Great party, isn't it?

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2014)

What else can be said about the Shining? I see it as part of Kubrick's work as a whole and his critique of mankind. As with all his films so much is going on in every shot. You are looking at a family maintaining an empty hotel for the winter, but look carefully and beneath it you will find the violence of man, elitism, colonialism, racism, misogyny, and the darkness at the heart of western civilisation – some common Kubrickian themes.
The Overlook hotel is a microcosm of western white imperialism and power. 'All the best people' have been there. The rich and powerful, namely. The place was built on an Indian burial ground, some of whom had to fought off during construction. These were not described as all the best people. You can hear native American Indian ghostly voices in the opening sequence. The blood in the elevator is the blood of all peoples who have died at the hands of others. This is surely a metaphor for the usurpation of land in America in the name of civilisation, as Bill Blakemore suggested.
In Jack , we have a man who is an aspiring writer. He has written little, and has to do odd jobs to get by. He clearly feels he is worth more than shovelling out driveways. He feels he belongs in the Gold Ballroom with the jet-setters, movie stars, and royalty. He sells his soul to the devil-barman for a drink and becomes one of them; becomes the new caretaker, and all horrors that it implies. To join the club requires a willingness to do violence.
His wife and kid are well beneath his true status (the old sperm bank upstairs). He has hurt his kid before, and quit drinking as a result. He is completely bored of them during the initial drive up to the hotel, and it just gets worse.
By the end we see Jack reduced to a grunting beast, limping through the labyrinth like the Minotaur, the ancient mythological symbol for the beast within man. And that is what Jack represents: the willingness to do evil acts, to make war, to hate, to feel contempt, to kill – and that this same compulsion has shaped human history on a grander scale.
None of this is rammed down your throat. You are not meant to be spoon fed, you are meant to engage and participate in watching the film. To think about it. Kubrick is enticing you to enter the labyrinth on your own.