For my research subject over the christmas holidays I was told to research 'The Shining' filmed by Stanley Kubrick.
In order to start collecting primary research, The best thing I decided I could do was to watch the actual film. From here I could understand the plot of the film, and collect both quotes, screenshots, and notes upon production of the film etc.
I collected quotes and screenshots of the most pivotal and interesting parts of the film.
I made note of the most important quotes and then found them on imdb.
I made note of the most important quotes and then found them on imdb.
Jack: I dreamed that I, that I killed you and Danny. But I didn’t just kill ya. I cut you up in little pieces. Oh my God. I must be losing my mind.
Wendy: Well, I’m very confused, and I just need time to think things over!
Jack: You’ve had your whole FUCKING LIFE to think things over, what good’s a few minutes more gonna do you now?
Jack: Heeeeeere’s Johnny!
Hallorann (Chef): Some places are like people: some shine and some don’t.
Jack: Mr. Grady you were the Caretaker here!
Delbert: Im sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker. You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know sir, I’ve always been here.
Delbert: Im sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker. You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know sir, I’ve always been here.
Jack: Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I’m not gonna hurt you. You didn’t let me finish my sentence. I said, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just going to bash your brains in. Gonna bash them right the fuck in! hahaha.
Danny: Redrum. Redrum. Redrum.
Delbert Grady’s Daughters: Hello Danny. Come and play with us. Come and play with us, Danny. Forever... and ever... and ever.
Delbert: Perhaps they need a good talking to, if you don’t mind my saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls, sir, they didn’t care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches, and tried to burn it down. But I “corrected” them sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I “corrected” her.
Stuart Ullman: My predecessor in this job left a man named Charles Grady as the Winter caretaker. And he came up here with his wife and two little girls, I think were eight and ten. And he had a good employment record, good references, and from what I’ve been told he seemed like a completely normal individual. But at some point during the winter, he must have suffered some kind of a complete mental breakdown. He ran a muck and killed his family with an axe. Stacked them neatly in one of the rooms in the West wing and then he, he put both barrels of a shot gun in his mouth.
Hallorann: I can remember when I was a little boy. My grandmother and I could hold conversations entirely without ever opening our mouths. She called it “shining.” And for a long time, I thought it was just the two of us that had the shine to us.
Unfortunately after I had spent 2 hours taking an array of screen shots, I realised going into my desktop folder to look at them that they hadn't saved properly and were all blank:
Due to this error, I went online to find a smaller series of screen shots that other people had uploaded, this annoyed me slightly as these screenshots, were not only ones that I had chosen myself for importance, but were a part of my primary research.
With some information about possible character profiles I started to look for infographics that may predict or implicate the success rate of certain types of characters in horror films.
Below is an infographic I found from the horror film Cabin in the woods, It shows by what method each of the characters in the film would die, these deaths often relating to their personalities.
I then started to look at the Culture of Native Americans in our modern day, to see if people were still involved with their culture etc. I found some statistics on the existence of Native Americans in reference to population, location and Language etc.
Unfortunately after I had spent 2 hours taking an array of screen shots, I realised going into my desktop folder to look at them that they hadn't saved properly and were all blank:
Danny, Jacks son, playing in the hotel corridor with his toys.
The old caretaker's (Grady) daughters, lying in the hallway after being murdered by their father after he developed cabin fever and killed his wife and children with an axe.
Famous image of Jack Nicholson with his head through the bathroom door, in the mist of him chasing his wife (Wendy) and son (Danny) with an axe.
Danny talking to Tony (His finger), also known as the voice inside his mouth, whom tells him about the goings on and danger that has taken place at the overlook hotel, where Danny and his parents with be staying for the winter.
The famous elevator scene which is juxtaposed against other scenes, to create an ambience of danger.
Jack Nicholson, freezing to death in the maze outside the hotel, ending his chase to murder his wife and son with an axe.
The photograph shown at the end of the film, taken at the July 4th Ball 1921, initiates that Jack has always been the Caretaker at the overlook hotel, as originally in the film, Jacks employment takes place in the 1980's.
Interested in the creation of characters for psychological horrors, or horror films in general I created a short questionnaire composing of a few questions asking people if they themselves had ever had any ghostly experiences. I wanted to focus on the idea of a ghostly experience as 'The shining' is the name given to the force in which people can sense the afterlife, and is also representative of the telepathic connection between these people who can get in touch with the dead.
