Introduction

In the world of stanley kubrick’s cinema, the overlooked hotel is a stage for a grand
psychological horror story. We navigate through the twists in the film, witness to Jack Torrence’s
descent into madness, and the repercussions of this journey unto his family and his
surroundings. A crucial scene here which is rich with symbolism like the cyclical nature of
violence, the nature of the hotel which manipulates its caretakers and the ‘passing down of the
baton’ from Grady and Lloyd unto Jack which solidifies the statusand the nature of the hotel
which drives it’s inhabitants to the very edge hence making them commit unspeakable acts of
violence, making it a killing grounds of sort which to the outside viewer may seem very simple,
but to the person staying there, is a path down to hell, the very depths of their minds and souls,
being manipulated by the hotel itself using their worst characteristics, bringing them to commit
the simplest yet the most outlandish acts by a human being an act that is so normalized yet so
marginalized by society due to its cynical nature, an act used as a method of self defense yet
something so simple as a change of context can change it from self defense to an act of
aggression, an act of offense which may even be perverse in nature. The act of murder.

Jack enters the ballroom and goes to the bar amid a crowd of partygoers which seem to be of a
bygone era, and Jack dressed in his denims, work boots and red jacket seemed to be more out
of place than the lady with a bloody handprint on her dress walking through the party. He sits
down at the bar, accepting whatever goes on around him, a man who has been broken to the
point of madness yet accepting of the fact of all the strange phenomena going around him. This
is solidified in the following exchange when he asks the bartender for a drink. Him saying that
he’s a man who likes to know who’s buying him is drink is quickly shot down by Lloyd albeit in a
very cloak and dagger kind of way which Jack does not question, he accepts everything that
goes around him and one could go as far as to say that he has now become an extension of the
hotel itself, being catered to its various lies and illusions and being manipulated by it.

After taking his drink jack walks through the party, and a lady with a bloody handprint on her
dress walks by in the foreground of the frame, which may or may not be a visual signifier
implying the tipping point, where jack loses it all and goes berserk after which shortly the butler,
Grady, knocks into him, spilling his drinks tray unto jack and himself, after which they retire to
the washroom where he confronts Grady, while he cleans his jacket, telling him that he knows
that Grady killed his wife and daughter. Grady initially declines and matter of factly states that he
has always been here. Furthermore, he goes on to tell Jack that his son is bringing “outside
parties into this situation” referring to a black man who his son was trying to bring into the
management of the hotel, exclaiming that his son has a great talent. Jack, in his manic state,
puts two and two together and tells Grady that his wife keeps interfering in the matter, being a
bad influence on their son. The conversation takes a more sinister turn, with Grady telling Jack
about the time when his daughter tried to burn down the hotel when he was the caretaker
(contradicting the dialogue when he said he wasn’t) and taking a more serious face he says he
“corrected” them both, while maintaining his formal tone, the tone of a butler. Grady had been so
obsessed with the hotel and managing it he completely ignored the well-being of his family
similar to Jack. He viewed them as obstacles while managing the hotel and needed everything
in his hotel to be perfect and orderly. He did what he had to do to satisfy his desires and this
conversation marked a turning point in the story as it resonated with Jack. This was a seed of
the devil which was planted in his mind to “correct” everything as he saw fit. To correct
everything in order for the hotel to be run perfectly. He had become a slave to his own desires
and forgot the well being of his family for his own sakes.

This exchange between these three characters symbolizes an unspoken pact of sorts, a start
down the path of madness which deepens the film's psychological complexity from a generic
horror film to something of a cultish feature, exploiting Jack’s psychological disintegration to
represent something more sinister, something more darker. This is further exemplified by
Kubrick’s expert direction and the camerawork. The cuts and the shifting between different shots
from a full to a close up defines the tempo of a conversation and the scene, like placing
emphasis on words during a conversation, these cuts and edits mark emphasis on the
conversations between the characters, letting us know what’s important and also letting us see
the details of the masterful acting for ourselves. The scene from the bathroom is the perfect
example for this, switching from a full shot to mediums and close ups, over the shoulder shots
and back to a full shot is an amazing example of how camera direction plays a huge role in the
tempo of a conversation in the film. You can remain static and let something play out in one
single take and one angle and make it seem stretched out and you can make things seem
heated and make the conversation seem to be at a much faster tempo with quick cutting and
numerous camera angles. There is a finer line to this where Kubrick has mastered the tempo of
conversations and the movement of characters in scenes where it just seems to hit that mark of
perfection where every scene is as it should be not exaggerated not stylized not played down
not simple. It seems to be the perfect blend of static shots and movement where you see what
you need to and don’t linger on for too long. But Kubric also makes sure that he’s not showing
too little by allowing actors to have some freedom and also through his numerous takes; where
you might find an actor breaking down a complex character to their most simple ingredients,
where he puts them at their most vulnerable and their most manic states but then instead of
putting a more ‘sane’ character through incredible situations, these scenes just work because
he is here putting a character of extraordinary psychological capability through some of the most
normal situations and letting them play out. It’s like watching a trainwreck you can’t look away
from. A simple concept, but done beautifully.

Thank you for reading through this. It feels like I've had to think about movies more than
anything else during these few months but it has been amazing to go through something like
this, making me appreciate many details which I had taken for granted and also opened my
eyes to some great foreign films in the process. So again, thank you.