Adapting The Shining

This chapter examines the process of adapting Stephen King's book The Shining. Looking at how and why parts of the book were adapted (rather than just focusing on what changed) allows for a coherent appreciation of Stanley Kubrick's film as a significant horror movie. Moreover, The Shining provides an ideal case study for more nuanced theories of adaptation which consider films ‘in relation to the history of generic conventions within which both the film and its source text are situated. In other words, a film participates in—and should therefore be conceptualized as part of—a sequence of adaptations of which the “original” text, in turn, constitutes a segment’. Changing the story's horrific nature does not result in it being less suited to the horror genre, it just offers a different take on its conventions. Comparing the film directly to its equally iconic source text results in inevitable competition in which the original will often ‘win’, even when then the two serve different functions. In addition to analysing adaptation, considering the film within the context of its production and its creators' filmmaking style, and looking at its position within the genre and its themes, offers a fuller picture of The Shining's effective approach to horror.