The Shining
The Shining in a 1980 psychological horror film by renowned
perfectionist director Stanley Kubrick. I can tell that the film fits into the
psych-horror genre because scenes in the film display many conventions of the
genre. An example of this is in the 'Come Play With Us' scene, where young
protagonist Danny has a disturbing vision of two young girls in a corridor. The
scene begins with a slow forward tracking shot which follows Danny as he rides
his tricycle down the corridor. Kubrick was famous for his one-point
perspective shots, often employed in corridors, where the shot is composed in
such a way that the eye is drawn to a single point in the centre of the frame,
in this case this object is Danny. Suddenly, Danny makes a sharp turn on his
tricycle & disappears from the shot, but the camera continues to track
slowly forwards down the corridor. The corridor at this point is painted mostly
light green in colour, a safe & unalarming shade, but then halfway down the
corridor, just before Danny disappears round the corner, the paint changes to
red, a sign of the impending danger & blood which young Danny is about to
face. This immediately sets alarm bells ringing in me, as I subconsciously note
the dangerous red & begin to worry for Danny, who is so young &
innocent. As a viewer, I am unconsciously protective over the sweet, gifted
young boy & do not wish for any of the inevitable harm to come to him. This
manipulation of audience sympathy in order to enhance the shock value is an
oft-used tactic in the horror genre, especially in the psychological sub-genre.
One convention seen in the Shining but
not usually seen in horror films is the stark, bright, high-key lighting all
the way through the scene.
When we cut from the first corridor to rejoin Danny, the
camera closely & smoothly tracks him as he wheels around the corners of the
labyrinthine Overlook. The disorienting smoothness with which the camera is
able to track Danny's every twist & turn is an early example of the
revolutionary Steadicam, a technology which enabled camera movement to be
incredibly smooth & one pioneered by Kubrick. The way the camera seems to
effortlessly glide along behind Danny suggests the movement of a flying bird
or, more appropriately to the genre, a wraith which is haunting the hotel &
Danny. This effortless glide makes the sudden stop Danny makes when he first
becomes aware of the figures of the girls even more jarring for me, as we went
from smooth, fairly fast gliding to sudden static.
As Danny cycles along the corridors, I noticed a recurrence
of a colour theme running throughout the film; that of red, white & blue-
the colours of the American flag. The repeated juxtaposition of these familiar
colours seems to suggest to me that Kubrick was subliminally commenting on the
so-called American Dream & the typical All-American Family ideals, which
are, more often than not, a crushing oppression on the individual, as the hotel is a mentally
crushing influence on Jack Torrance. These colours could also represent the CIA
& their supposed mind-control experiments & other psychological
tortures, which could often leave unsuspecting victims irreparably changed for
the worse, as was Jack Torrance.
When the two girls first are shown on camera, we do not
immediately get to have a close-up or even a mid-shot of them. Instead we are
treated to the close up of Danny's expression. He is understandably perturbed
by the sudden appearance of the girls, & Kubrick's use of close up at this
point helps me feel Danny's terror with him. Then it cuts to another one-point
perspective long shot of Danny in the bottom-centre of the frame with his back
to the camera as he watches the girls in the centre (the 'one-point'). We still
have not been treated to a closer look at these ghostly young ladies & this
is Kubrick's teasing way of building up the tension as we long to see for
ourselves exactly what Danny is so scared of. We then cut back to another close
up of Danny, trying to remain calm & control his breathing. This builds even more tension, as we start
holding our breath for Danny, letting the character breathe for us as he faces
the impossible. We then hear the mysterious girls saying "Come play with
us" in unison. This unison is at once enchantingly childlike & eerily
sinister at the same time, as we the audience know exactly what sort of
'playing' these girls are thinking of. It is of the dead variety &, as we
sympathise with Danny, we do not want him to be dead like the girls. Cut back
to the one-point shot over Danny's shoulders, & we see the girls again,
still as far away as ever. The chant "Come play with us, Danny". With
the quiet, gentle way this seemingly innocent phrase is said, one could be
forgiven for thinking it really was a wholesome request (out of context), but
as we are with Danny & can see how bizarre their appearance in the
supposedly deserted house is, we know the sinister & deathly consequences
of playing with former guests of the Overlook.
Suddenly, the one-point long shot is interspersed with a
horrifying shot of the same two young girls, only both dead on the floor with
blood everywhere, an overturned chair & a bloody axe lying with them. The
picture on the wall is askew & covered in blood & the dark, red puddles
on the carpet show the extent of the carnage wreaked on these poor girls.
Having seen the opening scene & interview, we, the audience, are aware of
the identity of these girls as the murdered daughters of previous caretaker
Charles Grady. It is not specified whether Danny is explicitly aware of the
story of his father's predecessor, but that does not subtract our own knowledge
& also the confused terror Danny feels, which we sympathise with.
The girls have not finished talking, though, & they
emphasise their request for Danny to play with them by adding "Forever...
& Ever... & Ever..." We go from the bloody shot of the hacked up
girls to a shot of the girls slightly further down the corridor (closer to us
& Danny) as they say "Forever", when we are again presented with
the bloody shot. Then we immediately see Danny's shocked & afraid face, but
not for long. Then we see the girls alive (to an extent) again, but even closer
this time as they say "& Ever", which then reverts to the bloody
shot, then back to the girls (closer again) as they say the final "&
Ever". We are left with the bloody shot again & it is at this point
that we cut back to the close up on Danny, who covers his eyes.
