a "shining" and it was passed down from his grandmother. At this moment, Dany’s ability was proven to be inherited by blood, and this ability can even be traced back to primitive society because it can communicate without language. At that time, Dany’s "shining" was defined by Kubrick. Obtained the "Certificate of Approval" from the primitive society.
In the chapter "The Archetype of the Collective Unconscious" in "Psychology and Literature", Jung particularly reviewed and reflected on Freud's psychiatric thesis. He believed that the psychologist represented by Freud was His research tends to attribute the cause of the patient’s illness to his personal nature, either because the patient has a unique family environment or parent-child relationship, or the patient has experienced a certain unique encounter...For example, it is about Freud De analyzed Leonardo’s paintings (the paintings of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary and the Child Christ). He said that Leonardo’s personal experience has indeed had two meanings of "mothers", but he likes to paint "double mothers." Doesn't the painter of the mythological motif have two mothers? Jung tends to believe that the cause of mental illness lies in the resurrection of a certain "prototype", which has historically functioned and is packaged in mythological narratives as a motif, catering to a universal need of mankind.
In the movie, Dany, the sights he can "see", some are traces of killings that have happened in the past because of stepping in the same space, such as twin girls' blood corpses; some are foreseeing future killings, such as Dany Cautiously asked his father if he would hurt their mother and son.
People in a civilized society mostly hold an unacceptable attitude towards the existence of the collective unconscious and regard it as a supernatural phenomenon. For example, family doctor, as a representative of civilized society, she characterizes Dany's "ability" as psychological trauma. And Wendy, as the bearer of the social role of mother, she thinks Tony is the partner Dany imagined because of loneliness. The most interesting thing is Jack. He is the most unstable person in the film. His "ability" is gradually awakened after arriving at the hotel, and Jack has never expressed his opinion on Dany's "ability" until the 237th. Room event.
A classic scene in movie history, the so-called beauty in her arms turns into a carrion in seconds, is by no means just a visual spectacle. After Dany's neck was bruised, Jack was accused by Wendy of assault. However, when Jack was dreaming about drinking in the golden room, Wendy came to interrupt his dream, because Dany said he was strangled by the crazy woman in room 237. An unknown person finally appeared in the film! Then Jack went to verify. His subjective perspective, what he saw, heard, and touched directly proved the "crazy woman" Dany mentioned, but when he returned to the family suite, he said nothing to his wife! Then, in order to persuade his wife to stay in the hotel, Jack even said to Wendy, "As you know, this child has always been abnormal...".
This is the first time Jack has commented on Dany's behavior, and we know this is a lie. The purpose of lying coincides with Jung's argument. People in a civilized society turn a blind eye to the unconscious, and even conspire to cover up its existence. It's just that Jack's cover-up has another purpose, because he has just proved that he and his son are the same people with this primitive ability. He lied to his wife in order to stay in the hotel, or even stay in the hotel forever.
In fact, the whole story about Dany's claim that he was chased by an old woman and choked his neck is very ambiguous in the film (143-minute version in North America). First Jack had a nightmare in the Colorado Hall (dreaming about killing his wife and children and smashing the body), then Wendy ran to comfort, then Dany appeared, his sweater neckline was torn, and his neck was bruised (marks of being pinched) , Put his thumb in his mouth and said nothing. Wendy immediately accused Jack of violating her son again, but it was a pity that she failed to believe in her instincts. Later, Jack was aggrieved. He ran to the golden room and asked the bartender in the 1920s for a drink, and for the first time admitted that he had committed violence to his son. Later Jack went to room 237 alone, and his experience seemed to prove that Dany was attacked by a mad woman.
Is it true?
First of all, why did Dany enter room 237? He is not a brave child, and it is impossible to enter rashly just because the door is open, especially since he was seriously warned by the black chef to stay away from Room 237! We pushed forward. The reason why Dany went to room 237 was because a tennis ball that didn’t know where it came from rolled over to him. He got up and looked for it and found that the door to room 237 was ajar...No one knew what was in the room. what happened. But everyone should remember that it was Jack who had been knocking the tennis ball in the lobby.
Secondly, there is a tacit understanding in the "The Shining" film, that is, it is impossible for anyone in the past time and space to make physical contact with people in the real time and space (physical contact that forms traces), because Jack took over the bartender in the golden room. The wine was then drunk, this action was specially emphasized that there was nothing in his hand. So how did Dany's neck hurt? Besides, with the power of a mad woman, if it is really supernatural, why would she break Dany's neckline before pinching him? At the same time, Jack was dreaming in the lobby. How long was his dream? Later, we saw Jack complaining to the bartender, saying that he could not hurt his son, except for an "accident" before. At the beginning of the film, during the interview, after Dany fainted, the family doctor talked to Wendy and was told that Jack had thrown Dany out because Dany messed up the manuscript and caused his shoulder to dislocate. This level of brutality simply cannot be used. "Accidental" prevarication.
If the incident in Room 237 is "unspeakable", then Jack was locked into the storage room by Wendy, who opened the door for him from the outside? This is the most "supernatural" event in the film. Of course someone would think that the door opener was Grady, the former guard who talked to Jack through the door. However, as a dead soul, Grady will be limited by space? Is he talking to Jack through the door? Or is he in Jack's mind at all? He once said: I forgot that I was the gatekeeper, but you (Jack) have always been.
