Jack Torrance is a failed writer and schoolteacher. His alcoholism creates situations in which he ultimately will always fail. He has published works in the past, but since he began drinking heavily has failed to finish anything. His writer's block is keeping anything from being produced. His alcohol abuse led to him physically injuring a student, which ultimate led to his termination from the teaching position at a prep school. He failed at teaching students, as the student he injured was angry at him for the way he handled a school situation.
Jack also fails as a provider and a father. When he loses his job, Jack loses his way to provide for his family. Because he loses the teaching job, he is forced to move his family from their comfortable home and eventually into the hotel. Early in the story it is revealed that Jack has broken Danny's arm in the past. This abuse of his son occurs while under the influence, but alcohol is no excuse for injuring a child. Both of these failures, as well as his failures as schoolteacher reflect poorly on Jack as a man. His failures make him feel the need to constantly prove his manhood.
Wendy Torrance begins the story as a complex character. While she does not have the strength to leave her abusive husband, she stays as a way to protect her son. Her strength begins to show when she is actually in the hotel. She manages to knock Jack out and drag him into the freezer, locking him in. However, when she is being attacked, she hides behind the door and screams her lungs off, not actually using the knife she is holding. Not quite effective. Wendy, while having her weak moments, overall is a strong character, determined to get her and her son out of the hotel alive.
Danny's "shine" makes him extremely difficult for the hotel to manipulate. His special talents made him mature faster than most children his age. He loses his innocence too early for a normal child. His "shine" also makes it hard for him to interact with children his own age. He ends up spending a lot of time with his mother, especially after the move to Colorado.
All of the main characters in Stephen King's The Shining are gender messes. They aren't quite sure where they fit into their gender role or whether they should even subscribe to their assigned gender role. Wendy floats between being a strong mother and a weak woman. Jack fails entirely at being a "man" and gives himself over to alcoholism and the influence of the hotel.
And now I end with this:
All you need to know about The Shining in 30 seconds. With bunnies.
The thing is, the movie really wasn't a good representation of Stephen King's novel-it might have been more accurate to call this article, "....Gender Roles in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."" King was understandably upset over the liberties the movie took with hs characters, especially that of Wendy, and went sofar as to call it mysogynistic. The Wendy of the novel begins as a submissive, clueless dishrag who stays with a drunk who broke their son's arm, still somehow thinking that their marriage is worth salvaging, then morphs into a formidable woman who risks her own life to save her son. Kubrick's effort is a disaster, though admittedly scary. IMO, there has never been a good film version of "The Shining."
ReplyDelete"His alcoholism creates situations in which he ultimately will always fail. He has published works in the past, but since he began drinking heavily has failed to finish anything. His writer's block is keeping anything from being produced. His alcohol abuse led to him physically injuring a student, which ultimate led to his termination from the teaching position at a prep school." WRONG WRONG WRONG. Alcoholics drink to have an excuse to abuse others. They choose to drink because they CHOOSE TO fuck up. Jack's love of violence, his laziness, his hatred of women, his outright sadism, his resentment of people who are capable of being successful (i.e. the student) all pushed him to use a chemical effect as an excuse to be a criminal asshole. Alcohol doesn't "cause" anything.
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