Hello, I’m back again to review another work by the great Stephen King. For this blog, I will be returning to my first blog post about The Shining. Except this time, instead of discussing the novel, I will now review the movie.
In my first blog, I only touched on the subject of the movie, but the differences between the book and the movie are extremely interesting.
For instance, Stephen King HATED this adaptation of his work, even though the movie The Shining has become a cult classic. Many people seem to agree that this a must-see horror movie and currently boasts an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Why did Stephen King hate it so much you may ask? He has said many times that the movie did not capture his vision for the novel. So, with that disappointment with the movie, he went on to direct a mini series that better followed the plot he envisioned. (This will be the topic of my next blog post.)
Even though I love Stephen King, I have to disagree with his damnation of the Stanley Kubrick classic. I love Stanley Kubrick movies, such as, Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I believe that Stanley Kubrick has a real talent for creating cinematic worlds that make the movie resemble art. His masterful setting, mood and atmosphere makes the viewer forget about the differences from the source material.
However, there were things that I missed from the novel that were deleted in the novel. For instance, I liked the slow fall into madness from the father, Jack. The book masterfully had Jack Torrance start out as a hopeful and recovering alcoholic father. He wanted to do better for his family and actually cared for their well-being. The movie on the other hand hired Jack Nicholson as the father. I have no problem with him as an actor, I just find it very hard to see him as a loving family man, so it makes his fall into madness a lot less shocking and heartbreaking.
Going off of that, there were many things that Kubrick added that I thought were genius. One thing that caught my attention was the famous scene where Wendy discovers Jack’s “play.” It was well established in the novel that Jack wanted to be a playwright and was working on a story while he and his family were stranded in the hotel. So, it was surprising for Wendy and the audience to find that the “play” was merely the phrase, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” I thought this so brilliant that I actually had to pause the movie and research what that meant and if it was written in the book. However, Kubrick made that up himself for his adaptation. I will provide a link to this video (here).
Also, if this comparison to the book and the movie interested you, I would like to point you towards the direction of my favorite YouTuber, The Dom. He does book and movie reviews and his The Shining review is absolutely superb. The link to his The Shining video can be found (here).
Tune in to my next blog at King’s Korner for the three part TV movie of The Shining.