Erik Leonhard
Professor Bomboy
Humanities
December 6, 2015
Critique
of The Shining
I
have chosen to critique the movie The
Shining. Stanley Kubrick directed The
Shining, but Stephen King wrote the original story. I chose to critique the
way that the music heightens emotions and tension throughout the film.
Stanley
Kubrick is known for the gentle release of his films, where he heavily relies
on word of mouth popularity. However, this was not the case for The Shining. The films had a massive
opening, but it did not gain proper recognition until years later. I would say
that the main objective behind this movie was money, but Stanley Kubrick is
known for his outstanding artistic composition of film as well.
The
film features a family of three main characters: Jack Torrance, Wendy Torrance,
and Danny Torrance. Jack is a writer at heart, but decides to take a job at a
hotel with a very violent past. Jack and his family move into the hotel as
caretakers over the winter, and as time goes by, the isolation begins to play
tricks on their minds. Eventually, Jack goes insane and embarks on a mission to
kill his family. The film was constructed in such a way that there was never a dull
moment, and there was never a time where you could predict what was going to
happen next. The ending of the movie is very open-ended, and leaves you
questioning the entire series of events. The music played an essential role in
the film. The suspenseful events that occurred in the film would not have been
nearly as successful if the music were to have been omitted.
Music
played an essential role in the film. It was utilized during scenes of terror
and suspense to add more tension. One scene in particular that really utilized
suspenseful music was the scene in which Wendy reads what Jack has been typing
all of the months they were at the hotel. Wendy, armed with a baseball bat,
slowly backs away from Jack as he is yelling at her. During this scene high
pitched strings slowly build, and at the peak of the musical tension, Wendy
hits Jack with the baseball bat causing him to fall down the stairs. Not only
does the music add to the tension of the scene, but it also leaves the audience
wondering what is going to happen. Most of the time, the music in the film
indicates that something radical is about to occur, but on the transition to
Tuesday, that was not the case. The musical buildup was similar to the sounds
used in the baseball bat scene, but this build led to no significant
occurrence. It slowly built up and made the audience think that something was
about to happen, and then a black screen showed up indicating that the day was
now Tuesday. I think the use of the false build was successful because it was
used during a time in the movie where the backstory was being built. There
really was not anything truly drawing the attention of the audience, so the
musical buildup helped draw the audience back in during a more dry section of
the movie. Similar string builds were used throughout the movie in the same
way, but each build was slightly different. Some builds included drums and
bells, while others were solely what sounded like string instruments.
Overall I thought that the film
was tremendous. Each actor was perfectly cast, especially Jack who was played
by Jack Nicholson. Jack was a psychopath and Nicholson could not have portrayed
the insanity any more perfectly. All of the horror in the film seemed superbly
realistic because Nicholson's acting was so convincing. Watching his psychotic
episodes really turned the film into an emotional experience that not too many
other directors have achieved. The combination of Kubrick’s directing,
Nicholson's acting, and the musical tension led to a film that will continue to
be appreciated and analyzed for years to come.
Works
Cited
The Shining. Dir.
Stanley Kubrick. Film.
"The
Shining." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
