No horror movie has been as picked apart as Stanley Kubrick’sThe Shining(1980), a relatively loose adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel of the same name. Considered as the defining works of the horror genre, the film stands on its own without borrowing most of the book’s details.
Starting out as a traditional horror movie — with a secluded man in an isolated locale — itleads to a tumultuous third act. Kubrick deliberatelydouses the film with unanswered questionsuntil the very last take, making it one of the ambiguous movies in cinematic history.
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What Is The Shining About?
Set in the 1970s, the film follows the story of Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer, who accepts a job as the off-season caretaker of Colorado’s Overlook Hotel — despite the fact that the previous caretaker, Charles Brady, developed a case of midwinter cabin fever, and killed his wife and twin daughters before committing suicide. Jack’s son Danny, who has psychic abilities, experiences disturbing visions of the murdered twins and blood splashing in the hotel, and is also warned by his imaginary friend about leaving. It is revealed later on that Jack is a recovering alcoholic who accidentally dislocated Danny’s shoulder once in a drunken rage.
When the Torrances arrive at the hotel, they are introduced to the hotel chef, Dick Hallorann. He tells Danny that he also has the same “shine” as him: both can communicate telepathically, see past events, and foresee the future. He strictly advises Dannyto stay out of Room 237.
As time progresses, Jack becomes increasingly threatening while Danny continues to see visions of the hotel’s dark past. Heavy snowfall also cuts off the family from the outside world. One day, a ball rolls towards Danny from the now unlocked Room 237. Meanwhile, Wendy is tending to her distraught husband, who has just woken up from a nightmare about chopping up his family in pieces. When Danny appears, with his sweater ripped and bruises on his neck, Wendyaccuses Jack of hurting him. Angry about the accusation, Jack storms off to the Gold Ballroom, where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd. Over a drink, Jack tells him that he did not even touch the child, when an unaware Wendy enters and tells him that a woman in Room 237 attacked Danny. When Jack goes to investigate, he finds a naked woman in the bathtub. The two kiss until Jack sees that she has turned into a rotting corpse. He runs out and tells Wendy that he did not see anything amiss. When Wendy proposes taking Danny back home, Jack lashes out at her for disregarding his job.
He returns to the Gold Room, which is nowpopulated by several ghostly figures, and encounters the ghost of a butler called Delbert Grady, who tells Jack that it is now time for him to “correct” his family.
What Does the Ending of The Shining Mean?
Jack attempts to attack Wendy, who bashes him in the head and locks him up in the pantry. Grady confronts Jack, making him promise that he will kill his family for “us”, and lets him outside. As Jack had previously destroyed the radio and disabled the hotel snowcat, Wendy and Danny are still stuck inside their room. Danny keeps repeating “redrum” (‘murder’ spelled backwards) and Wendy locks them up in the bathroom to hide from Jack. She helps Danny escape through the window, and fends Jack off with a knife when he drives an ax through the door.
Dick, who received a telepathic message from Danny, arrives at this point, but is quickly murdered by Jack. Danny is then pursued by his father in the outdoor hedge maze, but manages to escape while Jack is lost wandering inside. Wendy and Danny escape in Dick’s snowcat, while Jack freezes to death. The film’s final shot zooms into an old picture hanging in the hotel’s hallway, of guests attending a ball on Jul 06, 2025. Standing front and center is Jack, smiling right into the camera.
Kubrick has explicitly stated that the photograph suggests the reincarnation of Jack, possibly of a guest or staff member. Jack also remarks to Wendy about his first visit to the hotel: “It was as though I’d been here before”. This is also why the spirits recognize him: Jack is completely at ease with Llyod and, as Grady informs him, “You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know […] I’ve always been here”. This also confirms that Charles Grady is a reincarnation of Delbert Grady.The hotel’s illustrious pastindicates that Jack is destined to be part of its recurring violence. Isolation can trigger one’s most harmful impulses and Jack, being a stunted writer with a weak emotional connection to his family, isalready vulnerable to the job’s supernatural interventions. Even the sentence that he keeps writing — ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ — sums up his empty life.
A theory also suggests thatDanny is sexually abused by his father, and the scene in Room 237 is not actually real. As Wendy suspected, Jack did attack Danny and woke up from a dream about the brutal act, just a while before he shows up. Wendy also witnesses a man in a bear suit performing a sexual act on another man, which adds to the sexual emphasis. The prominent use of the teddy bear motif throughout the film confirms that Jack is meant to be the man in the costume.
The film reminds the audience that human aggression leaves behind “traces”, resulting in a grisly cycle of violence. Since the hotel is built on an ancient Indian burial ground, it is possible that blood pouring out in Danny’s visionrepresents the spilled blood of the Native Americans, whose spirits claim the occupants “forever… and ever… and ever”.
What Was Kubrick’s Original Ending for The Shining?
An alternate ending ofThe Shiningshowed Wendy and Danny recovering at a hospital, where the Overlook Hotel’s manager visits them. He lets them know that no evidence of the paranormal has been found, before tossing Danny the same ball that rolled towards him earlier at the hotel. When this ending was poorly received by critics, Kubrick deleted it from the final cut.
How Does the Ending Differ From Stephen King’s Novel?
King openly detested Kubrick’s film,which only kept the novel’s bare-bones structure. The biggest deviation from the source material is the ending: Dick saves Danny and Wendy when he arrives at the hotel, while the building pressure in the boiler room causes the hotel, where Jack is still inside, to burn to the ground.Jack’s character in the novel also differs— he struggles against the malevolent spirits and, in a brief moment of sanity, pleads with his son to run away from him when he is chasing him all over the hotel. The loss of a character arc in the film, as King puts it, is a “tragedy”as “there’s no real change”.
Kubrick, on the other hand, wanted to keep the hotel intact so its sinister presence is not diminished, and to imply that this was not the last tragedy to occur there.
