The
Shining
(1980)
- Information at Internet
Movie Database
- Themes
- Alternate
Reality
- the "play"
between the realities of the present and of the past/'spiritual'
world which inhabits the Overlook
- Call
- Hallorann is called
from his vacation in Florida, to drive to the Overlook, despite his
premonition that he will be killed there.
- Children as Mediators
- Danny as the one with "the shining".
- Evil as "Possession"
- Hallorann's talk
with Danny about the evil in the Overlook. Sometimes when people do
bad things, something is left behind - kind of like burnt toast.
- Jack is
"possessed" by the evil of the Overlook because he is
particularly susceptible to it. The evil that possesses him there is
not particularly foreign to his character.
- Sacrificial death
- Hallorann is killed
by Jack Torrance after he is "called" to the Overlook, but
it is his vehicle that allow Danny and Wendy to escape.
- Temptation
- Parallel temptations of Danny and Jack: Danny is
tempted to enter the room he's been told not to enter, and there
must confront the specter of the hotel's violence. Jack is brought
into the ballroom and tempted to begin drinking and refuses to
confront his true self.
- Wilderness
- Having failed his testing, Jack is frozen to death
when he finds himself lost in the maze (wilderness).
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