Preview

Family In The Shining

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1019 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Family In The Shining
Name:
Professor:
Class:
Date:
The Theme of Family from the Movie the Shining Stephen Kubrick is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and influential filmmaker of the late twentieth century. His touching, interesting, appealing, and visionary approach to films coupled with his cinematography and film-making genius are an embodiment of great film-making that leaves an everlasting mark on the audiences. The Shining, a psychological horror film based on the novel by the same name by Stephen King, is one of Kubrick’s greatest projects. In contrast with majority of his previous works which focused on word-of-mouth to gradually develop audiences and win critics, The Shining was produced as a normal mass market film and it was truly an iconic and
…show more content…
The purpose of this paper is to explore the theme of family in Stephen Kubrick’s movie The Shining through the lens of positive family motivations as well as the …show more content…
From the very first moments and throughout the film, violence is everywhere. The isolated overlook hotel feeds on violence and Jack is especially vulnerable since he has been battling with issues of violence since he was a child. Growing up, his father, mother, and siblings frequently abused him while Jack himself had a very violent temper. Although Jack’s temper is slightly less when compared to that of his father, he still has extreme aggression and anger inside him and such tendencies threaten to pull his family apart. In addition, his drinking habits worsens the situation and there is an inevitable feeling when watching the film that Jack is gradually losing the battle to control his violence. The picture of a dysfunctional family is clearly painted as the movie creatively showcases the entanglement of love and violence and how such an interrelationship results in abusive relationships. Jack’s wife, Wendy, tries so much to protect her husband despite the pain and turmoil that she and her son go through as a result of Jack’s drunkenness and violence to tendencies. After Jack attacks Danny and dislocates his shoulder, Wendy tries to cover up for him while in the hospital. Wendy said, “It’s just the sort of thing you do a hundred times with a child … in the park and the street” (Kubrick, The Shining). Both jack’s and Wendy’s (who does not want to leave the marriage despite the violence) behaviors

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I, Pearl, was born an outcast of this prejudice world. Today marks my twentieth birthday. My mother, Hester, my father, Dimmesdale, and the town’s people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony know I am the living Scarlet Letter. Since the day I was born my mother has had to wear that dreadful symbol. The Scarlet Letter represented my mother as an adulterer.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Shining is a 1980’s horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The horror film is based on Stephen King’s novel The Shining. The Shining is a classic horror film that uses death and insanity to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The Shining is as psychological as horror gets. This film didn’t show us cheap tricks, loud noises, or dramatic bloody scene like the average horror film. This film gets under your skin, it shows us something frightening that we don’t fully comprehend. One of the scariest things for people to face in the unknown. The Shining also could be seen as a Drama. The genre, Drama, focuses on the characters and the realistic emotional struggles they face. We see resentment, frustration, annoyance, insanity, etc.…

    • 145 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    No one cherishes his or her family constantly. That is only an unavoidable truth. In spite of this, A Thousand Splendid Suns proposes that there's nobody more critical than your family. The novel likewise proposes that the idea of "family" stretches out past blood relatives. Consider how Mariam and Laila build up a mother-daughter relationship, or consider the bond amongst Tariq and Zalmai that starts to develop towards the ending of the novel. Now and then family is your blood, and every now and then it isn't—yet your family, however you define it, is always at the center of your life.…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theme of deeply ingrained values is also present in A Nightmare on Elm Street…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This Boy's Life, set in America in the 1950’s, is a compelling memoir by Tobias Wolff, whom recreates the frustrations and cruelties faced throughout his adolescence, as he fights for identity and self-respect. During this period of time, America underwent major changes in the political and economic spheres, which in turn were responsible for its social makeover. Society in this time was geared toward family; marriage and children being part of the national agenda. The 1950’s was also an age of male dominance, where even if women worked, their assumed proper place was at home. Throughout the memoir, the protagonist, young Jack Wolff, makes it difficult for the reader to feel much affection towards him, as his actions prove to be troublesome and unruly. However, as the memoir progresses, Jacks struggle reveal the reasons for his actions which sequentially shape his character, providing the readers with understanding and sympathy towards his inexorable situation. The fraudulent lies and deceitful ways of Jack can be frustrating upon the reader; though we come to realise that he does this in order to be accepted by the people around him. Jack also engages in fights and unfaithfully betrays his best friend Arthur, although it becomes evident that he only does this in order to gain Dwight’s approval of him. The lack of a real father figure in Jack’s life has a profound impact on him and his desperate attempt to develop his identity, which further supports the readers’ emotions of sympathy towards him.…

    • 1592 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    questions of this kind. How was it possible, for instance, not to take seriously the…

