2. Is There Method to The Overlook Hotels Madness? (The Shining)
What do we know about The Overlook Hotel? Its haunted, and has a history of staging homicidal rampages. But does it function as anything more than a venue for a master class in cinematic angst? Essentially, The Overlook, just like the topiary maze beside it, and its complex network of corridors and service areas, is a labyrinthalbeit a labyrinth of the spiritual variety. That is to say that while its designed to encourage disorientation, it
can be escaped. Unlike a conventional maze which one enters for amusement, The Overlook calls back to it the reincarnations of the beneficiaries of past injustices. While it no doubt provides some fine alpine views, the subtext of the hotels name is quite literal: its construction involved desecrating an Indian burial ground, overlooking the respect for burial sites that would be afforded to its owners, builders and patronsmiddle-class revellers living it up during the Jazz Ageand making the vengeful spirits of the original owners of the land its real operators. When Jack returns to The Overlook as Caretaker, his only means of escape is to break the cycle of neglect. A problem drinker prone to violence, he now has an opportunity to
cease overlooking the emotional needs of not only his wife and child but himselfto take care of them. As a writer, hes also perfectly poised to tell the story of The Overlookto
shine some light on it existing as a monument to spiritual violence. Instead, like the revellers of an infamously vacuous age, he selfishly pursues his ambition, causing him to fall deeper under the destructive spell of the hotels permanent residents, ultimately finding himself stuck, frozen, in a labyrinth of his own making.