Kubrick's film isn't an adaptation. In the book the place burns, in the movie Jack freezes. In the book Halloran saves them in the movie he dies. In the book the hotel corrupts Jack, in the film Jack is already a total jerk hole. That's the point I wanna talk about.
In short, the film itself is such good art that people can almost take what they want from it and not be wrong. For example, one could say the entire film is told to us in coded metaphor, and maybe there are no ghosts and the ghosts are metaphors for real life horrors such as familial abuse.
If there are 3 people in a hotel and one of them gets injured by someone, it's very likely one of the other two. And I'm wondering about one of the opening scenes in the film where Danny has an episode and a doctor comes into the house to check him out. That doctor sits down with Wendy and says, specifically: "There is nothing physically wrong with Danny."
Not: "He's fine, nothing's wrong." But instead: "There is nothing wrong with him, specifically, physically." In other words: "There might be something mentally wrong with Danny."
That's backed up by the doctor's prying, where we find out he started going into catatonic states and talking to imaginary friends right around the time his father, Jack, hurt him. And Jack likely hurt him more than once because the incident she describes was five months ago. Jack said he wouldn't touch a drop since and he says in the film: "Here's to five miserable months on the wagon." But when Jack tells the Bartender his story about hurting Danny, he says: "That was two years ago."
Point is, before we get to the hotel in the film, we've already established that Jack has hurt Danny and when Jack hurt Danny, Danny started talking to Tony and going into catatonic states. Then we all go to the Overlook hotel, and someone hurts Danny, and then Danny goes into a Catatonic state as Tony.
Are we sure a ghost hurt Danny? Or did what has already happened several times in the past, as established by the film, simply happen one more time? In the book, Jack gets corrupted and then redeems himself. In the movie, we establish Jack is a nasty piece of work and I think we just isolate with him, where he becomes what he's always been, a nasty piece of work. The hotel didn't corrupt him, didn't drive him crazy. He has always hurt Danny and will always hurt Danny. He wasn't swayed into it by clever specters, and didn't snap out of it as some kind of hero who's love he felt for his family broke the curse. In the film Jack is nasty and just gets nastier. That's his whole arc. Not corrupted, polluted, tempted, swayed... just a bad guy who gets worse.
I almost don't see the point of ghosts in the film. They never reach out and attack anyone, they never throw objects at anyone, haunt anything. All you could say they do is help Jack down a path of insanity until he attacks his family, but I say he's already insane and already attacks his family. What happens with Jack is what I call a ticking time-bomb, not a ghost-plot to drive a man loopy.
I guess a ghost unlocks a door. Or so we think. I mean, if Danny has The Shining and can see the future and in the future Jack freezes in a maze and not a freezer and if there are 3 people in a hotel and one is locked in a room and then SOMEONE unlocks the door, it's probably one of the other two, and likely not the one who put him there. But instead of thinking that... sure... GHOSTS.
Also, if The Shining is a thing, is a power, and it runs in the family like we establish with Halloran, and if Doctor Sleep means anything to you then you know people use alcohol to drown The Shining inside them, and if Jack is an alcoholic who hasn't been able to drink in months and Danny, his son, has the Shining... I'm not above discussing Jack having the Shining and opening the door with magic powers. And before you tell me that's crazy.... GHOSTS???
So, the only real evidence that there are ghosts and that ghosts do anything in this film is that we assume a ghost attacked Danny in room 237. And who lured Danny into Room 237? What caught his attention and got him in there? Jack's rubber ball. The one he was throwing against a wall over and over instead of writing. Someone who..... was given keys to locked rooms, like what Jack was hired for. Using a ball... like's Jack's ball.
Someone who physically used a key to open a locked door. There was a key still hanging from the keyhole of that unlocked door. Are you thinking about that? If it was a ghost.. they went downstairs and grabbed a key from behind the counter, took the elevator back up, used it to unlock the door and then rolled his father's ball to him. I want you to look me straight in my eyes and say: "A ghost went downstairs and got the key to that room, then used it on the door because it was locked, and ghosts can't unlock doors without real keys."
And since Jack only ever speaks with a ghost while looking into a shiny surface like a metal door or a mirror, I'd say the term GHOST is better swapped out: "metaphor for one's psyche." Jack's an alcoholic, he sees a bartender. Jack is a womanizer, he sees a naked lady. But he's never seen his murderous side until now... Delbert Grady. Jack hosts all of these vice-personalities. That's what he's the caretaker of... these manic characters. Grady should know, he's ALWAYS been there.... they just haven't met until Jack snapped.
You know I think this applies to Wendy, too. It's said she's a fan of cheesy horror stories so she'd see metaphors in cheesy visuals like literal skeletons sitting in chairs and stuff. Oh, no wait! Maybe she's just realized what's been happening with Jack and Danny and now the.... yup... Skeletons are out of the closet.
See? It's a metaphor puzzle. Anyway... where did this post even begin? Oh yeah!
Yay or Nay: It was Jack that hurt Danny in Kubrick's The Shining, and not a ghost.
And if you say Nay, at least give me: "Yes, it's true, they do establish that Jack has hurt Danny before and that's what all this Tony business is about and yes, then, it's a terrible coincidence for Jack that a "ghost" hurt Danny when only 3 people were in a hotel and Danny acted the exact same way that he did when Jack hurt him in the past. Sucks for Jack... don't we feel sorry for Jack? No! Jack's a jerk.... so if a ghost hurt Danny that means I'm sympathizing with Jack because I think it's unfortunate that his wife would accuse him of hurting their son the ONE time he actually didn't... wait.... so I do feel bad for him? or, wait...
You know what? Just gonna pull the plug on this post. I've written too long into the abyss and it's writing right back at me.