thibboleth t1_itsc9x6 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 11:04 PM

I should go back and reread the book. It's been ages. But I did feel like I got more of a domestic violence/substance abuse metaphor than the Kubrick film.

I watched the film for the first time recently after the pandemic started, and it seemed much more ambiguous than the book about whether this family was being haunted or going slowly insane from isolation.

readersanon OP t1_itsefjk wrote on October 25, 2022 at 11:20 PM

I think one of the main differences between the book and the movie is that it seems to attribute what is happening to the Torrance's more to them going insane aka cabin fever, as well as Jack's alcoholism and violent personality. Meanwhile the book is more focused on the supernatural aspect of it. Yes, Jack is also an alcoholic and an abuser, but he is generally actively fighting those impulses at first. As the hotel takes hold of him, he slowly gets worse, until in the end he just isn't there anymore at all. The hotel takes over.

lambofgun t1_itwqopc wrote on October 26, 2022 at 9:27 PM

like >!jack breaking danny's arm!<. in the movie wendy sounds kinda sounds like an idiot when she talks about it like "oh he gets mad sometimes haha", where as in the book its an incredibly nuanced and layered trauma that the family is working though.

readersanon OP t1_itxzeb7 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 3:03 AM

Yes! A lot of the prior history is just glossed over, or just not mentioned at all. Jack's history with Al Shockley, how he got fired from his job for assaulting a student, why he decided to stop drinking, his history with his father, etc.