Ever since Stanley Kubrick adapted Stephen King’s The Shining, audiences have debated which version is better. Meanwhile, King has had his own opinions about the adaptation and famously doesn’t enjoy how the story was interpreted.
Recently, the author added fuel to the debate. When an X user said, “Kubrick’s The Shining is a better movie than King’s book is a book,” King replied twice through his own X account.
Sending out a second tweet, the 79-year-old stated:
What doesn’t Stephen King like about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining?
Despite being one of Hollywood’s greatest horror offerings, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining failed to impress Stephen King. The tension between the adaptation and its source-material author stems from Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance.
Speaking with Deadline, King shared his thoughts on Nicholson’s portrayal. “When we first see Jack Nicholson, he’s in the office of Mr. Ullman, the manager of the hotel, and you know, then, he’s crazy as a shit house rat. All he does is get crazier. In the book, he’s a guy who’s struggling with his sanity and finally loses it. To me, that’s a tragedy. In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change. The other real difference is that at the end of my book the hotel blows up, and at the end of Kubrick’s movie the hotel freezes.”
While Jack Torrance is much more sympathetic in the book, the movie makes him more like the Predator or Freddy Krueger. According to King, the character has no arc and serves as a monster rather than a fleshed-out character. While the audience grows to care about Wendy and Danny, Jack remains a character who can be neither redeemed nor saved. The audience never feels any sympathy for him, which runs counter to his characterization in the book.
