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