The Shining

The film 'The Shining' by director Stanley Kubrick was made in 1980. Vladimir Propp looked at a wide range of tales and found that all of them shared certain important structural features. He categorized these into character roles and narrative function groups. This relates to 'The Shining' in a number of ways and the character roles are:

• The Villian: This is Jack. He starts off like a normal man but we see him becoming more distressed and isolating himself from his family, wanting to be alone. This is when he becomes driven to harm his wife Wendy and son Danny.

• The Helper: This is the Cook, better known as Dick Hallorann. He could also be considered as the false hero as nearing the end of the film, he returns to the Overlook hotel and there is a chance he could save Wendy and Danny, but he is killed when he stumbles upon Jack. He is mainly the helper as he speaks to Danny about having the shining, gives the family a tour of the hotel and tries to check up on them over the winter.

• Hero/Victim: This is Wendy. She is Jacks main target and we find out that she is stronger than we first thought. She fights for her own life and puts her son Danny before her although there are times when we are not sure if she will survive or not. She manages to escape Jack when he is exhausted and cold; driving out of town in the Snowcat with Danny.

In the narrative categories, the occuring functions are:

• PREPERATION.
1. A member of family leaves home- Jack leaves home for an interview. He later takes the rest of his family with him as they move to live in the Overlook Hotel for Winter.
2. A prohibition or rule is imposed on the hero- Jack tells Wendy she must never enter the room when he is typing.
3. This prohibition is broken- Jack is having a nightmare and Wendy runs in the room to help him however Jack never says anything about her having disobeyed him.
5. The villian learns something about the victim- Jack learns Wendy is mentally and physically stronger than he first thought as she hits him with the bat and locks him in the sotrage cupboard.
7. The victim unknowingly helps the villian by being decieved or influenced by the villian- Wendy could have left the hotel at a much earlier point when Jack was more mentally stable, instead she hung around until the very end, making it easier for him to take advantage of them.
8. The villian harms a member of the family- Jack never physically harms Wendy and Danny although he tries to, he causes them a lot of harm mentally as they become unhappy and he tries to axe them.

• COMPLICATION

8a. A member of the family lacks or desires something- Jack desires to become a writer. This was his reason for moving to the hotel in the first place so he could get inspiration.

• TRANSFERENCE

11. The hero leaves home- Wendy leaves home along with Jack to the hotel.
12. The hero is tested, attacked, interrogated and as a result, recieves a magical agent or helper- Both Wendy and Danny are interrogated and Hallorann comes to help them as he gets the shining from Danny.

• STRUGGLE

16. The hero and villian join in direct combat- Both Wendy and Jack are in confrontation in several parts of the film. One being when Wendy edges up the staircase with the baseball bat and Jack is following her. Another is when Jack is chopping through the door and Wendy slices through his hand with a kitchen knife.
18. The villian is defeated- Jack dies overnight when he becomes tired in the snowy maze and sits down to rest. He becomes covered in ice and Wendy and Danny are left to escape.

• RETURN

26. The task is accomplished- Wendy manages to escape and save her and Dannys life. This is what she has been aiming for ever since Jacks mental health went downhill.

• RECOGNITION

30. The villian is punished- This is through losing his life. He cannot enjoy his life any longer and has been taken from the earth at a fairly young age.