ates a thread throughout his body of work is the duality of self. Often, Kubricks protagonists are faced with incredible conflicts within themselves. They encounter ethical, moral, and personality dilemmas. Along with conflicts within themselves, Kubrick creates parallels with these same protagonists. In Lolita, Humbert Humbert faces moral discord in his love for Lolita. Deep down he knows that it is wrong, but he cannot help himself for feeling this way and he is too weak to fight it. Humbert is also given an opposite force that parallels him. The character of Quilty becomes a shadow of Humbert and follows our hero throughout. Only by killing Quilty can Humbert come to terms with this duality. Another film that strongly reinforces this theme is The Shining. Jack Torrance is haunted by the past occurrences within the hotel and struggles to fight the oncoming urges within him to kill his family. There are many parallels throughout the narrative as well. There is an underlying psychic connection between Jack and his son Danny. Danny feels some of the same things that Jack does. Also, there is a parallel between Jack and the former groundskeeper, Grady, who butchered his family. Gradys family also included two twin daughters who appear to Danny a few times within the film. Kubrick creates these dualities through narrative structure, but also reinforces them visually as well. If you look closely (and in most of his films you dont have to look that close) virtually every film has a scene where mirrors are involved. This solidifies the theme of duality by blatantly showing us the symbols.Style and theme in filmmaking go hand in hand. Stanley Kubrick was a master of using his own personal style to create a series of works, all with very similar themes. He believed strongly in the way music can affect the development of conflict. Every film that he has directed (excluding Spartacus) has a strong music and sound design tha...
