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The Shining
Movie

The Shining

1980 • Drama, Horror

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

Haunted by a persistent writer's block, the aspiring author and recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrance, drags his wife, Wendy, and his gifted son, Danny, up snow-capped Colorado's secluded Overlook Hotel after taking up a job as an off-season caretaker. As the cavernous hotel shuts down for the season, the manager gives Jack a grand tour, and the facility's chef, the ageing Mr Hallorann, has a fascinating chat with Danny about a rare psychic gift called "The Shining", making sure to warn him about the hotel's abandoned rooms, and, in particular, the off-limits Room 237. However, instead of overcoming the dismal creative rut, little by little, Jack starts losing his mind, trapped in an unforgiving environment of seemingly endless snowstorms, and a gargantuan silent prison riddled with strange occurrences and eerie visions. Now, the incessant voices inside Jack's head demand sacrifice. Is Jack capable of murder?

Overall Series Review

The film traps the Torrance family inside the secluded Overlook Hotel, where the aspiring writer Jack takes a caretaker job. The story immediately establishes Jack's history of violence and alcoholism as he isolates with his wife Wendy and gifted son Danny. The hotel itself, built on a Native American burial ground, serves as a vessel that exploits the existing weaknesses of the white male patriarch. The narrative focuses on the internal psychological disintegration of Jack, which turns into an external murderous rampage against his family. The themes are widely interpreted as a dark, structural critique of American society, colonization, and traditional gender roles. The Black hotel chef, Hallorann, shares a special psychic gift, called "The Shining," with Danny and becomes a crucial figure in the boy’s attempt to survive the escalating danger. Wendy, initially submissive, becomes the resourceful and protective mother who must confront the failure and violence of her husband to save her child.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics8/10

The narrative places the white male protagonist, Jack Torrance, as the main vehicle for the hotel's evil, which is seen as exploiting his existing misogynistic and racist biases. Analyses frequently interpret the film as a critique and condemnation of racism and sexism. The only character Jack kills with an axe is Dick Hallorann, the African-American chef, and a ghost refers to Hallorann using a racial slur. Danny and Hallorann, a Black man and a child, are the two characters with the special power of "the shining" that opposes the evil.

Oikophobia8/10

The Overlook Hotel is presented as an old American institution with US flags and references to the Fourth of July, and it is revealed to be built on an Indian burial ground. The film is widely interpreted as a commentary on the historical genocide of Native Americans and American society's refusal to acknowledge this past. The horror is portrayed as being inherent to and baked into the system of the old establishment.

Feminism7/10

Jack, the male patriarch, is consistently portrayed as an abusive, negligent, and toxic figure whose primary motivation for his violence is his resentment toward his family for crushing his artistic dreams. The plot suggests the evils and abuse stem from a white patriarchal society and traditional gender roles. Wendy is the one who performs the domestic and caretaking duties, demonstrating resourcefulness, and she ultimately escapes by leaving the destructive patriarch to die.

LGBTQ+1/10

The film focuses on the destruction of a traditional, heterosexual nuclear family unit by psychological and supernatural forces. There is no presence of explicit LGBTQ+ characters, themes, or ideological commentary.

Anti-Theism2/10

The supernatural evil in the film is rooted in the hotel's violent, secular history and the psychic abilities of its characters, not in any critique or demonization of traditional Christian or other religious figures or institutions. The source of the good (the ability to save the family) is a non-religious, psychic gift called "the shining."