Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of The Shining has officially returned to streaming on HBO Max. The movie, widely regarded as a major work of horror in cinema history, is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name.
Background on the novel and adaptation
The Shining follows Jack Torrance, an aspiring novelist and former teacher who accepts a winter caretaker position at the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. He moves to the isolated location with his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny, as snow piles up and the hotel closes for the season. Isolated together, the family members confront various horrors, including ghostly occurrences and their own internal conflicts.
King’s novel drew on his own personal struggles with alcoholism and parenting fears. However, significant creative differences divided the author and the director regarding the portrayal of the central characters.
Divergent visions for Jack and Wendy
King has long voiced criticisms of Kubrick’s adaptation, objecting in particular to how the film depicts the main characters from the start. In the film, Jack Nicholson portrays Jack Torrance as a figure exhibiting an undercurrent of violence and bitterness from the beginning, rather than the sympathetic family man King intended to write.
In a 1983 interview with Playboy, King stated that Nicholson’s previous roles and manic demeanor immediately cast him as unstable to audiences. Kubrick, conversely, noted in an interview with critic Michel Ciment that Jack arrived at the hotel psychologically prepared for its murderous demands due to his failure as a writer and contempt for his family.
Disagreements also extended to the character of Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall. King told the BBC in 2013 that he viewed the film’s portrayal of Wendy as misogynistic, describing her role as primarily centered on screaming and appearing unintelligent. Kubrick maintained that Duvall’s eccentricity was an intentional and essential element for his interpretation of the character.
Despite the longstanding differences between the author and the filmmaker, Kubrick’s adaptation remains available for viewers on HBO Max.