Narrative theories applied to The Shining

Narrative Theories

We applied the theories and ideas of 4 different theorists to The Shining.

Toderov's theory for narrative is not very fitting for this movie, it is not very specific to the events that unfold in the narrative. The changes with a starting equilibrium and disruptions fit with them being a happy family and then the disruption is them moving to the hotel and becoming isolated and Jack going insane. However even though these events do fit the description of narrative according to Todorov the some of the other theories do fit The Shining's events better.

Propps theory includes a unique list of seperate events which often happen in film narratives, through researching the film and comparing its narrative to this list i have found that his theory is mixed up, some events take place before they are set to and towards the end alot of his predictions of narratives are false and do not take place. Propps theory of character roles doesnt fit too well either, for example i found that in the beginning of the film anyone would think that Jack was the protagonist, but throughout the film he goes mad and becomes the antagonist, many of these character crossovers exist in Propp's theory of character roles. Another example would be that there is more than one hero and even chances of 3 heroes, Wendy, Dani and Halaron all show different qualities of heroism.

Another theorist is Levi-strauss, this theory shows that there are binary oppositions in narratives, this theory does fit reasonably well compared to the other ones i have studied. Some of the binary oppositions that we found in this narrative were:

Sanity - insanity

This ties in well between the characters such as when Jack turns mad and when he's normal, the difference between if a normal person or a crazy person had hallusinations. Jack treats these hallucinations as freindly and Wendy treats them as nightmares, this allows us to define a difference of sanity between the characters.

Community - isolation

This ties back to previous comments at the start of the film made by the owner of the hotel at the interview, he mentions that the isolation could make you go crazy (cabin fever). This then takes place throughout the film, as the family moves into the hotel each family member starts to experience hallucinations as time moves on and as they become more isolated from each other as well as from the world with the snowstorm.

Normal - paranormal

The difference between normal and paranormal is obvious in this film, the visions from the past that Jack has are of the 1930's which shows a very obvious glitch in time. These are shown as opposites by the characters, at the end of the film Wendy is the hero (sane, normal) and Jack is the Villian (insane, paranormal).

Past - present

The difference in past and present in this narrative almost completely confused me when i saw this film, the narrative switches inbetween three different time frames, the 1930's the 1970's and the present, these three different times are shown through inferred events, current events and the return of events in the past.

Good - evil

There is a very obvious struggle between good and evil in this narrative, the isolation of the hotel is shown to be an evil force which controls and changes people into monsters, the evil is shown through victims, you could say that Jack himself is not evil but he is possessed by evil, and that you don't truly see the monster, you only see what it has caused.

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as " a chain of event in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". This theory fits in very well with the abnormal twists of time which are used in The Shining to create an abnormal environment of which it would be understandable to have your mind twisted by living in it. Here is a list of how the narrative ties in with this theory of twisting time:
 - throughout the film there are short titles which explain dates, at first they are presented quite far apart but as the story moves on these titles become closer, but even at some points they are at random times. This random displacement shows that time has been warped which could connote towards a paranormal environment.
 - As the story moves on from the very beginning Jack begins to lose track of time and his normal routine, he mentions that he has lots of work to do but he doesn't bother doing anything. This simply shows that Jack is slowly getting more and more out of place and crazy.
 - In some way, an anniversary is shown to be apparent in this narrative, Jack and his family move to the hotel close to 10 years after Grady kills his family, this could show that this is an event which could occur again in the future. If this is correct then this shows one of the key factors in a horror film where the monster never dies because it is too powerful for mere mortals to destroy.
 - Another disruption of time which is shown in this narrative is that the hallucinations are of characters that are dressed in 1930's clothing or have something to do with them that connotes towards the 1930's however Grady killed his family in the 1970's, i have thought about this and i have come up with the idea that this could be linked in with the construction of the hotel. At the start of the film when they are being shown around the hotel they are told that the hotel is built on an Indian burial ground, this might play a hidden but important role in the depths of the narrative which most people wouldn't recognise.

Through watching and analysing the narrative of The Shining and comparing it to all these different theories, i have found that Bordwell and Thompson's theory explains the film very well through its abnormal qualities of twisting time to create a mad environment and to help the audience understand the antagonistic characters in particular Jack and their reactions to this isolated and twisted environment and in turn how they deal with hallucinations, in turn this helps the audience understand what characters play which roles in this narrative.