How Stanley Kubrick Failed Jack Torrance
Jack was a good man that went mad, not a bad one who became a nightmare.
The Shining is an unsettling movie that stays with you long after the end credits roll. Maybe a few days, a few weeks, or even much longer. It goes to show Stanley Kubrick’s masterful direction in creating an eerie atmosphere, the horror shining through in well-lit halls and corridors whereas other films of the genre would thrive in darkness and shadows. He was a master at setting a tone that pervades every second of a movie’s runtime.
So, I am not writing this piece to question the film’s standing as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Rather, I write this to question his treatment of The Shining’s dad gone mad, Jack Torrance.
Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece is not a faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel. Far from it. Entire books, articles, videos, and threads have been created to document the differences between the two. There’s a lot that has been changed and there’s a lot that has been left out. That’s understandable since a movie is unable to squeeze in all the details, necessary or otherwise trivial.
But when it comes to The Shining, what has been left out includes the true essence of a character: his inner demons, fears, failures, but most importantly, the unquestionable desire to do right by those he loves despite unfathomable odds. Yes, Jack Torrance goes mad in both book and film, but how he gets there diverges so shockingly.
THE MISSING CONNECTION
While I can wholeheartedly applaud the film’s unnerving atmosphere, The Shining makes it difficult for us to have an emotional connection with any character. There was an exaggerated quality to the acting, whether it was young Danny (Danny Lloyd), Wendy (Shelley Duvall), or even Jack himself (Jack Nicholson). It could very well have been a hallmark of the time, but it diminished the suspension of disbelief associated with each character’s dilemma.
Granted, there’s a lot more sympathy for Shelley Duvall today, knowing the torture and torment she endured at the hands of a manipulative director, and this makes her scenes a lot more heartbreaking to watch in the present.
But the main problem lies with Jack Torrance. The Shining was meant to portray The Overlook Hotel’s sinister effects on its inhabitants so that Jack descends into madness. He spirals out of control, loses touch with reality, and decides to kill his wife and child. The only issue in the movie is that the descent into madness is not too pronounced.
THE MISSING DESCENT
From the beginning, Jack comes off as an ass. In his interview with the Overlook’s Stuart Ullman and later with his wife and kid, there’s an air of condescension, most evident through his beaming, smarmy smile. He’s in it for himself. He desires the Overlook’s caretaking job to overcome his writer’s block, believing that solitude in the Rockies will force him to write his magnum opus. Any thoughts about spending quality time with his family during the winter? Nada. This is a very selfish man.
Leaving that aside, hardly any scenes document Jack’s interactions with the Overlook’s supernatural tenants in the first act. Let’s break it play by play through the European cut of the movie that Kubrick preferred after its original US release (with a run time of 119 minutes).
Scenes with Jack after moving into The Overlook:
1. Wendy brings him breakfast in bed. He loves the food for sure, but his face says, “fuck off, Wendy!”
2. Jack plays with a tennis ball rather than working on his play, then looks at a model of the Overlook maze inside the hotel.
3. Jack is on the typewriter late at night, and as Wendy comes up to check on him, he loses it. Yells at her for distracting him.
4. A scene of Jack in a catatonic state, staring at his wife and kid playing outside in the snow.
5. Jack looks a mess in his bedroom, and beckons little Danny to come over to him. Danny asks Jack if he’ll ever hurt Wendy and him. Jack is concerned, assuming Wendy’s plotting against him, silently fuming, but reassures Danny that he loves his son.
6. Jack has a nightmare while falling asleep at his desk. He saw himself killing his family (not shown). He’s in complete shock.
a. Wendy rushes to comfort him, but when Danny shows up with bruises on his neck, she assumes that Jack did it. She demands he stay away from them.
7. Jack imagines a bartender: Lloyd. This is where Jack’s interactions with the supernatural elements kick in.
The problem lies in those opening scenes (1 to 6). It’s as if Jack flipped a switch as soon as he arrived at The Overlook and started feeling crazy. There was no gradual process to getting there and we weren’t privy to the deliberations in his mind. It all felt sudden until he meets Lloyd. In that first act, all the supernatural elements are discovered through Danny and his shine. Memories of the past, of death and trauma, are seen through his eyes and not through Jack’s. Any evidence of a mind being warped and twisted is missing in those early moments.
Later on, though, they sure come in spades. He travels back to a party in the Gold Room and meets the old caretaker, Grady, who urges him to correct his wife and child in the interest of taking best care of The Overlook. Jack develops an unnatural affection toward The Overlook, but the movie makes it difficult for us to see why.
THE MISSING BACKGROUND
Several pieces of Jack’s background are missing from the movie, all of which would have helped us care for him by even the tiniest of morsels.
In King’s novel, Jack is a recovering alcoholic who puts the bottle down after hurting Danny one night. In one of his drunken stupors, he discovers Danny messing around in his study, and when he goes to chastise his son, he breaks the little fellow’s arm. This incident, coupled with a road accident, forces him to quit drinking, driven to desperation as he tries to salvage his marriage and family. But another obstacle comes in the way when he loses his job, that, too, after losing his temper and hurting one of his students. He’s wracked with overwhelming guilt and shame about his anger, as they upend not only his life but those of his wife and son as well. There’s also the underlying fear that he’s slowly turning into his father, an abusive tyrant who was loved by no one.
With nowhere to go, a friend recommends him for the caretaker role at The Overlook, and Jack sure needs this job. While he’s on the mend and keeping his anger in check, the bank account is hurting, and it’s only a matter of time before his role as caretaker of the Torrance family is in jeopardy.
There’s also the hope that The Overlook will save his marriage, with sobriety and time away from his past helping rekindle the romance between Wendy and him. There is love between the two of them in the book, strengthened by Jack’s efforts to make amends before being torn asunder by The Overlook.
All of this is missing in the movie. The man working towards redemption. The man working to save his marriage. The man working to provide for his family.
All we have in Kubrick’s horror masterpiece is an egocentric maniac hellbent on finishing his damn play. So, no, we can’t relate.
THE MISSING SEDUCTION
In the novel, The Overlook seduces Jack through a scrapbook in the basement, one that details the colorful history of the hotel. Extravagant riches. Scandalous affairs. Mafioso crimes. It’s a past replete with infinite stories, enough material for a lifetime of literary greatness. Jack slowly comes to believe that his Magnum Opus lies within, and perhaps a Pulitzer Prize at the end of it.
He grows more and more enamored by these stories, and while he does come across haunting visions just like Danny, these turn into ones of seduction much later. Alcohol at the bar. A beautiful woman. A job and promotion to guarantee financial security. The Overlook works its devilish charms to entice Jack Torrance, and while he seeks to stay, anything that gets in the way must be eliminated, chief among them the woman who wants the family to abandon The Overlook for their son’s safety: Wendy Torrance. His partner in life gets turned into a menace, as The Overlook forces Jack to magnify Wendy’s actions through the worst possible light. A doting mother turned into a nagging pest. A wife looking out for her husband turned into an insufferable bitch, scrutinizing his every single move.
He went to the mountains to save his family, and through the course of several bitter winter months, he ends up doing the exact opposite.
BIG MISSES ALL IN ALL
It’s all missing. Pieces that would have encouraged us to lend sympathy and empathy to a man losing his mind. What we end up receiving is a bad man who went mad as opposed to a good man who went mad. Jack Torrance will surely be remembered as one of Horror’s most terrifying villains, and therein lies the tragedy.
