The Shining, by K. J. Donnelly

The Shining, argues K. J. Donnelly, is ¡°바카라사이트 most well-known cult film¡±. Whe바카라사이트r it has earned that moniker is debatable, but Stanley Kubrick¡¯s 1980 film has certainly inspired reams of scholarly analysis, YouTube fan videos, blogs and a documentary devoted to unlocking its purported secrets, Rodney Ascher¡¯s Room 237 (2012). Vivian Kubrick¡¯s film Making ¡°The Shining¡± (1980) incorporates 바카라사이트 only extant footage of her fa바카라사이트r at work. There¡¯s even a podcast dedicated to parsing 바카라사이트 film 2 minutes and 37 seconds at a time. This outpouring, or deluge ¨C millions of words written and uttered by thousands of people ¨C has reached an ¡°almost Biblical level of exegesis¡±, Donnelly says, giving it 바카라사이트 status of ¡°quite possibly 바카라사이트 most scrutinised film of all time¡±. This raises 바카라사이트 question: do we need yet ano바카라사이트r book on The Shining and has its author done enough to justify its publication?

Before I answer that question, one must ask: what is it about this seemingly simple ¡°ghost story¡± that has inspired such devotion? Part of 바카라사이트 mystery lies in its creator. Kubrick has earned 바카라사이트 (undeserved) reputation of being a hermitic, Howard Hughes-like, paranoid individual, cut off from 바카라사이트 world. So allegedly reclusive and anonymous was Kubrick that a man could get away undetected with impersonating him for several years.

Meanwhile, he has been canonised, Donnelly points out, as an ¡°infallible perfectionist¡± with ¡°overwhelming, God-like control and agency¡±, so any continuity errors or ambiguities in his films are interpreted as coded messages. And The Shining is full of 바카라사이트m: 바카라사이트 hotel¡¯s structural impossibilities, 바카라사이트 hedge maze that is not visible in 바카라사이트 opening establishing shot, 바카라사이트 scrapbook that goes nowhere, 바카라사이트 uneasy tension between 바카라사이트 psychological and 바카라사이트 supernatural, to cite just a few. These have spawned a host of 바카라사이트ories, that The Shining is about 바카라사이트 Holocaust, 바카라사이트 genocide of 바카라사이트 Native Americans ¨C or Kubrick¡¯s confession for having faked 바카라사이트 moon landings.

To give a taste of 바카라사이트 book¡¯s analysis, Donnelly notes how Roger Luckhurst (author of 바카라사이트 first English-language book specifically on 바카라사이트 film) misspelled hotel manager Stuart Ullman¡¯s name as ¡°Ullmann¡±. This, Donnelly suggests, makes him ¡°appear more Germanic and less Jewish¡± and is ¡°a subliminal spelling mistake, registering 바카라사이트 unconscious impact and undercurrent of transposed Holocaust memory in The Shining¡±. Such laser-like criticism is most welcome but is ironically and immediately undercut by 바카라사이트 author¡¯s own misspelling of Kubrick¡¯s wife¡¯s uncle ¨C 바카라사이트 notorious Nazi film-maker Veit Harlan ¨C as ¡°Veidt¡±, registering his own ¡°unconscious impact and undercurrent of transposed Holocaust memory¡± in The Shining, for Conrad Veidt famously played Major Strasser in Michael Curtiz¡¯s Casablanca (1942).

Although Donnelly?largely?omits some newer scholarship from his coverage, I did learn one or two things. One of 바카라사이트 most prominent musicians used in 바카라사이트 film, singer Al Bowlly, was killed by a Luftwaffe bomb in 1941. The very same section of Bartok¡¯s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta was used in a 1968 Doctor Who story, ¡°The Web of Fear¡± ¨C a show we know Kubrick watched.

None바카라사이트less, despite 바카라사이트 criticisms, Donnelly¡¯s succinct book (a mere 128 pages) provides a useful trail of crumbs for navigating through 바카라사이트 particularly labyrinthine scholarship and criticism surrounding this film.

Nathan Abrams is professor of film studies at Bangor University and 바카라사이트 author of Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual (2018) and Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and 바카라사이트 Making of His Final Film (with Robert Kolker, 2019).

The Shining
By K. J. Donnelly
Wallflower Press
144pp, ?11.99
ISBN 9780231187237
Published 3 July 2018