My questions.
- Do you believe in ghosts?
- Has anyone ever had a ghostly experience?
- Has anyone ever seen a medium? or participated in clarevoyancy, if so did it work?
- If you were to have a ghostly experience how would you react? face fears? run away?
- and then if you were in a phycological horror/horror film, which character would you be? e.g. the one who dies first, the one who survives, the one who manages to survive until the end and then dies :’) as in how successfully would you rate yourself on surviving until the end of the film?
My responses.
1. I dont believe in ghosts. or god.
Or anything I think I would freak out if it was real. I reckon i’d survive til the end, then die.
2. I do believe in ghosts!
my old house was haunted, and we had to get a priest in to get rid of the ghosts. There was a couple who danced down the stairs, and old lady I used to talk to at the bottom of my living room and a young girl who died of pneumonia who used to take the washing out of the washing machine.
I wasnt scared, I used to talk to one of the women, but my mum didnt like it cause someone used to hang themselves hence why she got the priest in.
I would probably be one of the first to die because I get really jumpy haha and would just scream.
3.I do believe in ghosts,
I have had a ghostly experience.
dont know what a medium or a clarevoyancy is.
and I would be curious but quite wary.
I would porbably be the one who dies at the end haha.
and I know a lot of surivival stuff so very high rated on that.
4. No.
Yes, in Shibden Valley I once saw a figure in the house... but im pretty certain that it was a homeless bloke.
No.
I sort of hung around for a little try get another look, before jogging off.
Im not as dashing and brave (or stupid) as Scatman Crothers (Chef in the shining who shares Dannys telepathic powers), and would flee the scene.
With some information about possible character profiles I started to look for infographics that may predict or implicate the success rate of certain types of characters in horror films.
Below is an infographic I found from the horror film Cabin in the woods, It shows by what method each of the characters in the film would die, these deaths often relating to their personalities.
I then found a second info graphic that was much more interactive, which enabled participants to actively choose their destiny, and, not just be given one. Each section which they progressed from gave out information of their journey to either death or survival.
I then looked at a couple more general info graphics based upon horror films. The first contains information about a set of 25 horror films that have in order from highest to lowest grossed the most to least money, this is also combined with simple facts about the films, and filming in general that the reader is most likely unaware of.
The last info graphic talks about the psychological effects of horror films once they have been watched, both short and long term, and also explores why people seem to like watching horror films so much.
After looking at these info graphics I decided to go down a different path to explore an alternative aspect of the film. I had noticed there were a lot of Native american references in the film whilst watching. These were apparent in the use of pattern on the carpet, the artwork which hung upon the walls, and was integrated into the floors, as well as props, and some brief Native American chanting that takes place during the film. Wanting so see if anyone else had noticed these references I visited the Frequently asked questions page on the imbd website.
There are many objects in the film that have a visual relationship with the native american culture. This could be a link to the idea that the hotel, where the film is set is built upon a native american burial ground, however some believe that the link is much more.
Notice the the design on the can behind Chef Holloran.
The use of native american print for decoration, wall and floor.
The print on the carpet in the corridors.
On the IMDB website I found the question:
Is there any significance in the reference to Native Americans?
We are given this information:
On July 29, 1987 Bill Blakemore published a short article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled “The Family of Man,” in which he attempted to attribute specific meaning to the Native American references found in the film. Blakemore argued that The Shining is not so much about one man’s murderous rampage in an effort to destroy his family, as it is about the murderous rampage of the white man in an effort to destroy the Native American race.
‘The Shining is not really about the murders at the Overlook Hotel. It is about the murder of a race -- the race of Native Americans -- and the consequences of that murder [...] it is also explicitly about America’s general inability to admit to the gravity of the genocide of the Indians -- or, more exactly, its ability to “overlook” that genocide.’
BillBlakemore.
Blakemore argues that the long shot showing the grinning Jack standing over Hallorann’s bleeding body, which is lying across a rug decorated with an Indian motif, is a metaphor for the violence perpetrated by white people over black people and Indians in America.
the first and most frequently seen of the film’s very real American “ghosts” is the flooding river of blood that wells out of the elevator shaft, which presumably sinks into the Indian burial ground itself.
the first and most frequently seen of the film’s very real American “ghosts” is the flooding river of blood that wells out of the elevator shaft, which presumably sinks into the Indian burial ground itself.
