ng, who "loathed The Shining when it first came out," admitted, "When I was able to divorce my expectations from what was on film there, I realized that it's stylish, it is extremely well-photographed and well-thought out, and it has its own tension. It's just not the tension I expected." 3Kubrick toys with viewer expectations and creates a unique type of tension in The Shining by exploring the inherently "evil side" of the human personality and extending the doppleganger motif of German Schauerfilme. We first encounter Danny's "shining"-his psychic ability to see the dark side of the mind-when he asks Tony about the Overlook Hotel as he stands in front of a mirror, thereby presenting two images: one representing Danny, and one representing Tony, a personification of the psychic part of Danny's psyche. We also witness the emergence of Jack's evil side through a mirror, as he wakes up a month after his move into the hotel. Only after the camera shifts when his wife enters the room do we realize that we have been looking at a mirror image of Jack. The same mirror later reveals that the mirror image of Danny's scrawled "REDRUM" is "MURDER."Dualistic imagery, mirrors, and mazes abound in The Shining as it delves into the unconscious mind. The main purpose of one character, Bill Watson, seems to be to complete dualistic compositions during the interview and closing day. Watson silently sits across from Jack during the interview and represents Jack's other self, repressed for the time being. But Jack ultimately loses his mind and becomes that other self. In the end, his sanity exists only in the photograph from July 4, 1921. The doubling motif also applies to the eerie Grady sisters, the temptress/hag in Room 237, Delbert and Charles Grady, and countless other components of the film.Mazes also play a key role in The Shining. The final chase scene takes place in the hedge maze behind the hotel. A model of the hedge maze sits inside the hotel a...
