3 Reasons Why The Shining is an Excellent Book Adaptation

by Kevin Gardner

For decades, books have been adapted into films. From Little Women  to The Silence of the Lambs, some times are simply begging to be on the big screen. However, few can compare to the mastery of The Shining, particularly when it comes to adapting a novel. If you'd like to learn more, here are three reasons The Shining is an excellent book adaptation.

1. Tone

The tone of The Shining, like many Kubrick films, is integral to the flick. From the very beginning, the audience is made to feel an eerie loneliness, as well as an uncanny sense of wrongness. Part of this can be attributed to the director's shots. Kubrick enjoys centered and symmetrical shots, which pair very nicely with the movie's horror. While many horror movies rely on tight shots and sudden jump scares, Kubrick shows his scars in full view. An excellent example of this is the elevator scene. Instead of showing a sudden spurt of blood coming from the elevator, 

Kubrick dedicates time to the scene. The audience sees the blood flooding the hallway for several seconds, creating a sense of unrealness and disgust. The tone is also helped by the lack of explanations. While science fiction movies may need to explain things like train BERT, which can certainly be interesting in the right context, this film has no need to lay out what's happening. Instead, it's simply implied that the hotel's haunted. How does this work? How many ghosts are there? How did it start? No one knows or needs to know. This differs from the book, which in the style of Stephen King has very long descriptions. Since such intense monolog would likely bog down the film, Kubrick simply allowed the horror to happen with no explanation.

2. Pacing

The pacing of The Shining differs greatly from the original book. While this may seem disrespectful, it makes the material work far better on screen. In the book, the first half or so is dedicated to living with the characters. There are long descriptions of the hotel, as well as lengthy conversations between the husband and wife. While this allows the following events to be more shocking in the novel, it would have lessened the horror in the movie. Because of this, Kubrick spends only a bit of time on setting up the plot. While there is a long tour of the hotel, it utilizes creepy shots and introduces important plot points. Once this is done, Kubrick immediately introduces horror elements. A different scary event happens each day. Unlike the book, the days are shortened to preserve time. This allows the ending to get the amount of time it needs. From the ax-chase to the maze, nothing feels rushed or unearned. So, while the book's pacing worked well in the novel, the re-working was highly beneficial for the film.

3. Characters

The characters in Kubrick's film, particularly the main one, are markedly different to the ones in the book. This is mainly because of the differing themes. The book was meant to display a slow descent into madness. Jack begins the book as a well-meaning if irresponsible dad. He ends it as a murderous maniac. In the film, Jack always feels creepy. While he is clearly being influenced by the ghosts, he never seems like a relatable character. This is only helped by the casting. Jack Nicholson isn't exactly a normal-looking person. Sure, this may seem like an extreme departure from the book. However, as displayed by King's failed miniseries adaptation, it's necessary for the big screen. Showing such a descent on screen isn't exactly scary, especially since a film has less time to build suspense. It's also important to note the change in Wendy's character. The book portrays Wendy as a caring spouse and strong mother. In the film, Wendy is mainly shown as a scared wife. While the performance is certainly fear inducing, it doesn't show a lot of character development. Despite this, similar to Jack's character change, this works for the movie. It allows the focus to be on the scares. 

If you're looking to watch a book adaptation, be sure to check out The Shining. Turn it on and enjoy getting scared!