Halloran laying on the floor after being killed by Jack.
Ari Kahan of the Alt.Movies.Kubrick FAQ is in total agreement with Blakemore. Kahan argues that:
The Overlook Hotel is America. America, like the Overlook, is built on an Indian graveyard. The blood of the buried Indians seeping up through the elevator shafts is silent. So are the Indian tapestries that Danny rides over on his bigwheel. The Shining is Kubrick’s observation that America is built on hypocrisy, on a failure -- a refusal -- to acknowledge the violence from which it is born. That violence remains silent today because we refuse to look in the mirror - where all the ugly truths appear: Redrum spelled correctly; Jack’s old crone, etc. [...] July 4 marks the commemoration of the ugliness on which this country is built: it is the demarcation of the annihilation of the aboriginal people, and the formal establishment of the new society. Americans “overlook” the bloodshed upon which our society is founded: the British (Grady) heritage of violent colonialism, carried forward by American (Jack) colonisers.
With finding this information, and reading from two different perspectives I began to look into the history of Native Americans and the Genocide which they faced.
I came across one small piece of information, which was down to the point, simple in communication and was very shocking.
“By conservative estimates, the population of the United states prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand."
http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/aeti-1997/native-americans.html
In a time frame of over 400 years, in which the white Europeans that came over to America after Christopher Columbus had discovered the nation, the amount of native Americans had reduced from their original number by 95%.
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” . . . and made the first contact with the “Indians.” For Native Americans, the world after 1492 would never be the same. This date marked the beginning of the long road of persecution and genocide of Native Americans, our indigenous people. Genocide was an important cause of the decline for many tribes.
“By conservative estimates, the population of the United states prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand.”
In 1493, when Columbus returned to the Hispaniola, he quickly implemented policies of slavery and mass extermination of the Taino population of the Caribbean. Within three years, five million were dead. Las Casas, the primary historian of the Columbian era, writes of many accounts of the horrors that the Spanish colonists inflicted upon the indigenous population: hanging them en mass, hacking their children into pieces to be used as dog feed, and other horrid cruelties. The works of Las Casas are often omitted from popular American history books and courses because Columbus is considered a hero by many, even today.
A visual indication of the decrease of Native Americans Across the United States.
'there is ample evidence, after all, that the arrival of the white man triggered a drastic reduction in the number of native Americans. Nevertheless, even if the higher figures are credited, they alone do not prove the occurrence of genocide. To address this issue properly we must begin with the most important reason for the Indians’ catastrophic decline—namely, the spread of highly contagious diseases to which they had no immunity. This phenomenon is known by scholars as a”virgin-soil epidemic”; in North America, it was the norm.
The most lethal of the pathogens introduced by the Europeans was smallpox, which sometimes incapacitated so many adults at once that deaths from hunger and starvation ran as high as deaths from disease; in several cases, entire tribes were rendered extinct. Other killers included measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever. Although syphilis was apparently native to parts of the Western hemisphere, it, too, was probably introduced into North America by Europeans.
About all this there is no essential disagreement. The most hideous enemy of native Americans was not the white man and his weaponry, concludes Alfred Crosby,”but the invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath.” It is thought that between 75 to 90 percent of all Indian deaths resulted from these killers.
Although It is argued above that the most lethal killers that wiped out up to 90% of the Native American race were due to the passing of disease in which the natives could not fight, this is no excuse for Native Americans that passed away for other reasons.'
http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html
However others argued that those who died by disease, lack of medical attention or hygiene and starvation were just as at fault of european settlers, as those who were killed through war.
'To some, however, this is enough in itself to warrant the term genocide. David Stannard, for instance, states that just as Jews who died of disease and starvation in the ghettos are counted among the victims of the Holocaust, Indians who died of introduced diseases”were as much the victims of the Euro-American genocidal war as were those burned or stabbed or hacked or shot to death, or devoured by hungry dogs.” As an example of actual genocidal conditions, Stannard points to Franciscan missions in California as”furnaces of death.”
However others argued that those who died by disease, lack of medical attention or hygiene and starvation were just as at fault of european settlers, as those who were killed through war.
