alienation as defined by:
3. Psychiatry a state in which a person's feelings are inhibited so that eventually both the self and the external world seem unreal
Film : The Shining
The film “The Shining” could be understood as an exploration into the psyche of two of the main characters and how they arrive at a state of alienation as a result of their inhibited feelings. Jack Torrance is a man who takes a position as the winter caretaker for a hotel which is set in deep in a remote location in the mountains, very far from civilization and snowed in for the winter. Jack plans to spend the winter writing a book and believes that the hotel, which is abandoned for the winter, would be a perfect setting for the peace and quiet he desires. Unfortunately for his entire family, the hotel provides quite the opposite experience; one of horror, anguish and destruction.
Jack’s family consists of his wife and his young son, Danny. Danny has a psychic ability to see things from the past or the future, which makes it very difficult for him to exist normally, and instead he is a withdrawn and quiet child. Instead of being playful and carefree as most children are at his age, Danny retreats into himself, and creates an imaginary friend to whom he speaks. Danny’s condition is worsened when his family arrives at the hotel for the winter. He starts seeing the ghosts of the people who were murdered in the hotel, and is extremely disturbed by his visions. Danny speaks very little and is constantly afraid and alienated.
Meanwhile, Jack is going through a different sort of mental anguish. Although he does not have the same psychic condition as his son, he is also greatly affected by the hotel. During the course of the film we see Jack’s mind begin to turn against his family. Whether it is the ghosts in the hotel which influence him; or the isolation from civilization; or the frustration that he feels from his writers block, Jack eventually decides that he wants to kill his family. It is revealed that Jack has a history of alcoholism, and a temper which comes when he is drinking. We form the impression that there is an underlying aggression to his nature even before his mind begins to disintegrate during their stay in the hotel. Jack finally cracks when his wife tells him that she is concerned for the well being of their son and that she wants to leave the hotel.
From this point on Jack’s hallucinations, delusions, or visions of the ghosts in the hotel take control of him completely. He does not share these disturbing visions with his wife, or confide in her about his inner struggles. Instead, he internalizes his thoughts and feelings until they begin to take over his entire being. He forms alliances with these imaginary characters, and loses any feelings of connection to his son and wife, alienating himself from reality. Jack then proceeds to murder the chef of the hotel restaurant who has come back to the hotel to check on the well being of the family, and then rampages through the hotel trying to murder his family.
Jacks alienation is fully actualized when he becomes lost in the hedge maze while trying to catch Danny who is running from him. Danny manages to escape with his mother, and Jack dies in the snow, miles away from anyone.