The events in the book are set over a few months, whereas in the movie, they’re set over just a few days. Already, this means that Jack’s descent is much quicker in the book. This gives Stanley Kubrick less time to build on Jack’s character in the beginning, as he focuses mainly on the Jack that has been taken over by the hotel.
In the beginning of the movie, he is well-groomed, yet his clothes look a little old, and so this gives the impression that he is hard on money. His interaction with Ullman is very pleasant, and Ullman even says that Jack is perfect for the job. However, Stephen King’s Jack dislikes Ullman, and his attitude shows that he would rather be anywhere else but conversing with this man; Ullman does not think that he is appropriate for the job. Yet, when Kubrick’s Jack is asked whether Wendy and Danny will be okay with living in the Overlook, the way that he appears to be thinking about it seems a little too selfish. This fits in more with King’s Jack.
In the book, Jack and Wendy seem utterly in love and happy on the way to the hotel and in the beginning of their time there, yet Kubrick has already made Jack sharp and annoyed with his family. King’s Jack adores Danny, yet Kubrick’s appears to have no special sign of affection towards his son. I think that Kubrick would have done better in showing Jack’s descent by making him seem like more of the loving father that he is the book.
In the movie, their first few days in the hotel appear to go by without much drama, and Jack even says ‘I’ve never been this happy or comfortable anywhere.’ Despite this, he already has a very short and unimpressed temper with Wendy. This does not match with King’s Jack, who loves to go out and play with his son, and has a happy time with his wife for the first month or so. I still feel here as though Kubrick has made Jack show signs of being possessed by the hotel far too hastily. All this gives me the impression of is that Jack is a bad guy anyway and so I do not feel distressed at his downfall; when I read the book, it pained me to see Jack slowly being taken over, going from a loving father and husband who would do anything for his family to a deranged killer, intent only on killing this family.
However, from the point that Kubrick’s Jack does begin to show signs of his possession, I believe that his descent in to this madness appears to be accurate, despite being over days and not months. He begins to lose sight of reality, yet Kubrick makes sure that we can occasionally see that Jack is still in there behind the mask of the hotel. When he asks Danny to sit on his lap, he really does appear to care about his son, even though he also appears to have playfully insane tendencies at the same time. This is something that King makes sure of as well; he lets us peer in to Jack’s mind, and we see his inner conflict. The hotel is telling him all these horrible things, and occasionally, Jack lets himself be taken along on the ride, yet suddenly, he will realise what is happening and tries to fight back, even though it gets harder and harder for him to do so.
The big point when the real Jack shines through in the movie is when Wendy shakes him awake from a nightmare. He collapses on the floor in tears, scared and childlike. He knows that he is losing his mind, and Kubrick lets us know that he really doesn’t want to hurt his family. Yet he is almost past the stage of saving himself; he is very impressionable now. This is exactly what happens to King’s Jack. We can see in to his mind, and he is scared. The longer he leaves it, the harder it becomes to escape, and he is afraid. I feel as though if Kubrick found a way of letting us in to Jack’s mind rather than just viewing him on the outside, perhaps there would be more of an emotive connection to him and his situation. We would see his inner-conflict and his feeling of entrapment.
King really delves deep in to the character of Jack Torrance, and this brings us in to the story. He really exaggerates his feelings and actions so that we can distinguish between him and the hotel. We really get to know his history and his character, and we can see why he acts certain ways. By the end of the book, we really feel terrible that Jack has been taken, and I wanted there to be a way that he was saved because I could see that he was a good and affectionate man who loved his family. It was just his misfortune that the Overlook possessed him past being recognisable as the same man. I felt a massive sense of catharsis upon closing the book due to all of this.
I feel as though Kubrick does not let us connect with Jack, or the rest of the family, for that matter. We cannot, therefore, become emotionally connected to the events that unfold, and so we become mere observers, as though peeking in through a window. I would have preferred it had he developed up Jack’s character more in the beginning, emphasising his being a family man, not just a man with a family.
In my final project, I want to take more of a lead from King in his version of ‘The Shining’. What I admire about certain movies is how they can make me emotionally connected to a character within a mere hour-and-a-half. Seeing as I shall be creating a short film, I want to make it a goal of mine to make the viewers incredibly familiar with the characters, so much so that I pull them through their emotions, and make them feel as though they have always known the character as a very close friend or a family member.
Gabriella Passerello 
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