The Shining

The Shining, is without a doubt one of the most iconic films of It's decade making it one of the most recognizable horror film of all-time. While the film is based on a book by popular horror author Stephen King the source material is largely ignored in favor of a more unique vision. The Film centers on the experience of a family as it unravels during their time at the Overlook hotel. The unraveling of our titular family is closely tied to the quickly deteriorating mental state of their patriarch Jack. His descent into madness in interesting as it offers an introspective look at what happens when a patriarch fails to live up to the societal expectation. Jack is a former schoolteacher and aspiring writer who has a history of substance abuse that led to a violent incident with his son. This violent incident leaves the audience with the possibility that it lead to Jacks dismissal from teaching but the film never gives a definitive answer. What is clear however, is the burden Jack feels to provide for his family and atone for the incident with his son that he believes created a sense of resentment directed at him by his wife wendy. This is interesting as we never see Wendy make any mention or even allude to the incident when in the presence of Jack. The only time Wendy is ever seen speaking of the incident she is talking to the family doctor and even then she defends Jack's actions as an honest mistake. This resentment that Jack seems to have created in his own head seems to indicate that he has begun projecting his own insecurities about his failings as a husband and father onto the people that he closest to. This causes Jack to slowly loose his mind as the isolation provided by the overlook leads to his increasing paranoia regarding his standing as family head. His delusion begin to manifest themselves in the form of hallucinations in which Jack is influenced by different spirits within the hotel to kill his family. This of course leads to the iconic Axe-wielding rampage that makes up the climax of the film. While Jack is outwitted by his son and freezes to death in the hedge maze we are left with an ominous final shot of a photo from the 1920's in which Jack is front and center of the hotel ballroom. While this final scene has been debated for years my take on the scene is that it reflects the similar traits carried by those who commit crimes against their families like Jack and the former caretaker Mr. Grady. When it is said that Jack has always been at the hotel this is not meant to be taken literally but like grady before him Jack has become a spirit contained within the hotel ready to influence the next insecure individual to follow in his footsteps and attempt to harm their family.