PART 1: WENDY
I keep coming back to The Shining because it contains so many curious anomalies in content and construction, and every time I watch it I continue to find new surprises that have somehow escaped me even after repeated viewings. It's a mesmerizing riddle.
Analyzing The Shining has become something of a cottage industry lately, with some theorists going well off the deep end of ideological projection, but I haven't seen anyone describe the things I see in this movie.
I want to start by breaking down two sequences which introduce Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall, who had already established her innately weird film magnetism in Robert Altman features like Thieves Like Us and Three Women.
In Stephen King's original novel, Wendy is portrayed as an attractive, blonde, and somewhat fearless heroine. By casting Duvall as Wendy, with clothes, hair and makeup that emphasize her plainness, Kubrick has altered and deepened her as a character.
In the opening sequences Kubrick defines Wendy through her relationships to Danny, Jack, and their family life by giving us subtle visual cues that define more about her than we're told through words or action. The dialog, like much of Kubrick's work, is banal and awkward, but it's the visuals that tell the story.
Through compositional relationships and visual symbols, we begin to invest in the characters in The Shining.
In Stephen King's original novel, Wendy is portrayed as an attractive, blonde, and somewhat fearless heroine. By casting Duvall as Wendy, with clothes, hair and makeup that emphasize her plainness, Kubrick has altered and deepened her as a character.
In the opening sequences Kubrick defines Wendy through her relationships to Danny, Jack, and their family life by giving us subtle visual cues that define more about her than we're told through words or action. The dialog, like much of Kubrick's work, is banal and awkward, but it's the visuals that tell the story.
Through compositional relationships and visual symbols, we begin to invest in the characters in The Shining.
INTRODUCING JACK'S OTHER HALF
The sequences which introduce Wendy, Danny (played by Danny Lloyd), and Tony, define family dynamics which will come under stress later on. The fact that Jack and his family are separated, that they aren't together from the start, plays well with the subject matter. 
We're first introduced to Wendy, Danny and Danny's imaginary friend Tony at the kitchen table, in a domestic scene which tells us visually that it's the apartment of a young family that's just moved in, filled with books but starkly decorated. Wendy's acceptance of Tony initiates our sense as an audience that he might be real, and as such we begin to become accustomed to strange invisible characters.
Wendy starts to be defined for us from the beginning, not just through dialog and (lack of) action, but via the set dressing and screen elements surrounding her in the frame. This proves true for all the major characters in the film. While the public at large may not be aware of how we're being fed character information while viewing The Shining, the subliminal elements surrounding the characters create visual counterpoints to the people in many scenes.
The strangest thing about this composition is how the Goofy marionette mirrors her pose and coloring. In this shot, and throughout the film, animal spirits (most of them cartoon) lend a counterpoint to the human action.
The marionette further emphasizes Wendy's awkward, lanky goofiness, humiliating her indirectly. Her sense of worth, from her standpoint as well as ours, comes into play.
In this composition, the bathroom represents a place of mortal terror, foreboding and danger, where we first saw Danny's vision of blood flowing from an elevator.
A staple of Kubrick films from Dr. Strangelove through Eyes Wide Shut, bathrooms had already been established to signify our mortality, and with The Shining he really brought that point home.
Wendy starts to be defined for us from the beginning, not just through dialog and (lack of) action, but via the set dressing and screen elements surrounding her in the frame. This proves true for all the major characters in the film. While the public at large may not be aware of how we're being fed character information while viewing The Shining, the subliminal elements surrounding the characters create visual counterpoints to the people in many scenes.
In this initial sequence we can see Wendy through the ordinary objects and commercial products which are a part of her day as a stay-at-home mother. We learn a lot about Wendy from what's behind her in these shots. The kitchen, dining, and sitting areas are all cluttered, but clean and not disorganized.
There's a visual language of color which is established here as well, in both costume and production design. Red, white, and blue are prominent in the costumes of this average American family. From a production design standpoint, this room is stark and modernist, with color accents against a white void.
