The Shining : Use of the N-word

Use of the N-word

Was that really necessary for that scene?

"You've been targeted for Termination"- Kyle Reese

Re: Use of the N-word

Yes, although I'm not sure what year the speaker, Grady, died. It was more common back in the early 20th century, that's all I know.

We GET it, you HATE the Star Wars Prequels - MOVE ON.

Re: Use of the N-word

It's not fun to face the facts, is it? Kubrick shocked us with blatant, unexpected dialogue, and it was way past time. Why do so many people find the film difficult to grasp?

Because they have to do their own work and figure out what the film is really telling us. Why was a black man taken out with an axe? And why standing over an American Indian symbol?
_

Kubrick's film - will always be the definitive version of THE SHINING.

Re: Use of the N-word

I love Scorsese and Tarantino on these topics. Both are Democrats, Very Much Liberal Men who have nothing but support for Civil Rights etc...

But Both give Giant Eff Yous to the Political Correct Crybabies. Kubrick CHOSE that word carefully (I don't have to explain that to you lol), it was geared to get attention. As their conversation slowly shifts balance, good old Jeevesy drops a really hard bomb and his look is one for the ages.

Re: Use of the N-word

Why was a black man taken out with an axe? And why standing over an American Indian symbol?

Then he tried to take out Wendy as well. What did John and Yoko say?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtY5bv-oxLE

I love the clueless millenials going into epileptic fits over this song..."I didn't know John Lennon was racist!" The word is racist unless you're a rapper...then it isn't.

Re: Use of the N-word

Yes, christomacin, I agree. Moronic kids these days. Frightening.

Re: Use of the N-word

and why was Danny wearing Jackie Robinson's number 42?

Re: Use of the N-word


It's not fun to face the facts, is it? Kubrick shocked us with blatant, unexpected dialogue, and it was way past time. Why do so many people find the film difficult to grasp?


Hearing "n***er" and other racial epithets in movies was not unique for films made in the late 1970s.

The language was (unfortunately) historically appropriate for white men trying to relive their glory days of the 1920s, a time when (lest we forget) the Ku Klux Klan enjoyed a huge national revival and emerged in Colorado in a major way.

https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/when-kkk-ruled-colorado-not-so-long-ago

(Of course, the use of that slur was hardly limited to KKK members and there is no indication that Grady or Jack were members of the KKK, but I am just reflecting the broader historical context.)

So the choice was a correct one, but I do not feel that it reflected Kubrick constituting some radical iconoclast (in this case) or that it would have been that shocking thirty-six years ago.


Why was a black man taken out with an axe?


... because he was about to reveal the madness of Jack and the hotel. Count me as one of the viewers who does not perceive The Shining as some profound racial statement.

Re: Use of the N-word

The word is mentioned in the book as well. All Kubrick did was take it from the Book.

Re: Use of the N-word

People didn't whine about the "n-word" back then the way they do now. Give the political correctness a rest....

Re: Use of the N-word

That was the way society was in the early 20th century sad but true. Which gives Grady's scene authenticity.

Re: Use of the N-word

Yes it was and I hate to be that guy that says you didn't understand the film (Especially that scene) but I'll be that guy. That scene and the entire film went right over your head.

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Re: Use of the N-word

It was necessary. The fact you fail to see why is you're problem. Get a fvcking life.

Re: Use of the N-word

No it wasn't necessary. That's why you can't offer a proper defense for it. Just another white fool desperate to justify their racism. Sounding like broken records at this point.

They literally discussed the black man for two lines.
Use of the n word added nothing of importance to it. Just the typical white director wanting to insert some racism into a perfectly incredible psychological thrilling horror movie. You mean in a film that was 2+ hours long, the n word was intricate to the already intense plot and the film would have been ruined without it? Haha. Lies.

Re: Use of the N-word

EYES WIDE SHUT ^
_

Kubrick's film - will always be the definitive version of THE SHiNiNG.

Re: Use of the N-word

Kubrick: Hmmm...where can I insert some racism? Ah ha! This is the very spot!

Re: Use of the N-word

Grady was an old man from the 1920s so I don't think he would be that pc. Also this is unfortunately how people still talk in the real world. I don't like it but it's there.

Re: Use of the N-word

I remember my grandfather calling them colored instead of saying the n word flat out..

