The Shining has enthralled horror fans for over 4 decades. Many still rate it as one of Stephen King’s best novels and one of the horror genre’s best films. One aspect that adds to its power is its use of several real sources as the basis of its story.
This article will take a look at the real locations and events that inspired the book and the film. Before discussing how the use of these underpinnings helps make the story more powerful.
The Book
When it comes to the book author Stephen King mainly attributes the inspiration for The Shining to the time he and his wife stayed at Colorado’s Stanley Hotel as it was beginning to close down for the 1974 winter. As they were the only two people staying there, King found the isolation and long quiet hallways perfect inspiration. He then combined these elements with a dream and part of another novel idea he had, which created the story we now know.
That said the Stanley Hotel isn’t the book’s only real-life inspiration. Another true story, mentioned in the text itself, likely formed the basis for some part of the narrative. That of the Donner Party. The pioneer group were cut off from the world when they became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846. Famously their entrapment resulted in them doing terrible things to survive. The tale of battling against the elements for survival as well as against violent and other disturbing aspects of human nature is easily seen in The Shining’s plot.
Finally, one other true story hangs over the writing of the book. King has spoken numerous times about how his own alcohol addiction helped to form the character of Jack Torrence. Showing him as a dark reflection of a path he could have gone down.
The Film
Meanwhile, The Shining film seems to have little real-world inspiration informing it beyond what can be found in the book. There are changes to the setting. The Ahwahnee Hotel and Timberline Lodge serve as the basis for the film’s setting rather than the book’s Stanley Hotel. But the film doesn’t really have a lot of documentary evidence about other real-world inspirations around it.
The only exception is the film’s mention of indigenous people. The Overlook Hotel is said to be built on the site of an Indigenous burial ground (which wasn’t in the book) and the use of Native American iconography and designs across the film. While little is mentioned about this elsewhere it seems impossible for the genocide of indigenous people not to have at least been in the background of the minds of people working on a movie about supposedly civilised white men’s capacity for violence.
Between Fiction and Reality
So what exactly do these inspirations do for the Shining story? Well, they mainly add tragedy, power and believability to the narrative. Knowing that the story of Jack Torrence’s alcohol addiction negatively affecting his family’s life comes from the writer’s personal experience (though King’s experiences were much less severe) allows people to see the story as much closer to reality itself, thereby adding to the tension. Similarly, the parallels to the Donner Party story remind us of the deadly possibilities of being isolated by snow. Also, while the story of King’s inspiration springing from a stay in a deserted hotel is less emotionally gripping than the two other inspirations it does further entrench the idea of how haunting isolation can be in the minds of the public thus making the narrative experience more believable.
This is also true regarding the inclusion of material referencing the genocide of Native Americans in the story’s periphery. While it could be argued that this approach reinforces the trope of focusing on white people rather than talking about Native Americans themselves and reduces them to set dressing, it does provide a powerful layer to the story. Showcasing how normalised violence and oppression are in society.
To conclude, we see that real-world influences can be used to add another layer of engagement to a story. Forcing people to not just see a story, but also how it is informed by real world fears, experiences and horror.
Also Read: Horrors On Horror Sets
