The Cinematic Unconscious
The Shining is more than a conventional horror film in that its purpose is not simply to frighten the audience but to reveal something to them. Kubrick himself admitted this psychological purpose in an interview: "One of the things that horror stories can do is show us the archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly" (qtd. in Nelson 197). The concept of "archetypes" points directly to Carl Jung, the eminent psychiatrist and dream theorist. According to Jung, "the archetype is, so to speak, an 'eternal' presence, and the only question is whether it is perceived by the conscious mind or not" (295). In the truest sense of the word, an archetype is a prototype, or, more specifically, a model that contains the essence of those things which are patterned in its likeness. The Jungian archetype, then, is a universal representation, something that, by virtue of its "eternal" nature, is timeless and immutable. Jung believed that these archetypes existed regardless of our knowledge or recognition of them.
In The Shining, Kubrick’s intention to show us “the archetypes of the unconscious” takes the form of an infernal nightmare within the Overlook Hotel. Kubrick’s expression of horror is very much parallel to Jungian theory, as he lets these archetypes fester emotionally within the hotel, which in itself is an archetype of the unconscious mind inasmuch as it takes on the role of an emotional pressure-cooker. Thomas Allen Nelson retains this position: “The Shining…provides a symbolic conduit (visual and aural) into Jack’s unconscious mind as well as its demonic reincarnation within the collective unconscious of the Overlook Hotel” (204).
Jack’s unconscious, comprising all his dark desires, comes to take control of him and eventually predicates the events that define the movie as pure cinematic horror. Even his reasons for becoming the hotel caretaker have more to do with selfish, unfulfilled Freudian wishes than a conscious attempt at responsibility: Jack’s express reason for taking the position, as he tells Ullman, is the “five months of peace” it will allow, during which time he plans to make significant progress in his writing. In this sense, his family and anything else that is attached to the conscious world seem to have fallen out of his unconscious concerns.
Once Jack is inside the Overlook Hotel, he immediately lapses into his true emotional state, a state in which the harsh resentment he fosters for his family takes the form of open censure. Throughout the film, the three Torrances are rarely seen together in the same frame or even the same scene, and it becomes clear that Jack has nothing but repressed contempt and hatred for Wendy. He expresses this unsaid antipathy regarding the past drunken incident with Danny, telling Lloyd that “she’ll never let me forget what happened.” Jack’s growing realization of his true feelings place the blame for all his own shortcomings--his alcoholism, his ineptitude as a writer and as a father--on Wendy (“that bitch”) and Danny (“the little son-of-a-bitch”). In the realm of Jack’s unconscious mind, his existence is dictated by base emotions only, and his motivation is purely egotistical.
Read more:
Representing the Unconscious in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
The Cinematic Unconscious
Mirrors of the Soul
All Work and No Play
Shine On
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