Torrance Vs. Torrance – a Technical Essay on Stanley Kubrick’s “the Shining”
Torrance Vs. Torrance – a Technical Essay on Stanley Kubrick’s “the Shining”
Torrance Vs. Torrance:
A technical essay on Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”
Every human, at some point in their life, experiences psychological and emotional conflicts within them and are forced to make a decision. In Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, the main character, Jack Torrance is both the protagonist and the antagonist. Throughout the film, two sides of Jack’s own consciousness are in a constant battle against each other. The first side is an artist, a father, a man worthy of one’s trust. The second is an irrational, abusive and delusional psychopath. The struggle for power between these two sides of one man is carefully depicted through creative film-making and storytelling techniques; some more subtle than others.
One element Kubrick uses to present this theme is mirrors. It is presented using specific camera angles mixed with classic mise-en-scиne. “Settings can… be used to suggest a sense of progression in the characters” (Gianetti 120). They are in several scenes throughout the film. In the shot when Danny enters Jack’s bedroom to fetch his fire engine, Jack’s reflection can be seen in the mirror to the left of the doorway. The expression on his face makes him appear very disturbed, confused and even frightening. Without this reflection, the audience sees only a three-quarter angle of his front and profile. These two separate images symbolize the two sides of his divided psyche starting to emerge. A mirror is also present in the scene shot in room 237 of the Outlook Hotel where Jack discovers a strange woman in the bathtub. He and the woman begin kissing. Jack then notices their reflection in the mirror behind the woman and notices in horror that she is very old and her flesh is rotting. This is when Jack realizes he is succumbing to some kind of psychosis, though he will deny any of this happening to Wendy, his wife, when confronted.
Another technique Kubrick uses to suggest that something is out of kilter in Jack’s mind is symmetry and the disruption of it. “By placing an object or actor within a particular section of the frame, the filmmaker can radically alter his or her comment on that object or character” (Gianetti 103). In an early shot of Jack sitting at his typewriter, the audience gets a wide angle shot of the large, lounge-like room. The stairway at the back of the room branches off into two smaller stairways symmetrically. The table Jack is sitting at is positioned in perfect symmetry with the center of the stairway and the rest of the room. However, Jack and his typewriter are positioned slightly left of center. This suggests that one of the two sides of Jack’s inner being is stronger at this point in the film. Later in the film, when Wendy discovers what Jack has been typing, the audience is presented with the same wide angle shot. But this time, Jack’s chair and typewriter are to the right of center. This clearly signifies that the conflict inside Jack has shifted. The other side now dominates him.
In addition to camera techniques and placement of objects and characters, Kubrick uses sound to convey this message of instability inside Jack to the audience. In the scene when Wendy is backing away from Jack while holding a baseball bat, Jack is ranting about his responsibilities to his employers