From Wendy's viewpoint, which is what I think Kubrick was after in these scenes, it's about doing the best she can with what she's got. She's a naive optimist.
From Wendy's viewpoint, which is what I think Kubrick was after in these scenes, it's about doing the best she can with what she's got. She's a naive optimist.
ANIMALS IN THE BEDROOM
In this scene, Wendy is framed against a blank white wall. Visually, the white void gives us a sense of her state of mind, her feeling of emptiness, her worried and focused concern for Danny, while also emphasizing the authority of the doctor played by Anne Jackson.
The strangest thing about this composition is how the Goofy marionette mirrors her pose and coloring. In this shot, and throughout the film, animal spirits (most of them cartoon) lend a counterpoint to the human action.
The marionette further emphasizes Wendy's awkward, lanky goofiness, humiliating her indirectly. Her sense of worth, from her standpoint as well as ours, comes into play.
In this composition, the bathroom represents a place of mortal terror, foreboding and danger, where we first saw Danny's vision of blood flowing from an elevator.
A staple of Kubrick films from Dr. Strangelove through Eyes Wide Shut, bathrooms had already been established to signify our mortality, and with The Shining he really brought that point home.
COMPOSITION ALERT:
These two shots are integrated by a compositional X shape, with a dominant diagonal line from the bottom near-left to the top right corner of the frame. As they switch back and forth, the edit maintains a structural similarity which ties the compositions together.
The focal point is also the same in both compositions. Our eyes don't have to wander because the eyes of the doctor in one frame are in nearly the same location as Danny's prominent left eye in the next setup.
Note also too that the eyes of the bear pillow mimic those of Danny and the "eyes" of the elevators in Danny's vision.
The focal point is also the same in both compositions. Our eyes don't have to wander because the eyes of the doctor in one frame are in nearly the same location as Danny's prominent left eye in the next setup.
Note also too that the eyes of the bear pillow mimic those of Danny and the "eyes" of the elevators in Danny's vision.
WENDY'S BURDEN
This scene says a lot about Wendy. We can see her taste in curtains and tablecloth, we can see the books and kitchen implements that define her duties and interests.
The composition of this shot divides the intelligent, educated side of Wendy, represented by the books on the left side in the frame, with her maternal, home-making side, represented by the kitchen on the right.
Because of Danny's accident, these are the two elements of Wendy's personality that have come into play while being counseled by the doctor. It's a subtle way of showing us the character at her most focused, because later she will need to muster all of it to save her child.
These two parts of her are also character tensions that will play out later in the story with her husband Jack, the writer.
Throughout the film there are objects either above or right behind people's heads that signify something about them. They're symbolically shining. Here, the doctor is represented by books above her head.
These cues suggest not just the doctor's knowledge, but the authority that Wendy gives to her. Thus the division of books and kitchen behind Wendy describe her own inner strengths, conflicts, and sense of worth which will all play out operatically during later events in the film.
The composition of this shot divides the intelligent, educated side of Wendy, represented by the books on the left side in the frame, with her maternal, home-making side, represented by the kitchen on the right.
Because of Danny's accident, these are the two elements of Wendy's personality that have come into play while being counseled by the doctor. It's a subtle way of showing us the character at her most focused, because later she will need to muster all of it to save her child.
These two parts of her are also character tensions that will play out later in the story with her husband Jack, the writer.
Throughout the film there are objects either above or right behind people's heads that signify something about them. They're symbolically shining. Here, the doctor is represented by books above her head.
These cues suggest not just the doctor's knowledge, but the authority that Wendy gives to her. Thus the division of books and kitchen behind Wendy describe her own inner strengths, conflicts, and sense of worth which will all play out operatically during later events in the film.
The film images in this essay are included to aid in a visual analysis for educational and informational purposes. I don't claim ownership. These photos are iphone shots from my flatscreen monitor.
