Psychological Themes In The Shining

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Horror movies entrap an audience in a way that makes the genre unique in the world of film. The raw, visceral subject matter and dense tension often make it difficult to search for deeper meaning. Stanley Kubrick, however, did not take advantage of those distractions and release a dry movie. He weaved in several major issues and employed certain mechanical techniques specifically to emphasize those themes and ensure attention was brought to them. An analysis of the plot and the character’s motivations in The Shining reveals a complex set of issues; references to genocide and the way in which it is carried out pepper the film with a rich commentary on man’s ability to self-exterminate without ethical pause. During one of the first scenes in the movie, Jack is being escorted around the Overlook Hotel by Stuart Ullman who makes a specific reference to the tapestries hanging on the wall of one of the lobbies saying they are all authentic Native American products. He goes even further to discuss that the hotel was built on top of a Native American burial ground. This may come across as simple bragging chatter, but …show more content…
This scene manifests as a vision of Danny’s early in the film, and receives multiple callbacks as the story progresses. Given the subject matter of the plot and the discussion above, it can easily be inferred that this blood is meant to represent “the blood of the centuries, the blood of millions, and, in particular, the blood of war and genocide in Kubrick’s own century” (Cocks “The Wolf at the Door” 2). The grotesque nature of this shot emphasizes the senselessness and brutality of war and, specifically, genocide. It puts dry, meaningless statistics into perspective by presenting the audience with a tangible, albeit hasty view into the true implications of murder at magnitudes like that of the

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