OGR- ESSAY PLAN

QUESTION:
HOW DOES THE SHINING HELP DEFINE KUBRICK AS AN
AUTEUR?
HOW DOES THE STYLE OF KUBRICK’S THE SHINING
PORTRAY KUBRICK AS AN AUTEUR? (IS THIS STYLE
CONSISTENT)

PARAGRAPHS:

1) Definition of an Auteur- the author or artist of a film-

“the director as 'author' of a film through the imprint of a
personal visual style.” (Sklar, 1993, p. 523 At: At: Sklar-
Film: An International History of the Medium), key
sources and why they’re being used-
and outline of how this essay will help to prove that
Kubrick could be an auteur: list key points to be looked
into; violence, mirrors, colour, cinematography, adapting
books, perfection

2) The Shining short plot synopsis, how it was based on a book

3) Who is Stanley Kubrick? (a director, the films he worked on,

brief introduction to his work overall)

4) Theme of violence- violent husband (Jack), Wife fighting

back (Wendy), Visions of blood and gets hurt by something
(Danny)
Comparison, War films like Full Metal Jacket, Gang crime in
Clockwork Orange

5) Bathrooms/Mirrors and how they’re used and why- ‘there are

parallels between Jack and his urges to kill his family and
his son Danny who feels much of what his dad feels through
the apparent psychic connection.’ (Essay on the auteur
theory, 2008 At: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Auteur-
Theory-Stanley-KubrickPKCKJ823VC)
6) Colour- strong/bold reds made to stand out (FOCUS ON RED)
- Blood
- Jack wears red in the second half of the film, but in the
first half he is surrounded by red.
- ‘In the film colour is used to help us visually
understand the changing relationships. When Jack’s mind
becomes unstable he wears a red jacket.’ (Gereg, J.N/A
At:
https://www.academia.edu/7668353/_Seeing_Red_The_Use_Of_R
ed_In_The_Shining_)
- Red becomes a motif.

7) Cinematography- Long takes, the stare, tracking shots,

symmetry ‘Kubrick himself described 2001 as, “…a non-verbal
experience…,” conveying its story in the same abstract,
oblique manner of, say, a poem or piece of music; hinting,
inferring, suggesting, but never explaining.’ (Bill Misce,
2018 AT: https://www.popoptiq.com/the-studio-auteur-stanley-
kubrick/)

8) Book backlash, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange (creative

differences with authors)
THE SHINING- ‘I think ‘The Shining’ is a beautiful
film and it looks terrific and as I’ve said before,
it’s like a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine
inside it.
…and has described the director’s film as being “very
cold.”’ (IndieWire, Jagernauth,K. 2016 AT:
https://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/stephen-king-says-
stanley-kubricks-the-shining-is-like-a-big-beautiful-
cadillac-with-no-engine-inside-it-83995/)
‘King suffered from alcoholism while writing the book—
and was written to be sympathetic, his descent into
madness tragic. But Kubrick’s version of the character
is unlikeable from the start and almost seems to

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 deserve what happens to him. Worse, King, who takes
pride in his richly developed characters, felt that
Kubrick’s script made Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall)
“one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on
film. She’s basically just there to scream and be
stupid. And that’s not the woman I wrote about.”’
(Wynalda,S. 2015 AT:
https://listverse.com/2015/08/03/10-crazy-things-
stanley-kubrick-did-to-film-the-shining/)

CLOCKWORK ORANGE- KUBRICK DID NOT READ THE FINAL

CHAPTER AS THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED AND RELEASED WITHOUT
IT IN THE USA, SO HIS ENDING WAS VERY COLD AND AGAINST
THE ORIGINAL AUTHORS STORY OF REDEMPTION.THE FILM WAS
HATED BY THE AUTHOR AND BANNED IN THE UK DUE TO
VIOLENT THEMES.
“I realized, not for the first time, how little impact
even a shocking book can make in comparison with a
film. Kubrick’s achievement swallowed mine, whole, and
yet I was responsible for what some called its malign
influence on the young.” (Anthony Burgess,n/a At:
https://www.thewrap.com/sexplosion/)
And: ‘Burgess was infuriated by the publication
of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, an
illustrated version of the screenplay. Burgess viewed
this as an appropriation of his work and reviewed the
book unfavourably in Nadsat.’
(https://www.anthonyburgess.org/a-clockwork-orange/a-
clockwork-orange-film/)

