I genuinely hate that I have a peg for this mini-essay

RIP Shelley Duvall 😢

This is quick and not particularly in-depth, but on a whim last weekend my partner and I watched The Shining (a rewatch for me, her first watch) and I had already been vaguely thinking that maybe there’s a Substack in how much on this rewatch I was struck by Shelley Duvall’s performance. And, well, sadly now there’s a peg for that.

A lot has been made over the years (including by Stephen King) around the differences between Wendy Torrance of the novel vs of the Kubrick movie, and the knock on the movie version is that movie Wendy lacks the confidence, spirit, and toughness of novel Wendy, flattening out an otherwise interesting character. Admittedly, it’s been probably ~5 years since the last time I read the novel, so I’ll defer on the specific merits of novel Wendy (though I’ve liked it both times I read it, so I assume those merits are true!) but on this rewatch, the idea of saying movie Wendy is a flat character seems completely crazy to me!

Similarly, a lot has been made about how novel Jack goes through a much more gradual descent into madness and possession than movie Jack (I think the King quote is something along the lines of how Jack Nicholson looks like he’s ready to murder his wife and kid from the first frame.) Now this I think is definitely true; much more of the novel is from Jack’s interior perspective, and the novel makes it way clearer that while the hotel is feeding on real demons inside of Jack, it’s not just unlocking a latent evil, and the Jack of the novel reads at the start as much more willing to actually put in the effort on being good for his family than movie Jack does (see the rage and dismissiveness already bubbling up in movie version of the family drive up to the Overlook.)

Again, several years since I read the book, so take this with a grain of salt, but my recollection is the novel Torrances read like a family that’s on an edge; Jack’s drinking and emotional problems have led to some dark places and him hurting Danny in a way that, whether or not for you it would or should be an unforgivable last-straw, isn’t treated as unforgivable by the characters or really by the novel. The family is perilously close to the edge disaster, but they haven’t stepped over yet, and Jack sincerely wants to avoid that fate. In that context the story of the novel is one where Jack (via the hotel) changes significantly, forcing Danny to grow up fast and Wendy to react to this changing circumstances to try and save herself and her son. 

Movie Torrances, though, read like the family that 100% should have already separated. I wouldn’t necessarily say that Jack is at murder level at the beginning, and he’s not yet totally irredeemable as a person….. but it’s clear that Wendy and Danny are already in an abusive situation to the point where Jack and Wendy absolutely should not be together. It really really comes through in how the Doctor scene is framed and performed; this is not a Wendy that’s given Jack one last chance, this is a Wendy who’s rehearsed her story about how Jack deserves one last chance, and rehearsed it almost enough to actually believe it herself. But the fear behind Shelley Duvall’s eyes as she’s talking about Jack, and the way the scene and the Doctor’s reaction reflect and magnify that fear is again, so overwhelming that I can’t believe I didn’t clock that scene as a linchpin until, what, my fourth watch of the movie??

And this is where I think calling movie Wendy flat or saying Duvall’s performance is one-note is so off-the-mark: if novel Wendy’s arc is one of her reacting to her circumstances, where she’s already a tough, street-smart girl who’s given Jack his last chance and it’s his change while at the hotel that motivates her to take different action, then the story of movie Wendy is one where she already knows in her heart what needs to be done (take Danny and leave) from the first shot of the movie, she just needs to get herself to the point where she can do it.

And I think that’s a fantastic story!!!!!!!!!! Jack and Danny¹ don’t really fundamentally change over the course of the movie, but Wendy absolutely does. Honestly, on this watch I was finding myself wondering if Wendy is really the protagonist of the movie, and I think there’s a legitimate argument one could make on that case!

That’s not to say the novel’s story isn’t also interesting, it’s just that these are two different stories about two different versions of the Torrances! One is about Danny growing up and Jack confronting his demons, the other is about Wendy learning to be honest with herself about the things she’s most afraid of. Both are good, and crucially both are good versions of the stories they’re trying to tell. And the fact the movie is able to tell its Wendy story so well is in, frankly, immeasurable part to how good Shelley Duvall is.

1. That Danny doesn’t really change over the course of the movie is another reason why I love Doctor Sleep so much; it gives us a chance to be with Danny as a more full-fledged character that I think we’re (correctly!) denied in The Shining, where Danny is more an avatar and (effective!!!) plot device than fully-fleshed character.