Stephen King is a vocal guy. The Master of Horror has published over 65 novels and novellas, countless short stories, and five nonfiction books since the mid-’70s. The hype that surrounds him is well deserved. King is the kind of writer who appeals to everyone, whether you’re a genre enthusiast or a literary snob. His work has been adapted into TV shows and films, and he’s never afraid to voice his complaints and praise in equal measure. But there’s one adaptational grudge that towers above all.
The Shining, published in 1977, is one of King’s most personal works. The novel follows Jack Torrance, a struggling writer who takes a job as the caretaker of a cursed hotel. There, he slowly loses his mind and puts his family in danger. King has called the novel a reflection of his own struggles with alcoholism and fears related to parenting.
Three years later, it was adapted into a movie. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is one of the most enduring works of horror in cinema history. It’s nihilistic and cold, and one of the best showcases of Kubrick’s omnipotent camera. King is famously not a fan.
What is The Shining about?
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is an aspiring novelist and former teacher who takes a job as the caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. He moves there with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd) as the hotel closes for the winter season.
The three are locked in alone, as the weather grows colder and the snow piles up, haunted by ghosts and inexplicable occurrences. In their isolation, they’re confronted by their deepest demons: Jack, as he tries and fails to write; Wendy, as she blinds herself to her husband’s true nature; and Danny, possessing a psychic gift that plagues him with terrifying visions.
Why Stephen King hates The Shining
While Kubrick makes it clear the hotel is haunted and is actively pushing Jack towards the murder of his family, there’s an undercurrent of violence in the character since the start. This is exactly what King objected to.
One of the most impactful moments in the film occurs early on, setting the stage for the horror Wendy and Danny will experience. After Danny has his first fainting episode, a pediatrician comes in to check in on him. Wendy opens up about Danny’s health, sharing the story of how he dislocated his shoulder. She is chatty and upbeat, smoking a cigarette as she reveals that Jack had arrived home drunk and had found Danny amid scattered bits of paper. Jack pulled on Danny’s arm, dislocating it.
“Just one of those things,” Wendy says, laughing. “Purely an accident.” The camera cuts to the doctor, who looks shocked, and the scene ends. It’s one of Duvall’s great moments of acting and evidence of a misunderstood performance. Following the film’s release, Duvall was sharply criticized, with her nominated for worst actress at the Razzies.
King and Kubrick had fundamentally different approaches to the film’s lead characters. “Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film,” King told the BBC in 2013. “She’s basically just there to scream and be stupid. That’s not the woman that I wrote.”
Kubrick’s casting of Duvall was no accident. In an interview with critic Michel Ciment, he called Duvall’s “eccentricity” a key element of his Wendy. In that same interview, he discussed his approach to Jack. “Jack comes to the hotel psychologically prepared to do its murderous bidding. He is bitter about his failure as a writer. He is married to a woman for whom he has only contempt. He hates his son,” said Kubrick.
King saw Jack as a good man who loves his family and is driven insane by malignant forces inhabiting the hotel. “Jack Nicholson, though a fine actor, was all wrong for the part,” King told Playboy in 1983. “His last big role had been in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and between that and his manic grin, the audience automatically identified him as a loony from the first scene.”
Most of King’s criticisms are understandable, especially when discussing one of his most personal stories. Still, Kubrick’s The Shining is undeniable. The terrifying opening shots gliding through the mountains, the Steadicam drifting through the hotel like a ghost, and Kubrick’s aloof and distancing symmetry all build up to a frightening and unforgettable experience. Jack is unsympathetic to Wendy, but that doesn’t mean the film or the viewer is as well. At the end of their horrifying stay, Wendy saves her son and fights back against her husband despite her overwhelming and understandable fear. She becomes the film’s most human element.
With The Shining, Kubrick achieves what any great adaptation should. He makes the material his own.
The Shining is streaming on HBO Max