Summary Of The Film 'The Shining'

In the article, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey details her beliefs that traditional Hollywood films are a representation of societies patriarchal ideals. She states that as “men dictate the rules,” they ultimately formulate the “ideal visions, roles and dominance over women” (843). She expresses that a “male gaze,” in which the audience views a world dictated by heterosexual males, has largely been accepted by the media. Although Mulvey states that the representation of women in film is “vital,” the representation of females in Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining (1980), largely reinforces her claims. In the film, Jack is depicted as the stereotypical white, heterosexual, patriarchal figure, while, his wife, Wendy is immediately presented as the devoted, attentive housewife. As a result, Wendy’s role, typical of female roles according to Mulvey, is sidelined as she exists only to please her husband. A large majority of her actions throughout the film are solely related to being a good caregiver. Mulvey states that in traditional films the …show more content…
Thus, when Jack eventually kisses and holds the woman, her emotions and sexual pleasures are not as necessary as her being “framed” for his male desire. However, Mulvey claims that women often function as an “erotic object for the characters within the narrative,” as well as an “erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view,” as they are meant to find pleasure in seeing someone’s authentically raw feelings, yet the woman in the bathtub ultimately takes pleasure away from cinema