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The Shining
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Question about the Shining
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Have you actually finished the book yet? Because you find out later. I wouldn't want to wreck it for you.
Yeah, Ive finished it. I must of missed the meaning.
Ok then. Anthony (Tony for short) is Danny's middle name. His imaginary friend is actually an older/future version of himself.
wow really? Why didnt I catch that.
Yeah, it puts things in a different perspective, doesn't it?
yeahy, to say the least lol
OMG!!! I read The Shining book and i never even picked up on that!!! Or maybe i just can't remember.Stephen King is a very clever author!!
I read the shining long time ago and I don't remember this. I think I have never noticed!!!Amazing!!
I read 'The Shining' years ago and don't remember this detail either. Maybe it's time for a re-read of it soon?
I got that connection right away. It was one of the memorable moments of the story.
I *just finished it for the first time. I thought the whole theme of the wasps was fascinating. Toward the end, when Jack is almost totally "gone", he thinks to himself 'living by your wits is always knowing where the wasps are.' Then at the end, when Halloran turns and sees the black cloud flying out of the Presidential Suite into the night, coming apart like a nest of wasps - THAT was really a moment for me - like Jack lost track of who the "real" wasps were...
Thanks Rebekah! I think I missed most of the wasp references. Definitely time for a re-read!
It's been so long sense i read the book or watched the movie. And i can't seem to remember the wasps at all. Not enough hours in the day sometimes to do all that we would like.
The movie just didn't compare to the book at all, in spite of Jack Nicholson's stellar performance. Wendy (Shelley Duvall) was weak and whiney, and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers) arrives to save the day, only to be promptly murdered. Plus the ending was so anticlimactic---Jack freezes to death in the maze, instead of whatever it was that happened in the book--the boiler blew up, right? And I may be wrong but I don't remember Jack showing that last spark of humanity and love for his son in the film, as he did in the book.
You are right Mary, Halloran gets Wendy & Danny down the mountain in his snowmobile as the hotel blows up with Jack in it. I didn't like the fact that they killed Halloran off as soon as he got there.
I have not seen the movie since I was a kid! And I was so scared I think I had my eyes closed most of the time. I have it from Netflix to watch tomorrow, I am so excited!!
Mary wrote: "The movie just didn't compare to the book at all, in spite of Jack Nicholson's stellar performance. Wendy (Shelley Duvall) was weak and whiney, and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers) arrives to save ..."I had to laugh when I read this, Mary! Shelley Duvall's performance in the original movie was sooooo irritating. My daughters periodically will run around the house, whining and babbling just like she did in the movie. I was really grateful when I saw the new version and I saw how truly brave and smart Rebecca DeMornay played Wendy. And killing off Halloran in the first movie was just plain stupid. Other than the destruction of the characters in the Kubrick film, I did like the visuals and the music.
Mary wrote: "The movie just didn't compare to the book at all, in spite of Jack Nicholson's stellar performance. Wendy (Shelley Duvall) was weak and whiney, and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers) arrives to save ..."I saw the movie first and then I read the book and I was amazed by the difference. For the first time King didnt kill a charachter I liked in a book - Dick Halloran - but they came and murdered him in the movie!!!! Why????
And Wendy looks totally different from the actress they chose. Although I did like her because she portrayed her terror in a way that was scary by itself.
Also I loved in the book how in the end Jack showed his love for his son. It was really touching.
In total the shining was one of the best movies based on a book by SK but still the book was better.
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The Shining is one of my all time favorites. You should definitely give it a whirl E=mc :)
^ yes, so do I. It's my all-time favs. i must re-read it again :)
I haven't read this in about 20 years. I know that I missed the Tony reference when I first read it.I read the book first and when I saw the movie, I was disappointed. Since I first saw the movie, I have been able to appreciate it some over the years but I didn't think it did the book much justice.
I think I am going to have to reread it again soon.
The movie is much more focused on the insanity than the struggle. Jack is portrayed as already half crazy from the start, and almost seems to embrace the madness rather than struggle against it at first. I love the movie AND the book, and it's one of the very few times that I can appreciate a movie separately from the book it's adapted from. Usually a bad adaptation leaves a bad taste in my mouth and kind of ruins the book for me because I have a hard time separating them in my head. But I don't have that problem with this book.
The Jack I see in my head is not the Jack from either movie version, nor is Danny or Wendy, so all three versions are their own entities in my head...
I agree with you, Mary. Even though I thought the movie was good (I mean, let's face it--Jack Nicholson is C-R-E-E-P-Y), I really missed the part about that one last moment of love for his son. For me, that was one of the most profound parts of the book.
I was actually watching a documentary on Stephen King a few years back, and I remember hearing about him being very angry with the final outcome of the movie.In the novel, King tries to emphasize the evil that resides in the hotel and how it drives Jack into insanity like it did with the previous tenants. In the movie, Kubrick instead portrays Jack going crazy within his own head, instead of the hotel driving him into insanity.
Yep Regine, he even sued to have his name removed from the Kubrick movie, and then had to jump through hoops to get Kubrick to allow him to remake it when he did the mini-series. Poor King.
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I saw an interview with King where he said you can sum up the differences between Kubrick's and his in one sentence."Kubrick's ended with ice and mine ended with fire."
It's perfect, because like Jess said, the movie leaving out the warmth between Jack and Danny (and Wendy to an extent), especially at the end, made the movie cold.
Rebekah wrote: "I *just finished it for the first time. I thought the whole theme of the wasps was fascinating. Toward the end, when Jack is almost totally "gone", he thinks to himself 'living by your wits is alwa..."Is there a connection between the wasps here and the Flies that John Coffey expels in Green Mile?
No. Except maybe that neither are "real"?
I was thinking more along the the lines of a physical representation of the the evil in the world - Satan is the "Lord of the Flies."Do the bugs of evil show up in any other of SK's novels?
Evil spiders . . . there are a few of those out there - The Dark Tower series specifically comes to mind.
Evil spiders do seem to be a recurring theme....if you have not read "Revival" yet...well.....they're back!!!
Betsy wrote: "Mary wrote: "The movie just didn't compare to the book at all, in spite of Jack Nicholson's stellar performance. Wendy (Shelley Duvall) was weak and whiney, and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers) arr..."It's so nice to read an actual, unbiased critique of the movie (no sarcasm). Everywhere else I talk about it usually ends with "But Kubrick's a genius!" thus I suppose The Shining movie must be good and anyone who doesn't think so is an idiot! Sorry, lol, but it gets on my nerves. As said before Shelley Duvall was horrible. Rebecca Dr Mornay was fantastic! And the kid who played Danny didn't do very well, either, I thought.
In the remake I was surprised that Steven Weber did such a good job. I had only seen him in comedies so I really didn't think he could pull off such a scary person but he really impressed me. I love Jack Nicholson but he always seems to knowing? I guess. I'm not really sure how to put it. He just doesn't seem all the way there in the movie.
The book and Movie are quite different but both are very well done! I believe Wendy is a bit of an air head in the Movie because the Hotel controls smarter more intellectual ppl much easier than someone like Wendy, which is why in the movie she has zero shine.
I just googled this because I'm at that very part and wondered what I'd missed, then I realised his last name starts with TO and his first name ends with NY. I thought maybe that was why haha
Danny's middle name is Anthony.
" 'And of course you two must understand why Danny's invisible friend is named Tony instead of Mike or Hal or Dutch.'
'Yes,' Wendy said.
'Have you ever pointed it out to him?'
'No,' Jack said. 'Should we?'
'Why bother? Let him realize it in his own time, by his own logic.' "
Whats the signifigance of the name Tony?