Blog Post #3

In Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining gender and family roles play a prominent part in establishing the monster. As the film progresses the Torrance family shifts from what the audience believed to be a normal middle class family, to a troubled broken family. Roles in gender and family roles take a large part in this transition.

           

Jack Torrance strikes the audience in the beginning as a typical father struggling to make ends meet for his family, but still giving it his all.  This typical patriarchal family follows Jack to his new job at the Overlook hotel in hopes that it will spark his writing ability.  The film follows the story of Jack, the male protagonist shifting to the monster as his writing continues to fail, and his alcoholism begins to dominate his character. Jack’s failure as a father, husband, and writer is what triggers his psychotic adventures. Jack begins to “self loath” (Sobchack, 152) and turns to alcohol. As Jack transitions into the monster of the film many of the camera’s shots portray him as large, and powerful over his wife Wendy and his son Danny. He lashes at the two, screams, and in many shots his shadow hovers their bodies.

Wendy Torrance, Jack’s wife is forced to take on the role of a strong woman after Jack’s transition. It is difficult for the audience to decipher whether or not Wendy is strong or not from the start of the film because Jack always looks down on her in shots, yet she is still married to him. She tends to take his orders and not question his authority through the film. In the scene where Wendy and Jack are arguing on the stairs Wendy is the one in possession of the weapon yet as viewers we still feel her weakness. She is trembling, crying and cannot seem to get a good enough swing of the bat to harm Jack. Although Wendy is above Jack on the stairs is normally seen as a position of strength, the shot that is portrayed from Jack’s angle still enforces this idea of a weak woman.

Danny Torrance, the son of Jack and Wendy is often at the root of Jack’s senseless outbursts.  Danny is seen as the “terrorized child” (Sobchack, 151) and must shift into the brave child, who saves the family.  Danny outsmarts his father in the maze where Jack is chasing after him. In this scene Jack is seen as a beast of some sort looking to massacre his own flesh. Danny’s shining “power at expensive of his father ” (Sobchack, 156) threatens Jack’s patriarchal duties. In the end Danny is able to outsmart his family and he and Wendy are able to escape from the hotel.

Danny and Wendy’s escape from the Overlook hotel portrays the strength of the maternal bond, and the mother’s ability to lead the family. The shift in the film from patriarchal to maternal is important in the survival of the family, and allows the hope that one day Danny can lead a patriarchal family.

                                                                       Works Cited 

Vivian Sobchack. "Bringing it All Back Home: Family Economy and Generic Exchange." The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Barry Keith Grant, Ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.