This article is a plain text analysis, mainly to interpret several main elements and interesting metaphors in Shining. Reprinting my own article is not considered infringement.
The Shining is an interesting film, its shell is a highly stylized horror story, but if we dig into its subject, we see the heart of an anxious middle-aged man
Fellini, a famous film master, once said that there are two kinds of life in my life: those with eyes open and those with eyes closed. To understand The Shining, one must understand that every symbol that appears in the film corresponds to an anxiety in Jack's real life.
Below I present some frequently asked questions in Q&A format
1. What is the Shining about?
Answer: The Shining has two stories. The first story is easy to understand. Jack took his wife and son into a haunted hotel. The hotel was built on the deportation and massacre of the Indians by the white westward movement. The ghost in the hotel lured Jack. After chasing his wife and son, Jack froze to death in the end, representing the revenge of the Indians against the white people, and Jack finally returned to the photos in the 1920s.
The second story is the reality that happened in the movie: Jack brought his wife and son to live in the hotel. Jack became increasingly dissatisfied with his wife and son. In addition, he heard the hotel manager tell the story of the former janitor who killed his wife and daughter. Next, Jack imagined the whole Shining incident, including the female ghost of 237, the two little girls, the Shining on his son, the song and dance party in the 1920s, the bartender waiter, the axe splitting the door, etc. All are Jack's imagination, did not actually happen.
2. How to prove that the whole horror event is Jack's fantasy?
Answer: 1. When Jack walked into the bar and said he wanted to drink, the bartender came out with a bunch of wine in the next second. The bartender could call Jack's name the first time they met, and he couldn't see the bartender when his wife came to find Jack. It can be seen that this person was imagined by Jack who wanted to drink.
2. Jack himself is an unsuccessful writer. When he walked into the bar, he found a group of high-class elites in the 1920s gathered in the bar, which represented Jack's fantasy of a successful life. Finally, Jack returned to the 1920s after freezing to death. The addition of these elites to the film means that at the end of this fantasy Jack finally becomes a successful man, which is why some critics have called the film "the black version of the American dream."
3. Jack met a ghost waiter, the ghost waiter said his name was Delbot Grady, Jack said I saw you in the newspaper, you were the former janitor of the hotel, you chopped up your wife and two daughters chunks of meat.
However, when Jack learned the story of the janitor at the beginning of the film, the manager said that the former janitor was named Charles Grady (note, it was Charles), and the manager said that the janitor killed his wife and daughter and put the body in the guest room calmly, why? When it got to Jack's mouth, this became a case of dismemberment? Please note that before Jack met the waiter, Jack had a dream in which Jack chopped his wife and son into pieces, here apparently Jack put the content of his dream on the janitor, if this It wasn't enough. Later, the gatekeeper said directly to Jack: "You have always been the gatekeeper here", indicating that the gatekeeper is Jack's projection of himself. Jack wanted to kill his wife and son, but he had no courage, so he fantasized about it. The role of the gatekeeper, in the fantasy world, the gatekeeper did what Jack wanted to do but was afraid to do.
3. What is Shining
Answer: In the fantasy world, The Shining is a supernatural spiritual body that can communicate with others and predict the future to a certain extent. He is parasitic on his son, acting as his second personality and has been protecting his son. At the beginning of the story, Shining said that he did not like the hotel, and later told his son not to go to 237, and even wrote on the door with lipstick to remind his mother to be careful of murder. It can be seen that Shining is actually the second personality to protect the little boy . When Shining senses that his son is in danger, Shining takes over control of the body, so Shining simply says Danny is gone. But after finally escaping the maze, the little boy turned back to himself, because there was no danger anymore.
In the real world, Shining essentially represents the awakening of the son's awareness of resistance to his father. Before the father beats his son for the first time, Shining is no different from the "friends around him" made up by ordinary children. After being seriously injured by his father, Shining Lingcai gradually became like the second personality of a boy, and from the above text we can see that Shining has been protecting his son from his father, and later helped his son to call a black cook to help them, which is still very important. Clearly, if you have seen movies such as "Return" and "Floating Grass", it may help to understand this.
4. Why did Jack want to kill his wife and son?
A: Jack is an unsuccessful writer, he needs to focus on his writing tasks, but his wife always interferes with him, so he feels that his life is such a failure, a large part of his life depends on his wife. In addition, according to the conversation between Jack and the bartender, Jack and his wife's sex life is not harmonious. In addition, when Jack abused his son for the first time a few years ago, his wife wanted to leave Jack with his son, and Jack directly said to the waiter: "My wife is a bitch, she wants to provoke my relationship with my son. ."
To sum up these three points, Jack thinks that his wife has ruined his career, that his wife cannot give him a harmonious sex life, and that his wife wants to provoke his relationship with his son, so Jack wants to kill his wife, and fantasizes about chasing his wife with an axe. bridge section.
Why did Jack want to kill his son? To understand this, it is necessary to contact Kubrick's other films, in which the infinite expansion of male power is an important theme, such as "Dr. Strangelove" and "Path of Glory". In this film, Jack pursues absolute supremacy in the family. He hopes to control everything in the family, including his son, but as his son grows up, his sense of resistance to patriarchy gradually increases (The Shining is a metaphor Because of his son's resistance to patriarchy), Jack can no longer control his son, and he also hates his son, so in his fantasy world, he also wants to kill his son.
5. What is the metaphor for room 237?
Answer: There is a naked woman in room 237. Jack hugs her happily when he sees her, but half of the woman becomes an old and ugly ghost.
Room 237 is essentially a metaphor for Jack's relationship with his wife.
Jack told the bartender that his sex life with his wife was not harmonious. In the fantasy world, Jack rushed to hug a naked woman as soon as he saw a naked woman. Obviously, the naked woman was a metaphor for Jack's yearning for sex.
The naked woman turns into an ugly ghost, a metaphor for the gradual fading of the love between Jack and his wife. In the beginning, Jack and his wife were in a happy love and gave birth to a son. Their love was like that beautiful and sexy naked woman. But then Jack became more and more impatient with his wife, and their sex life was no longer harmonious, so love just died, like naked women turned into ugly ghosts.
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