'To some, however, this is enough in itself to warrant the term genocide. David Stannard, for instance, states that just as Jews who died of disease and starvation in the ghettos are counted among the victims of the Holocaust, Indians who died of introduced diseases”were as much the victims of the Euro-American genocidal war as were those burned or stabbed or hacked or shot to death, or devoured by hungry dogs.” As an example of actual genocidal conditions, Stannard points to Franciscan missions in California as”furnaces of death.”
But right away we are in highly debatable territory. It is true that the cramped quarters of the missions, with their poor ventilation and bad sanitation, encouraged the spread of disease. But it is demonstrably untrue that, like the Nazis, the missionaries were unconcerned with the welfare of their native converts. No matter how difficult the conditions under which the Indians labored—obligatory work, often inadequate food and medical care, corporal punishment—their experience bore no comparison with the fate of the Jews in the ghettos. The missionaries had a poor understanding of the causes of the diseases that afflicted their charges, and medically there was little they could do for them. By contrast, the Nazis knew exactly what was happening in the ghettos, and quite deliberately deprived the inmates of both food and medicine; unlike in Stannard’s”furnaces of death,” the deaths that occurred there were meant to occur.
The larger picture also does not conform to Stannard’s idea of disease as an expression of”genocidal war.” True, the forced relocations of Indian tribes were often accompanied by great hardship and harsh treatment; the removal of the Cherokee from their homelands to territories west of the Mississippi in 1838 took the lives of thousands and has entered history as the Trail of Tears. But the largest loss of life occurred well before this time, and sometimes after only minimal contact with European traders. True, too, some colonists later welcomed the high mortality among Indians, seeing it as a sign of divine providence; that, however, does not alter the basic fact that Europeans did not come to the New World in order to infect the natives with deadly diseases.'
http://hnn.us/articles/7302.htm
After reading this article I began to focus on the removal of Indians from their homelands to reservations in which they were forced to move to by the European settlers. In particular I looked at the movement of the above named Cherokee tribe.
'Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, tens of thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indians were forced from their homelands in the southeast United States to reservations in Oklahoma. Suffering from exposure, disease and starvation, thousands died, giving the name to their path -- the “Trail of Tears.”'
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-jerometears.html
Above is the 1000 mile Journey that these Native Indians were forced to walk to reach their new reservations in Oklahoma.
I then started to look at the Culture of Native Americans in our modern day, to see if people were still involved with their culture etc. I found some statistics on the existence of Native Americans in reference to population, location and Language etc.
'Native American Statistics
Total Number of people reported by the Census (2000) that they were Native American or Alaskan Native 4.1 million
Total number of U.S. states with American Native concentration 15 states
Total percent the Native American community grew from 2000 to 2010 26.7
Average age of a Native American person 29
Total number of U.S. federally-recognized tribes 565
Total number of Native Americans who speak a different language than English at home 28%
Total percent of Navajo Nation that are bilingual 73%
Total number of Native-owned businesses in California 45,629'
http://www.statisticbrain.com/native-american-statistics/
The United States is home to 2.4 million Native Americans. In comparison to the rest of the population, this number is a very small amount (only .9%)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_social_statistics_of_Native_Americans
This is an image showing the population concentration of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives in 2008 by state, with darker shades of green indicating greater concentration.
I also found an interesting video on youtube that talks about the need for educating Young Native Americans of their culture, Including learning and using the language.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmcensus1.html I found the following information:
Population
5.1 million
As of the 2011 American Community Survey, the nation's population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race. They made up 1.6 percent of the total population. Of this total, about half were American Indian and Alaska Native only, and about half were American Indian and Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races.
8.6 million
The projected population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race, on July 1, 2050. They would comprise 2 percent of the total population.
1.1 million
Increase in the nation's American Indian and Alaska Native population between the 2000 Census and 2010 Census. The population of this group increased by 26.7 percent during this period compared with the overall population growth of 9.7 percent.
689,320
The American Indian and Alaska Native population in California as of the 2011 American Community Survey. California was followed by Oklahoma (502,934) and Arizona (346,380).
Languages
27%
Percentage of American Indians and Alaska Natives alone 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home, compared with 20.8 percent for the nation as a whole.
68%
Percentage of residents of the Navajo Nation Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Ariz.-N.M.-Utah, age 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home.
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