    • 3777 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ordinary People (1980) tells the story of the Jarrett’s, an upper-middle class family in Illinois, following the death of the eldest son, Buck, in a boating accident. It depicts what might happen to a family when a tragedy unexpectedly happens. The boating accident disrupted the Jarrett family’s normal developmental flow and inevitably produced relationship changes within the family system. While watching the film, the audience begins to understand that the boating accident was so disruptive and impeding to the family that they suddenly and profoundly shook up and transformed the family system so that it may never return to its former way of functioning (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). The film portrays many aspects of the premises of Structural Family Therapy (SFT) such as dysfunctional family boundaries, roles, and rules. In addition, it shows the breakdown of the family dynamic due to the grief of the loss of Buck and misplaced guilt within the family.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The rape of joe’s mother, Geraldine, is one of the major focuses of this novel, The Round House. A traumatic experience such as this is sure to change relationship of the family. The subject of rape changes his/her mood and beliefs to help coop or explain what has happened. This in turn effects the people surrounding him/her. In Geraldine’s case, she falls into deep depression, shuts herself from the world, and has minimum contact with her family. This puts a strain on her relationship with her son, Joe. There are many signs showing that Joe’s and Geraldine’s relationship is falling apart.…

    • 294 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Horror movies, like scary stories and thrilling amusement park rides, allow us to challenge our fears, to show that we are not afraid, to prove that we can. King proposes that these activities confirm for each of us our normality, while also appealing to the worst in all of us, as they allow the freeing of our fantasies without fear of reprisal or repercussion.…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violence is a very common theme that is preset throughout much of the movie, and was expressed in varying degrees. One truly tragic scene included the brutal and unfair death of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s best friend, who had just gotten into college right before he was violently gunned down by a rival group of youth. This death was further exasperated by the fact that when he was shot, he was simply dragged into his own home and laid on the couch for the paramedics to take away as if it was nothing and a daily occurrence in the community. These types of struggles are still being experienced today in many communities.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A belief in the significance of family in teaching tradition and morals and providing a place of acceptance is what drives the narrative of the film.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Movies have long been known to create a portal through which its viewers can transcend through their own realities and experience the unimaginable. The visual, sounds, and narrative of great movies immediately attract the focus of its audience as they move into a trance for those 1-2 hours of screen time. While many great movies introduce their audiences to varying experiences that heighten their senses and grasp their focus, some measure of relatability is necessary to connect with audiences. Such concepts of implementing elements of realism into the various facets of a film help establish a relevant connection, through which audiences can relate. However during the Hollywood Classical era, introducing such techniques of intensifying realism in movies was often unconventional and not an achievable goal for directors and cinematographers. The techniques required to implement such elements were either not well known or plausible. There were some movies during this era that did defy such tendencies and broke barriers in terms of delivering a movie that differentiated through such concepts like realism. Two famous films that have utilized certain techniques in creating an intensified form of realism in their own ways are Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles, and Double Indemnity, by Billy Wilder.…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theme statement of this story is: A person's choice when faced with a challenging decision in a convoluted situation demonstrates their personality and individualism. In the story, Mary refuses to sign the petition that every other parent at the party signed saying "I don't think we have the right." This petition was to convince the municipality to build a lane through Mrs. Fullerton's house, which would force her to abandon her home. Mary, by declining to sign the petition, demonstrated her individualism and her personality. She revealed to everyone that she is a person that won't go against an innocent person just to be a part of a group.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is it possible that the things we say and do are caused by hidden motives? Do subconscious thoughts influence our behavior or determine the way we act? And if so, does this mean that we may not necessarily know what we are doing at certain times? Such questions are important considerations in modern psychology. Psychoanalysis - the science of understanding the mind and how it affects human behavior - provides theoretical insights that attempt to explain why we do the things we do. In psychoanalytic theory, behavior is motivated by many factors, including how the family dynamic affects the individual. Familial relationships are important because every family member assumes a role they are given that affects the family as a whole. As a collective entity, what one person does affects others, for better or worse. This family dynamic is distinctly illustrated in Death of a Salesman. The characters are unaware of certain things about their relationships that contribute to the way they behave. As the audience, these things appear to us as clear as day because we have the perspective of an outside observer. But we are not so different from the Loman’s. We too are blind to certain truths. In real life, we don’t always get the chance to take a step back and realize what is happening around us. We don’t always know what we’re doing and why. The truth is, some of the things we say and do - whether intentional or not - are caused by things we may or may not be consciously aware of, and this in turn affects others.…

    • 931 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Developmental Profile

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The parent-child relationship affects us more profoundly than any other relationship of our lives. It is the foundation of all of our relationships and the source of our earliest understanding about love, intimacy, trust and security. This relationship can start to build one’s self esteem and self-assurance or it can scar us for life. For this assignment, I chose to analyze parts of two well-known movies as well as a tragedy currently being presented in the media.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays