OUTLINE OF THE PAPER SHOULD EXACTLY BE LIKE
Introduction
Subheading: Cinematic Interpretation and Literary Legacy
Hook: As Halloran makes his way toward the Overlook Hotel, a sense of impending doom engulfs him. The scenery is so different in stormy Oregon compared to the colorful swamps of Florida, where he came from. As he tries to navigate his way to the Overlook, he comes across a horrible accident where a rig ran over a red Volkswagen Beetle. Some say it is the Beetle that Stephen King had written about in his original work, the car that is supposed to carry Jack Torrance and his family to the Overlook Hotel. Red car in the literary work of King never made its way to the movie and a deliberate choice was made by Kubrick to alter the color of the vehicle to yellow. It may be Kubrick’s way of showing his feelings towards King. It is no secret that Stephen King disliked Kubrick’s end product and what had been done with the original manuscriipt.
As the movie diverges considerably from the source material, it reignites the conversation about book-to-film adaptations and how they should be done. Through shocking images and layers of the human mind, Kubrick created a movie that proved the importance of adapting literature and the successes and failures that might be met on such a task.
Background Information: Such change in the film The Shining by Stanley Kubrick provokes discussions concerning the concept of fidelity in movie adaptations, especially in comparison with the source material penned by Stephen King in 1977. Thus, Kubrick brought a new level of desperation to King’s supernatural horror, which is seen as madness, isolation, and an uncanny concept. This divergence is an obvious example demonstrating the impossibility of translating the sequence of events from a book into the visuals. Earlier films based on Stephen King’s works that came before Kubrick’s The Shining include Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) and Salem’s Lot (1979), two very different presentations of King’s works, and it is noteworthy that despite the differences, Kubrick took many creative and artistic liberties with this adaptation.
Thesis Statement: The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, another example, clearly illustrates how the technique of making a film based on a book implies one’s choice to overlay new meanings on top of the original literature by providing a new set of visuals and setting, which changes the gist of the story.
Theoretical Framework: This paper uses several theoretical frameworks, namely theories of adaptation studies and genre theory, specifically relating to the genres of horror literature and horror films. By drawing together responsive imagination and understanding between King’s novel and Kubrick’s film, the study reveals how adaptation comprises the duality of being both close to and distant from the source text to become a new narrative that must be assessed on its terms.
Body Paragraphs
Argument 1
Subheading: Narrative Transformation and Thematic Shifts
Topic Sentence: Kubrick infuses the movie with a departure from the novel’s format and themes: supernatural horror is replaced with psychological study.
Evidence and Analysis: In King’s novel, the evil influence is supernatural, as manifestations and telekinesis are present in the plot (King, 2007). Kubrick, however, concentrates on the gradual process of producing a psychoanalysis of the chief character, Jack Torrance, with the aid of the hotel, which serves as a background for the main actions. The hedge animals, which are one of the essential supernatural aspects described in the book, are altered with the hedge maze, which is more rationally represented and, hence, in the movie at the same spot, reveals psychological horror more, as compared to the supernatural horror (Boroš, 2021). Here, Kubrick makes some changes to focus on the element of psychological horror and shift away from the Gothic horror of King.
Argument 2
Subheading: Visual Style and Cinematic Techniques
Topic Sentence: Although it is based on a novel, due to the great director’s vision and unique visuals, as well as new technologies, Kubrick created an exceptional motion picture of the horror genre.
Evidence and Analysis: Utilizing the invention by Garrett Brown, the Steadicam shot gives an aesthetic sense of subjectivity, and Kubrick employs this technique for restless, destabilizing tracking shots (Andersson, 2024). This is well illustrated by the scene where Danny is on his tricycle moving up and down the hotel corridors, allaying horror, yet the feeling of danger is palpable here, even without horror symbols (Jameson, 1980). Also, the predetermined and aseptic symmetry and positioning that are Kubrick’s hallmarks, especially in the interiors of the Overlook Hotel, enhance the horror that the place represents, thus making the hotel a character in the movie. All these visual patterns are missing in King’s novel, showing how Kubrick employs cinematographic rhetoric to induce horror and suspense (Caldwell & Umland, 1986).
Argument 3
Subheading: Characterization and Performance
Topic Sentence: The characters and acts in The Shining differ from those in King’s book, proving that Kubrick has his own version of adaptation.
Evidence and Analysis: Jack Nicholson, who essayed the role of Jack Torrance, looks distinctly more demonic from the word go than in the novel, where the process of madness is more gradual (Metz, 1997). Nicholson gives a hyperactive tour throughout the film, and William’s compelling, menacing aura does not make the audience feel uncomfortable, unlike King, whose Jack is a more sympathetic alcoholic (Rampell, 2019). The same can be said of Shelley Duvall, who plays Wendy as weaker and more a horror victim than Wendy of the books, who is described as being more powerful and intervening ferociously whenever necessary. These interpretive choices directly enrich Kubrick’s presented themes concerned with the vulnerability of the human mind under pressure (Cook, 1984).
Not a stranger to book adaptations, Kubrick is a director who is well aware of the tools he can use on the screen that literature cannot utilize. In an essay by Kubrick in 1961, published by Sight and Sound magazine, he mentions the importance of actors (and actresses) and how a simple glance on screen may be worth multiple pages of text.
Conclusion
Subheading: The Art of Adaptation and Cinematic Brilliance
Reaffirmation of the Thesis: The Shining is a perfect example in which Kubrick takes an original story and, through narrative change, visual aestheticism, and reimagining characters, breathes life into an entirely new form of art that is film.
Summary of Main Points: The movie’s final version differs from the novel in all aspects, including the thematic shift from the supernatural, the breaking of traditional cinematic structures, and, most prominently, the characters as portrayed by Kubrick. These aspects, in combination, ensure that the movie remains well-calibrated and receives high praise from critics.
Final Thought: Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining highlights or exacerbates significant issues and innovations in adapting literature to the silver screen. It encourages the viewers and researchers to enjoy the film as an independent creation partially inspired by the source, yet it exists independently in the context of the movie art.
Bibliography
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Andersson, Denniz. “The Shining-Stanley Kubrick’s film adaption of Stephen King’s novel.” (2024).
Barlow, Arthur Harold. The films of Stanley Kubrick: A study in generative aesthetics. The Pennsylvania State University, 1996.
Boroš, Timea. “Analysis of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 Film Adaptation of the Shining.” PhD diss., University of Rijeka. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Department of English Language and Literature, 2021.
Caldwell, Larry W., and Samuel J. Umland. “Come and Play with Us”: The Play Metaphor in Kubrick’s” Shining.” Literature/Film Quarterly 14, no. 2 (1986): 106–111.
Cook, David A. “American Horror: The Shining.” Literature/Film Quarterly 12, no. 1 (1984): 2.
Jameson, Richard T. “Kubrick’s SHINING.” Film Comment 16, no. 4 (1980): 28.
King, Stephen. The Shining. Hachette UK, 2007.
Krämer, Peter. “Stanley Kubrick: Known and Unknown.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 37, no. 3 (2017): 373–395.
Macklin, F. Anthony. “Understanding Kubrick: The Shining.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 9, no. 2 (1981): 93–95.
Metz, Walter C. “Genre Theory and The Shining.” Film Criticism 22, no. 1 (1997).
Rampell, Palmer. “The Shining and the Media Conglomerate; or, How All Work and No Play Made Jack a Creative Artist in the 1970s.” American Literature 91, no. 1 (2019): 151–182.
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