Before:
Viewers of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, are left with much to consider when analyzing the film. After watching one time through, the first metaphor that I saw clarity in was the fact that The Overlook hotel represented America. With my fascination for American history, I concluded that Kubrick created a pastiche of America’s past. With some further thought, I decided to explore the reasoning behind Kubrick’s choice of décor for the setting of the film. Why does the hotel décor reflect Native American culture if there are no Native American characters? More importantly, why are Indians only mentioned once throughout the entire film, but referenced indirectly several times? The evidence is everywhere – Kubrick comments on the widespread white man’s perspective of Native American’s that has existed since the early years of their interaction.
After:
After closely watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, I struggled to dissect the many different themes that the film portrays. The first clear metaphor that I picked out was that the Overlook Hotel represents America. I couldn’t help but think that the film creates a pastiche of America’s past, and that the events that happen on the grounds of the hotel also happened on American soil on a larger scale. I began to question the many references to Native American culture, and why the film did not feature any Native American characters. Why honor Native Americans in a passive way through setting rather than actively as an actual person? As I delved deeper into the meaning behind Kubrick’s mis-en-scene choices, I discovered that Kubrick was not trying to honor the Native Americans. Instead, he comments on the widespread white man’s perspective of Native Americans that has existed since the early stages of their interaction. In doing so, he criticizes America’s ignorant outlook on the minority race, and through several murders, he exposes America’s destructive past with natives that we have customarily tiptoed around for our own comfort.
baicham 