Re: Use of the N-word

Well if he said colored or negro I would understand why. I don't know why people are bashing me and calling me PC after just asking a simple question...

If it were any other derogatory term that seemed out of context I would ask the same question as well. I just did not deem it as necessary. Maybe if they were in the 1800's I wouldn't question as much...

I know racism was alive in the 1920's that the character was from, I just didn't expect the N-word usage in that context...

Just having a discussion is all

"You've been targeted for Termination"- Kyle Reese

Re: Use of the N-word

You PC Bra?

Seriously though - the actual point is to show the inherent racism of the institution of the Overlook.

Without anyone to inflate his ego, Jack isn't really feeling like much of a White Man.



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Re: Use of the N-word

Makes sense..

Thank you for answering and not bashing

"You've been targeted for Termination"- Kyle Reese

Re: Use of the N-word


No it wasn't necessary. That's why you can't offer a proper defense for it. Just another white fool desperate to justify their racism. Sounding like broken records at this point.

They literally discussed the black man for two lines.
Use of the N-word added nothing of importance to it. Just the typical white director wanting to insert some racism into a perfectly incredible psychological thrilling horror movie. You mean in a film that was 2+ hours long, the n word was intricate to the already intense plot and the film would have been ruined without it? Haha. Lies.


You really don't understand this film at all, do you?
Thanks for proving it.
Haha. Truth.
_

Kubrick's film - will always be the definitive version of THE SHiNiNG.

Re: Use of the N-word


I remember my grandfather calling them colored instead of saying the n word flat out..


The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ... "colored," like "Negro," was not a slur in earlier generations. Of course, using those terms in recent times would make one seem ridiculous, but coming from an older man, they would not necessarily be signs of bigotry.

Now, I obviously do not know what your grandfather's intentions or tone may have been ...

Re: Use of the N-word

You don't think that it was fitting for a man from the 1920s, a time ripe with racism and bigotry, to use the N-word? Your statement that it was nothing but a director (a very well respected and established director, mind you, writing with a highly respected author, based on another highly respect author's work) trying to insert his alleged racism into the film is preposterous. Even worse, it's stupid. You, Andrea, are a freaking idiot.

Necessary or not, I don't get butthurt when an African American calls a Caucasian American "cracker".

http://www.bible-geeks.com
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Re: Use of the N-word

AMEN.....DylansFearFiles! I've said this many, many times.

Re: Use of the N-word

The film was about the white man slaughtering people that's why there is native american stuff all over the hotel and why Jack randomly says "White mans guilt"

Re: Use of the N-word

White mans burden.

But basically the same thing.



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Re: Use of the N-word


The film was about the white man slaughtering people that's why there is native american stuff all over the hotel


I have no problem with the dialogue, but I do not feel that this racial interpretation really works. To me, it feels like people wanting to give a "hip" director some kind of liberal kudos that the filmmaking fails to justify. Yes, of course the film makes the point early on that the constructors built the hotel on a Native American burial site and allegedly fought off Native American attacks, and then, of course, the builders and designers used "Navajo and Apache" patterns inside the hotel. But, to me, this motif constitutes more of a narrative device or a plot gimmick—a slight variation on the typical "Haunted House" idea—than anything else. The theme is not developed at all, it is not organically woven into the movie at all, and there is no emotional resonance behind it. Abstract symbolism can be read into virtually anything—without sustained development and emotional resonance, it means nothing. Having now viewed The Shining three times on the big screen, I would never cite this film as offering a real statement on race or the plight of Native Americans.

(That is not to say that my opinion trumps all; I am just relaying my perspective.)

A more valid interpretation, in my view, is that The Shining reflects the masculine desire to reassert patriarchy and the anarchic male yearning to break the bonds of matrimony, fatherhood, and domesticity. In other words, I see The Shining as a film about male anxiety—repressed and then unleashed. Kubrick's movie is not, in my view, an especially thoughtful or intricate meditation on those ideas, but there is something going on in that regard, and the resonance is intriguing. Conversely, I find the racial interpretation to be completely flat and threadbare—and meaningless. I could envision teaching a college class about masculinity in film and using The Shining to ask some questions and suggest some representations. I could not envision teaching a college class about race or imperialism in film and using The Shining—that interpretation or subtext strikes me as too desperate.