9) Pushing actors to their limits- PERFECTIONIST (unsure

whether to keep in)
WENDY- ‘Shelley Duvall set a Guinness World Record for
her portrayal of Wendy in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror
classic The Shining – but she didn't know she was doing
it. The perfectionist Kubrick insisted on 127 takes of
the scene during which Duvall's hysterical character
uses a bat to fend off her deranged husband (Jack
Nicholson). About 100 takes in, she was literally
drained: she was exhausted and dehydrated from crying
so much. Although she stuck around, the stress didn't

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 subside. In a 2016 interview on Dr. Phil about her
mental health battles, Duvall said that the stress from
shooting The Shining made her hair fall out.’
(https://www.looper.com/10058/scenes-almost-caused-
actors-quit/)
https://listverse.com/2015/08/03/10-crazy-things-
stanley-kubrick-did-to-film-the-shining/
ALEX- ‘We all know that famous scene when Malcolm
McDowell's character Alex goes through the Ludovico
technique, the film's form of aversion therapy, in A
Clockwork Orange (1972). Alex's eyes are propped
opened with a specula, while he is strapped to a chair
and forced to watch violent images. Both Kubrick and a
doctor assured McDowell that the scene was perfectly
safe because the doctor would administer eye drops into
the actor's eyes every 15 seconds - because if they
didn't, McDowell could actually go blind…Unfortunately
for McDowell, his cornea did get scratched, and he also
went temporarily blind because he had his eyes propped
opened for such a long period of time.’(Casano, A.
https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-stories-about-
stanley-kubrick/anncasano)

PROPOSED CONCLUSION:
KUBRICK has a style of which helps to prove his is
indeed an auteur. This style is consistent throughout a
lot of his films despite them all being quite different
stories. He is clearly comfortable in his style of film
designing, directing and producing.

Bibliography:
Sklar, 1993, p. 523. At: Sklar- Film: An International
History of the Medium (Accessed on 29 November 29, 2018)

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Essay on the auteur theory, 2008 At:
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Auteur-Theory-Stanley-
KubrickPKCKJ823VC (Accessed on: 29 November 2018)
Gereg, J. Use of Red
At:https://www.academia.edu/7668353/_Seeing_Red_The_Use_Of_
Red_In_The_Shining_) (Accessed on: 29 November 2018)
Bill Misce, 2018 At: https://www.popoptiq.com/the-studio-
auteur-stanley-kubrick/ (Accessed on: 29 November 2018)
IndieWire, Jagernauth,K. 2016 AT:
https://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/stephen-king-says-
stanley-kubricks-the-shining-is-like-a-big-beautiful-
cadillac-with-no-engine-inside-it-83995/ (Accessed on: 29
November 2018)
Casano, A. https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-stories-about-
stanley-kubrick/anncasano (Accessed on: 29 November 2018)

Figure 1: Kubrick
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/enduring-genius-
stanley-kubrick-1113502
(ACCESSED ON: 29 NOVEMBER 2018)

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Figure 2: Jack Start
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/the-misunderstood-perfection-
of-shelley-duvall-in-kubricks-the-shining/
(Accessed on: 29 November 2018)

Figure 3: Jack Middle

https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3356765/jack-nicholson-
terrifying-set-shining/
(Accessed on 29 November 2018)

Figure 4: Wendy Fights Back

https://screen-queens.com/2014/06/04/king-vs-kubrick-the-
shinings-wendy-torrance/
(Accessed on 29 November 2018)

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Figure 5: Alex In Clockwork Orange
http://www.zimbio.com/Movies+That+Are+Hard+on+the+Eyes/arti
cles/hSiHrDtgUfw/A+Clockwork+Orange
(Accessed on 29 November 2018)

Figure 6: The Kubrick Stare

https://imgur.com/gallery/vZUfrrl
(Accessed on 29 November 2018)