The Shining (1980)

Synopsis: A man gets a job of taking care of a hotel in Colorado during the winter, when there will be nobody there; he takes his wife and kid along with him.
Appraisal: It's my second viewing of this film, the first in 25 years. I adored it when I watched it for the first time, and I still adore it after the second viewing, but my appreciation is entirely different. It's funny that most reviewers on IMDb love the film, but take it at face value, ignoring its apparent inconsistencies as minor slips of the filmmaker. Those that don't reject it entirely. To my former self, and to those hundreds of admirers, 'The Shining' is a horror movie, designed to scare, and successful at that. I can't possibly accept that now. As a horror movie, 'The Shining' could only please the most undemanding viewer, as it consciously and consistently plays against genre rules, to the degree of looking like a parody, which it certainly isn't, provided one watches it with an eye to symbolism and multiple layers of subtext. One of the keys to the reading of this film is a psychoanalytical one, where the hotel is in reality Jack's mind, and Jack, his wife, and his kid are actually different aspects of the same person; if you like freudian terminology, you can think of Jack as the Id, his wife as the Superego, and his son as his Ego. Another subtext is the one unveiled by one Bill Blakemore in this article. I found it very insightful and probably true in its essence, but I think the genocide of Native Americans is a "trigger" rather than the main theme of the film. I prefer to think of the film as an assertion that establishes a link between political issues and psychological ones. In other words, the film tries to build a bridge between War and Violence on one side and the structure of the human brain, which is based on a perpetual inner conflict wherein the Id battles the Superego over the possession and eventual annihilation of the Ego, on the other. There is this FAQ that mentions yet another fascinating interpretation or layer, having to do with McLuhan's theories of media.
Rating: 80 [a favorite of mine, 9th position in 1980]