Applying Narative Theory to The Shining

Todorov’s theory of equilibrium.
The beginning equilibrium in this movie is the section where Jack is looking for the job, having his interview in the hotel, and sharing the news with his family that he was successful in applying for the caretaker job. His family seem normal and happy; his child has an imaginary friend that the audience do not question, and the wife seems calm and accepting of her husband’s development in his writing.

The Disequilibrium happens when Jack begins to appear mentally deranged, straying from the normality the audience has previously percieved from the recent developments in the plot. The hotel becomes a site that hosts many paranormal activity, the child’s imaginary friend develops into a dead man that tells Danny messages from other dead members of the hotel, and Jack plots to kill his family like the previous caretaker did to his own wife and two young daughters. Also, he begins drinking again after we learn that he is a recovering alcoholic, which again represents the disequilibrium. The wife becomes very distressed at her husband and begins seeing things also. Danny is hurt on more than one occasion and is deeply troubled by the persistent images of dead bodies and deceased children asking him to come and play with him 'forever'. The hotel and the characters are now in disequilibrium.

The final equilibrium is restored when the audience witness the wife and son escaping Jack, leaving him to freeze to death in the cold weather. After seeing them escape in a vehicle and then watching as Jack’s body is shown to be frozen, this draws the conclusion that the mother and son escaped and are now safe away from the grips of the mentally ill father and the haunted hotel. Although we do not see the after effects, we presume a sense of normality is resorted.

Levi – Strauss’s theory of binary opposites.

The binary opposites revealing the structure of the media text ‘The Shining’ where as follows –

Natural/Supernatural        

Past/Present

Love/Hate     

Safety/Danger

Good/Evil

Sanity/Insanity

Innocence/Corruption

Bordwell and Thompson’s theory.

They defined a narrative as “a chain of events in a course-effect relationship, occurring in time and space.”

The Shining begins with a situation in which Jack has accepted a new job and moves his family to the hotel. A series of changes occur due to the supernatural events taking place, and then the new situation of Jack reaching his peak in the mental break down brings on the escape of his wife and son, which brings the end of the narrative. Also, The Shining uses a time line, as it goes back and forth in time using such dates as the 1920’s and so forth.