Kubrick's Cinematic Unconscioustag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas/2402007-04-29T01:54:57ZMovable Type Enterprise 1.02Representing the Unconscious in Stanley Kubrick's The Shiningtag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.21842007-04-21T18:43:37Z2007-04-29T01:54:57Z All art is psychological experience. By virtue of this, all art is psychological representation. Any exploration of the human mind inevitably leads to some discussion of the unconscious, a concept which is unremittingly difficult to define, though among most...Robert Wargas
All art is psychological experience. By virtue of this, all art is psychological representation. Any exploration of the human mind inevitably leads to some discussion of the unconscious, a concept which is unremittingly difficult to define, though among most scholars has come to denote a part of the mind that holds our repressed wishes and emotions. What makes the study of the unconscious so interesting--and indeed so frustrating--is the fact that, by definition, it is hidden from us. Stanley Kubrick, whose films often epitomize the starkest, most horrific reality, seemed to view the line between the conscious and the unconscious as a world unto itself. For this reason, his films have more to do with psychological representation that with the strict expression of narrative.
Kubrick's films (and even his name) connote a vast and almost impenetrable repertoire of work that has as its focus an undeniable obsession with the basic emotions of the human unconscious.
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The Cinematic Unconscioustag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.22962007-04-21T03:00:58Z2007-05-01T04:18:04Z 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...Robert WargasThe 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.
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Mirrors of the Soultag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.21852007-04-20T19:23:22Z2007-05-01T04:11:05ZMany of the scenes in which Jack falls deeper into his emotional abyss contain mirrors. Two such scenes appear virtually in tandem. Jack, already well along the path of madness, stumbles into the Overlook's ostensibly empty ballroom, seething with frustration....Robert Wargas
Though perhaps the most significant instance of unconscious reflection occurs while Jack talks to Delbert Grady, the spectral Jazz Age waiter whom he meets during the Gold Room ball sequence. If you look closely, you will notice that, while Grady stands in front of him, Jack is actually peering at himself in the mirror during the entire conversation. They speak in a men's bathroom, the color of which is a blinding red, signifying the Faustian blood oath that they organize. It is here that Jack, at Grady's behest, moves toward satiating his unconscious desire to kill his family.
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All Work and No Playtag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.23832007-04-18T02:18:48Z2007-05-06T01:21:03ZJack’s role as a writer is a significant indicator of his unconscious core. In the film, he is driven by the need to fulfill a goal that he has set for himself--to write a book (or some similarly large writing...Robert Wargas
Jack, however, has neither the talent nor the discipline to do so: In certain scenes, instead of writing, he engages in mundane activities which help him to forget that there is indeed work to be done. In one such scene, Jack feverishly throws a tennis ball against the wall repeatedly, his unattended typewriter in plain sight. Moreover, aside from his neglect of writing, Jack never does anything that would even suggest “caretaking.” In effect, he seems torn between the responsibilities of a dual role, namely, the Apollonian duties of being a father/provider, and his repressed, Dionysian dream of bohemian achievement, sex, and alcohol.
The only thing Jack is capable of producing is a line that resounds the total lack of rational intelligence his conscious mind once possessed: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Jack’s repetitious mantra, carefully typed in assorted patterns on hundreds of pages, signifies a complete, unconscious regression into the dreams he always had but never fulfilled. Even the diction of his one-sentence masterpiece affirms his return to unconscious chaos: Jack uses the word “boy” instead of “man” or “guy”; or, for that matter, any of a hundred syntactic variations that would de-emphasize the childish tone. Jack, then, has become a shadow of what he once was, transplanted irrevocably into a boyhood of violent instinct, a world in which he can pursue his wishes with impunity. And by the end of the film, Jack has regressed to almost complete inhumanity, capable of only bestial grunts and a hobbling, uncoordinated gait.
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Shine Ontag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.23842007-04-17T02:32:21Z2007-05-06T01:23:47Z Jack’s son Danny can “shine,” that is, he can read others’ minds, see premonitions of the future, remnants of the distant past. This ability represents another glimpse at a Kubrickian psychological hell, as Danny is cursed with something that...Robert Wargas
Jack’s son Danny can “shine,” that is, he can read others’ minds, see premonitions of the future, remnants of the distant past. This ability represents another glimpse at a Kubrickian psychological hell, as Danny is cursed with something that forces him to experience the dark unconscious of someone such as Jack. Danny’s ability also seems to be an exacerbating factor in his father’s mental decline. When Jack converses with Grady in the bathroom, Grady suggests that Jack kill Wendy and Danny for the same reason that he killed his own family: his wife and children were interfering with his “duties,” and so he “corrected” them.
Danny, to Jack, poses the same threat, for when Danny shines, he sees Jack’s unconscious and thus has the potential to stop its fantasies. It is as though he were interrupting or disturbing the unconscious dream that Jack is acting out in the hotel; and the “duties” that Danny is interrupting--which are the same “moral and ethical principles” that Jack reprimands Wendy for compromising--are really nothing more than repressed Freudian wishes: to complete some literary masterpiece that will presumably bring him money and fame, to break free of the father archetype by engaging in sexual promiscuity (e.g., the woman in room 237), and, ultimately, to kill Wendy and Danny, who bind him to the life he never wanted. Jack, therefore, must “correct” the situation: he must never allow anyone to interfere with his existence within the Overlook. Such interference would require that Jack “wake up” from the primal pleasures that the hotel has afforded him--for instance, his chance to relapse into alcoholism and his opportunity to affirm his masculinity.
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Suggested Readingtag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.23792007-04-16T20:41:06Z2007-05-05T22:40:19ZFreud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. Joyce Crick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hartmann, Ernest. Dreams and Nightmares: The Origin and Meaning of Dreams. Cambridge: Perseus Publishing, 1998. Jung, C.G. Dreams. Trans. R.F.C. Hull. Princeton: Princeton University Press,...Robert Wargas
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Nelson, Thomas Allen. Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1982.
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About the Authortag:blogs.qc.cuny.edu,2007:/blogs/dreams/rwargas//240.23782007-04-15T20:37:59Z2007-05-07T04:50:58Z Robert Wargas ("Bob" to his friends) will graduate from Queens College in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Bob came to Queens College directly from high school when he was accepted into the City University...Robert Wargas
Robert Wargas ("Bob" to his friends) will graduate from Queens College in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Bob came to Queens College directly from high school when he was accepted into the City University of New York's University Scholars Program, then known simply as CUNY Honors (its name has since changed to the Macauley Honors College).
An avid reader and writer, Bob wishes to publish soon and is currently working on a scholarly article as well as several poems. When it comes to writing, Bob enjoys poetry the most. He believes good writing is not only clear and accurate but also elegant.
Bob calls Long Island his home, the vast quiet of the East End being the perfect break from city chaos.
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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.
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Jack’s repetitious mantra, carefully typed in assorted patterns on hundreds of pages, signifies a complete, unconscious regression into the dreams he always had but never fulfilled. Even the diction of his one-sentence masterpiece affirms his return to unconscious chaos: Jack uses the word “boy” instead of “man” or “guy”; or, for that matter, any of a hundred syntactic variations that would de-emphasize the childish tone. Jack, then, has become a shadow of what he once was, transplanted irrevocably into a boyhood of violent instinct, a world in which he can pursue his wishes with impunity. And by the end of the film, Jack has regressed to almost complete inhumanity, capable of only bestial grunts and a hobbling, uncoordinated gait.
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