Re: Use of the N-word

Okay, makes sense now. Your other posts are anti-white too...as well as disparaging looks, weight, etc...now we can all go back to not taking you seriously.

Re: Use of the N-word


No it wasn't necessary. That's why you can't offer a proper defense for it. Just another white fool desperate to justify their racism. Sounding like broken records at this point.

They literally discussed the black man for two lines.
Use of the n word added nothing of importance to it. Just the typical white director wanting to insert some racism into a perfectly incredible psychological thrilling horror movie. You mean in a film that was 2+ hours long, the n word was intricate to the already intense plot and the film would have been ruined without it? Haha. Lies.


LOL so you're saying the film was ruined with it? get a life racist black fool.

Re: Use of the N-word

It's not that the film would have been RUINED, it just really drove home the point of the scene. What year does the film take place? What year did that SCENE take place? Kubrick was far from Racist and far from a Bigot. If you look at Race in His Films, it's something he NEVER took lightly.

Re: Use of the N-word

I'm sorry to differ with you ma'am

But you ... are the racist.

You've always been the racist.

I should know, ma'am. I've always been here.

Re: Use of the N-word

The black man and white woman are tied thematically to the slaughter of children - ie white patriarchy sees women as less than man, black man as less than man - basically on the level of children, contemptable children at that. Jack and Jeevesy Ol Boy are just serving the servants.

Jack's feelings of bitterness and latent racism are tied to his alcoholism also.


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Re: Use of the N-word

Oh G-d!!!! You called me a white person a fool???? I'm white....so you think I'm a fool?!???! Wawawa (baby crying) you're a racist!!!!!!

That is your twisted logic?!? And you wonder why the word STUPID usually precedes the "N" word.

Re: Use of the N-word


Just the typical white director wanting to insert some racism into a perfectly incredible psychological thrilling horror movie.


If The Shining is imperfect, the imperfections have nothing to do with the use of that word and everything to do with all manner of other matters.

Re: Use of the N-word

Yes, Kubrick was "intellectually lazy". You're SO on point.

Re: Use of the N-word


It wasn't necessary. White just want to say it. They justify their lack of humanity and decency by claiming 'you're PC'. Intellectual laziness.


'Humanity' and 'intellectual' are two different things.

~Lance

Re: Use of the N-word

Gee, I wonder if the STIGMA of it had anything to do with its USAGE?



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Re: Use of the N-word

Of course it was necessary why do you want to suggest otherwise

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Re: Use of the N-word

I'm sure most axe murderers are a racially sensitive bunch.




"A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference." Eeyore

Re: Use of the N-word

I wasn't offended by it, i just didn't understand its use in the context. It didn't add to the mental perversion/seduction cuz there was nothing hateable about the character. Why strike that nerve when there was already so much else existing to snare Jack? However, it is Kubrick so i am fine with not agreeing or understanding cuz the guy's attention to his craft focused on a level not everyone can grasp. Wxcept 2001. That was poo.

-- Sent from my 13 year old P.O.S. Desktop®

Re: Use of the N-word

Short answer: History happened, get over it.

Re: Use of the N-word

You can't let political correctness influence history, or art or literaure.

Re: Use of the N-word

I'm pretty sure it was used to cement in the audience's mind the fact that Jack was talking to someone from a past generation—that he was talking with a ghost.

Was it necessary? Probably not. It's been years since I read the book, so I can't remember—was O'Halloran's race ever mentioned in the novel?

Re: Use of the N-word

Why does the word *beep* offend you? It's just a word, plus your people use it with each other all the times, so who cares right?

Re: Use of the N-word

It's all code anyway. What does it MEAN? White man's burden?



Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride

Re: Use of the N-word

I don't think it was necessary. The film takes place in 1980, not 1950. I was a kid during those years, and we never said that word in the Western part of the U.S. Maybe down South they say that word, but not out West. My dad didn't use it either, and he was from California. My best friend didn't use it, and he was originally from Missouri.

Re: Use of the N-word


wishful thinking. i lived in spokane, wa (way out west) during the 80s, and i heard it all the time. tons of very open, outspoken racists in western US, then and now.

she went underwater to climb in the shark so she could keep warm & drink its blood
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