One quiet weekend a month or so ago, I was browsing DVDs and The Shining caught my eye. "Hmm, it's been a while since I've seen that one," I thought. I popped the disc into the player and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining was larger than life on the big screen TV. When it was over, I was curious. I know SK never liked Kubrick's adaptation, so I thought I'd investigate further. I went to my library and found The Shining, its pages still rumpled and dog-eared from the years. Soon, I was once again immersed in the tale.
A couple weeks later, I finished the book and viewed it with new understanding. The movie Jack came across as a raving lunatic while SK's Jack was exploited by the hotel. Yeah, SK's Jack might have been one cheeseburger short of a Happy Meal toward the end, but he became that way by the relentless haunting of the hotel's permanent residents. I don't think SK's Jack would have gone off the deep end if it weren't for the hotel pushing him along, exploiting his weaknesses, and his addictions. Kubrick's Jack made me think he was a sociopath serial killer looking for an opportunity and would have pleasured his vice with or without the hotel's haunting. I'm going to have to side with SK on this one - I thought the book was much better than the movie.