Though Danny, Wendy, and Dick escape, Jack is badly beaten with his own mallet by the very spirits that have inhabited him. Whereas the novel allows for a tragic kind of redemption that grounds Jack in his deepest, most human longing to love and care for his family, the film leaves Jack-quite literally-cold.Īt the end of the novel, Jack’s heart and paternal instincts (alongside the aid of his clairvoyant son, Danny) manage to pierce the veil of malevolence that has fallen upon him, and he urges Danny to run. One of the biggest differences between the book and the film is Jack’s fate. It’s also worth mentioning that while Jack, rather iconically, wields an axe in the film (cue Jack Nicholson’s appearance through a splintered door with a rousing “Herrrre’s Johnny!”), in the novel, Jack instead uses a roque mallet as his weapon of choice. This underscores the taught thriller edge that Kubrick brought to King’s story. The audience does not warm to Jack in the same way they do in the novel, where he’s portrayed as an everyman struggling with common difficulties and emotions instead, he appears somewhat sinister from his introduction. Additionally, discussions of Jack’s childhood and relationship with his abusive father are entirely absent from the film. Though the movie adaptation does touch on Jack’s struggles with alcohol, it doesn’t dive into the significance of addiction on his deterioration in the same way the novel does. In the film, however, Jack feels slightly unhinged from the very start. But that changes when he’s possessed by the darkness and evil lurking within the Overlook’s halls, an unspeakable wickedness that drives him to the brink of absolute madness. After he’s given the opportunity to recover, get sober, and bond with his family at the Overlook Hotel with a position as the winter caretaker, Jack is hopeful that he can repair these familial relationships and break the cycle of abuse and anger that began with his own father. He lost his job as an educator after he physically assaulted a student in a flare of temper exacerbated by his struggles with alcoholism. He adores his wife and son, but while struggling with his own demons, his ability to demonstrate this love sometimes falters. In the novel, Jack is an incredibly sympathetic character. It was this aspect that King disputed in particular-notably, the portrayals of Jack and Wendy, and the Torrance family’s tensions. Perhaps one of the most significant differences between King and Kubrick’s versions of The Shining lies in characterization. Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Shining. So what exactly are the differences between The Shining movie and the novel on which it was based? Kubrick rejected the Stephen King's initial treatment of the screenplay, and The Shining's author was largely dissatisfied with his novel’s jump to the big screen. Yet despite being a pillar of the genre, The Shining is not the most faithful page-to-screen adaptation. With the critically acclaimed performance of Jack Nicholson in the lead role and the signature style of a creative generally considered to be one of the best in cinematic history, the ever-memorable and oft-quoted film is a staple for many horror buffs. When The Shining was adapted by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in 1980, the story took on another life entirely. Following a disgraced teacher turned playwright and hotel groundskeeper named Jack Torrance his depressed but resilient wife, homemaker Wendy and their kind yet skittish and somewhat peculiar young son Danny, the novel paints the tumult of a dysfunctional family’s dynamics against the backdrop of a grim and unforgiving setting. But it’s so, so much more than your classic story of spirits and a man’s descent into madness-it’s also a tender yet deeply painful meditation on addiction, family, abuse, and redemption. Set in the claustrophobia-inducing snow-covered peaks of an isolated hotel in the middle of the Rockies, The Shining is a classic work of psychological horror that’s just about as chilling as it gets.
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