The door was probably opened by Dany, of course Dany was not himself at this time, it was Tony who was using Dany's body. This paragraph has also been specifically emphasized. After Dany was attacked, Tony was always the one who talked to Wendy (he warned Wendy that Dany would never wake up again). So that it was Tony who wrote REDRUM on the door later with a lip pencil. This is distinguished by voice and appellation in the film.
So, we are going to talk about, who is Tony? And who is Grady?
We once again borrowed Jung's theory, assuming that the collective unconscious needs an appearance carrier under individual conditions, then Tony is Dany's unconscious fantasy object, he warns Dany and even protects Dany. Grady is more complicated. He is a character in a certain killing event, that is, he is a person who has existed before, but at the same time he has become history and a legend in the mouth of others, then Grady may have become Jack The object of unconscious fantasy is just more concrete.
Jack was locked in the storage room, and suddenly Grady's voice sounded outside the door. He said, "I and everyone else think you are unfavorable. You didn't deal with your wife and children seriously"! With Kubrick's rigor, why let Grady say "other people"? Who is the "other person"? The dead soul at the prom? I'm afraid it's more than that. "Others" may be all the people in the whole mountain who have committed killings from a long time in the past.
Jack enters the mountains, closes the shop, writes, dreams, and walks into the unconscious step by step. Was excited in room 237, then returned to the golden room to awaken again and met Grady. He stepped into the collective unconsciousness of the hotel (the whole mountain) step by step, it was precisely the killing instinct. The moment of his awakening was the moment he began to kill, the moment he raised his axe. All the abnormalities he had before, including the same sentence on the manuscript paper, were his unconscious behavioral steps that kept beating him.
Tony in Dany's body is even more mysterious, it has nothing to do before, and it appears at the most critical moment to warn Dany. After the warning failed, he hid Dany and warned Wendy with Dany's body. Finally, Tony led Jack into the maze and froze him to death with a trick. Although Tony has been preventing the killing, when Dany is attacked and unable to protect himself and his mother, Tony will truly awaken-arousing the killing instinct. In the end, Dany was also Tony, and jointly committed the killing of Jack. Therefore, the person who opened the door of the storage room, if it was Tony, was not far-fetched.
For Wendy, the rush of blood in the elevator, the sexual perversions peeked from the stairs, and even the corpses in the elegant dresses in the lounge... all these are the product of time. After witnessing Jack killing the black chef, she also exceeded her consciousness and entered an unconscious state, witnessing the traces of the killing, but Wendy did not have the ability to awaken her unconscious instinct.
And the unconsciousness-the killing instinct, the space it ultimately places on is the labyrinth, the space with the most core function.
When I first saw the maze, the manager introduced to Wendy, saying that its history is older than the hotel itself. Then, Wendy took Dany in to play, there was still a maze of green trees, almost unbelievably clean, without any traces. As for the mother and son's play, Kubrick used a set of genius overlooking shots to change the perspective. They became Jack's playthings. At that moment, he was murderous.
After Dany was attacked, Tony took over the body. We can say that he led Jack to chase him step by step. In the end, he tricked Jack by using his footprints and blizzards to trap Jack and cause Jack to freeze to death. All of this was Tony's plan, but it was manifested by a frightened child, which was a lot more ambiguous.
Jung said that a primitive image or archetype is an image (whether the image is a devil, a person or a process), which occurs continuously in the course of history and appears wherever creative fantasy is freely expressed. Therefore, it is essentially a mythical image.
The maze itself is the biggest metaphor. The blizzard is the weather factor that caused the hotel’s isolation, and it also changed the tone of the labyrinth. From the beginning of the labyrinth, a green tree labyrinth full of vitality, it instantly became a labyrinth covered in snow, and it seemed that the labyrinth under the snow was built with limestone like the real labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology.
Kubrick used Tony to lead us into the Minoan Labyrinth of Crete. The contemporary Minotaur Jack was trapped to death, while the contemporary Theseus Tony followed the footprints, the silk thread, and exited the maze. At the exit of the maze, he crashed into his mother's arms. At that moment, he recovered Dany's innocent tone and called out his long-lost mother. The killing was over, Dany returned to civilized society again, and Tony fell asleep.
As the oldest space in the film, the labyrinth embodies the function and metaphor of mythology, and it carries unconscious behavior. The killings it took were actually more primitive than the killings in the Colorado Mountains where the hotel was located in the film, so that it even became the image carrier of the killing myth.
At the end of the film, in the 1921 reception photo, Jack was in the "C position" and the people surrounding him were well-dressed. All of them committed killings based on the conquering history of the killings, and because of the enjoyment of this The results of the killing became history itself (the date of the photo is indicated as July 4). This is not Kubrick's simple criticism of white people, but rather an objective behavior. The master never provides answers.
The film is more like a psychological documentary about the collective unconscious than a B-level horror film aimed at scaring people.
It took a year for Kubrick to shoot a horror film that is adored in movie history. Not only was it questioned by the public, but it also offended the popular god of popular literature, Stephen King. However, Kubrick didn’t think there was any problem with his ambition. He quoted Icarus’s allusion in a speech at a director’s Guild awards ceremony: Icarus was fascinated by flying with wings made by his father. He flew higher and higher, and finally was burned to death by the heat of the sun... Kubrick said, "Then let us build more perfect wings!
Daedalus, as a wing maker and a maze maker, has completed his mission. And Kubrick flew higher, he surpassed the user of the wings, and surpassed the maker of the wings, he overlooked the world, Overlook, he did.
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