I’ve learned a lot about horror films through this blogging experience. Though I’m not quite a convert, I definitely have a new appreciation for the themes and patterns that I learned about. I just want to take one minute to talk about some of the themes that I wrote about that I noticed while watching The Shining.
The first one is the body. I wrote my second blog about the horror film’s disregard for the human body. Though the mind and the body are, arguably, two separate entities, the hijacking of the father’s mind throughout the film was, obviously, the main motivator. In many ways, Jack Nicholson’s character lost control of his body as the hotel spirits gained control of his mind.
Obviously the theme of the destruction of the family is also portrayed in The Shining. The father turns on his wife and son, attempting to kill them for these mysterious hotel spirits. As the son becomes more and more distraught with the premonitions he is having, the wife tries to go to her husband for help. He turns on her, under the influence of the spirits, and the family is destroyed.
I already talked about the ending a little bit in my last post and there weren’t really gender role issues that I noticed. One topic I didn’t blog about but that is definitely prevalent in horror films is the “token black.” The Shining follows the predictable horror movie theme of having one black (or in some cases Asian) person who is always among the first, if not the only, to die.
I’m really glad I did my blog on this topic and, as much as I hate to admit it, watching The Shining was not only a really great way to tie everything together, it was kind of fun! Maybe I should take on a slasher film next... we’ll see!
As an avid horror movie fan, I must say that I found this blog to be quite fascinating. Because I had always only watched horror movies for sheer pleasure, I never really took the time to notice all these themes in horror movies. There are some that have been pointed out to me by my friends and on shows (such as the virgin being the only survivor, or the token minority being the first to die), but besides that, I never really thought about how the gender roles, justification of the killer, and why teenagers are the biggest consumers of horror movies - I didn't even know that teenagers were the biggest consumers, period!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for The Shining, I myself enjoyed the movie, but watching it left me utterly confused. So, I turned to my (questionably) trusty source for anything and everything: Wikipedia. A lengthy explanation followed, describing Nicholson's character, ambiguities in the plot, differences between the book and film, and a whole bunch of other jargon I couldn't make heads or tails of. I personally didn't enjoy The Shining as much as I thought I would. I expected more of a slasher film than what it actually turned out to be. Although the movie left my brain throbbing and ready to explode from the sheer psychological mindf*ck it induced, I was somewhat disappointed with the level of actual violence.
If you were to continue this investigation, which I believe would be really cool, I might suggest the differences between American horror films and Asian horror films. They are fundamentally different, and have different prevailing themes and patterns. Another interesting topic would be the remaking of Asian horror films to American films (such as The Ring). Overall, I learned a lot from your blog, and I think it was cool of you to take this upon yourself to investigate horror movies.
Nice job watching another horror movie! I think there are a few reasons that The Shining is a popular movie. 1) It's based on Stephen King's actual experiences during his stay at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado (though not too many people know this). 2) It's a book written by the famous Stephen King, who is known as one of the great horror writers of our time. I think the plot of the movie is interesting, but I do not find it scary. I'm with Ha Sung Kim whereas I was disappointed with this movie too since it's a classic though hyped-up horror movie. I also expected more violence (I mean look at the cover of the movie ... it's Jack Nicholson angrily shoving his head through the middle of a broken door). Again, and I am going back to the blog about endings, I think one of the reasons this movie IS so popular is because of the dramatic ending. Though the complete end of the movie isn't that great, the terror leading up to it is genius. Mr. King certainly can write horror.
ReplyDeleteFor disliking/being as afraid of scary movies as you are, I give you props for first considering the topic then taking this personal challenge on. I'm glad you have a new understanding and sort of interest (?) in scary movies. The blog was very good and interesting as well; it brought up things I never really thought about while watching horror films. I will most definitely analyze and notice more things that I never have the next time I watch one.