Narrative Theory in 'The Shining'.

Tzvetan Todorov - At the beginning of the film everything is fine. This equilibrium is then disturbed, when the ‘happy’ family move to the hotel, this starts off a chain of bad events. In the end the problem is resolved, because Jack is dead, and there is no longer a threat to the life of Danny and Wendy, however in the grand scheme of things, there is no clear resolution at the end, because although Jack was a lousy person and a bad Farther, the Dad and Husband has been lost, therefore the family is no longer complete. This is useful because it helps to give a general structure to the film. I feel that The Shining does fit into the classic Hollywood structure of narrative, therefore Todorov’s theory is useful and can be applied to this film, although the ending could be debated slightly.



Vladimir Propp - This Russian critic looked at and examined 100’s of folk tales, and was able to identify 8 character roles. This can be mostly applied to The Shining:

The Villains - Jack, Grady and The Hotel.
The Hero - Danny
The Donor - Hallorann
The Helper - Tony
The Princess - Wendy
Her Farther - N/A
The Dispatcher - Tony
The False Hero - Wendy

Claude Levi-Strauss/Roland Barthes - These theorists presented the idea that all narratives were made up of binary opposites. And in the film there are clear examples that prove this theory to be correct. For starters we notice that Jack is insane and that Wendy (until the very end) is sane, because whilst he is having conversations with ghosts, she is doing all the hotel work and keeping the place up to shape, which is his job title. But as for Danny we remain uncertain, this is because he talks to himself and has this ability to ‘shine’, making his sane, but at the same time not sane. There’s a big contrast between real life and ghosts in this film, and what happens when they meet. Good and evil is simple to see in the Shining, Jack and the Hotel are evil, and on the good side there is Danny and Wendy. Basically this theory works for this narrative, but I believe there is more to this film than simply binary opposites.

Bordwell and Thompson - We can apply this in the shining because the events are between a family relationship and happen over a series of time, as Jack becomes more and more insane, many flash backs in time occur showing the horrific back story of the hotel. Time is a huge factor in this film, and many different ideas, interpretations and assumptions can be made from looking at the narrative. So applying this theory has parts that work and parts that don’t work.