The Shining, novel by Stephen King

The Shining, was a horror novel written in 1977 by famous author Stephen King. This was Stephen King's third published novel and became an instant success as one of the greatest horror stories of all time. Stephen King's, The Shining has had several adaptations over the past few decades, some which have stayed faithful and others which have strayed away from ideas of the original text. The plot of The Shining in the novel begins with character Jack Torrance who is  a writer and earns the opportunity to overlook a hotel in the Colorado Rockies during its off season where it is completely isolated. Jack has an alcoholic past where he has been an abusive father and husband but has recently changed his ways in hopes that living in this hotel will allow him to regain a devoted family life. Jack's son, Danny who is telepathic and can sense supernatural forces of the afterlife within the hotel, this ability is also referred to as "the shining" because he can see people who have past that "shine on". Danny goes to a doctor because his parents are concerned of Danny's behavior and and blackouts. Danny sees very frightening images in the hotel and keeps this secret from his parents. As the story progresses Jack becomes possessed by the hotel and is told to kill his wife Wendy and son Jack, but eventually Jack is killed by an explosion in the hotel and Wendy and Jack live on in safety away from the Colorado Rockies.

See a summary of the novel, The Shining on this link : http://www.shmoop.com/shining-stephen-king/summary.html

Stanley Kubrick's Film, "The Shining"

Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining has a plot that is almost identical to the original text, however there are many subtle difference amongst the two. Kubrick's alterations go into very fine detail of how he adapts the novel to his film. The movie stars Jack Nicholson as "Jack", Shelly Duvall as the wife, Wendy and Daniel Lloyd plays the son Danny. The differences lie in minor plot differences, characterization changes, and particularly the setting of the film and how it ties into the plot.

     The personification of the main characters differentiate vastly from movie to novel. The character that involves the most adaptations is in Danny's character. Danny is seen as an average five year old who watches early morning cartoons and likes to play with cars and trucks as most five year old boys do, however in the novel Danny is described as brilliant. Jack in the film is depicted as violent, aggressive and physically abusive to his wife and children. Jack and Danny do not have a close relationship in the movie, however in the book Jack is seen as a trusting father whom Danny constantly confides in until the hotel brings Jack to madness. In the movie, Wendy is a dry, monotonous unintelligent brunette mother and very close with Danny however she is completely unaware of his telepathic abilities. In the movie Wendy is an intelligent blonde woman but is not as close with her son as Jack and Danny are. Another important difference amongst the family is the fact that in the novel his parents are aware of his telepathic abilities and knows the connection he has with Dick Halloran (the hotel hero who also "shines" and helps Daniel and Wendy. In the movie neither of the parents understand what Danny is going through, they feel it is psychological. In the film Danny never even utters the words "the shining" but in the novel he eventually reveals to his parents that he "shines". The doctor in the novel is a male doctor who comprehends what the shining is, believes in it and knows what Danny is going through, this is the exact opposite in the movie.

 
   Another major difference from the movie and the film is a specific part of the setting that connects differently with both of the story-lines. The garden at the Overlook Hotel is a very important aspect to the story, in the movie there is a hedge maze but in the novel it is a simple garden with no hedge maze but instead hedge animals. In the movie when Jack loses sanity he is running the overlook maze metaphorically in his own mind, where he ends up chasing his son Danny with axe through the maze in attempt to kill his son. In the novel the overlook is running Jack's mind and he is possessed by the hotel. However in the novel although there is no hedge maze, the hedge animals aid his insanity and play a large role. When he is taking care of the garden the animals begin to move and eventually chase him into the hotel. This is where the audience can truly understand that the hotel is taking over Jacks mind.

Finally a crucial adaptation from book to film is through the character of Danny's imaginary friend Tony, who helps him see the afterlife and predict certain things such as his father attempting to murder him and his mother. In the movie Danny doesn't see Tony because Tony is living inside of Danny, however in the novel Tony is featured as external to Danny's body, where Tony is a hallucination and is more involved as a character. In the novel Tony appears when Danny needs to protected, he shows him what his father's preconceived murder plan and ways that he can survive it. We later find that Tony is an older version of Danny that comes back from the future to help him. In the movie Tony plays a much smaller part, he lives in his body and talks to Danny through Tonys fingers, and is looked as more of an imaginary friend, and not as a protector at all. All Tony supplies Danny with is horrific images, for example he shows Danny the "Grady Girls" two twins who were brutally murdered in the hotel previous years, and in the book the Grady Girls are not shown.

Detailed information on adaptations of The Shining: http://jonnys53.blogspot.com/2007/12/differences-between-novel-and-movie.html

The Shining, TV Miniseries

The Shining television mini-series began in 1997 and is also an adaptation off of Stephen King's novel and directed by Mick Garris. The television series was consisted of three parts and proved to be much more faithful to Stephen King's novel, and was surprisingly unsuccessful. This was much more similar to the book because apparently Stephen King was not pleased with the film adaptation, therefore King was very involved with the mini-series. King wrote the teleplay and was the executive producer. King was inspired to write the novel when staying at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, and many scenes for the show were shot at the hotel. The television show is practically identical to the novel except for the fact that Jack's alcoholism is a crucial part of the story-line, they show Jack as a man who is truly trying to cope with his alcoholism and change his life around, particularly with his family. Jack is shown attending AA meetings, reading AA novels allowing the audience to gain sympathy for Jack, where as in the novel and movie he is seen as aggravated and violent from the beginning. When Jack struggles with his dark side that turns him to insanity it is much more inconsistent and he is shown as constantly crazy in the movie and novel.

(Information on TV Series : http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-7492

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=the+shining+television+show&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(TV_miniseries) )