1. Delbert Grady – Language as Power

Kubrick gives Delbert Grady racist language because Grady represents the hotels authority showing how power in the Overlook is managed with politeness and calmness that disguises violence and dehumanization. Grady is presented as a mouthpiece for the overlooks values, implying controversial traditions, class structure views and belief in “correct” conduct. The calm manor he speaks in shows that he sees violence not as emotional and impulsive but as bureaucratic, normalized and justified. Kubrick removes aggression to show that the real danger is how comfortably this violence exists within systems of power.

2. The Overlook Hotel – Burial Ground & Interior Design 

Kubrick fills the Overlook with Native American imagery while completely removing Native American people to show how American history turns culture into decoration. The hotel is built on a burial ground, but this violence is ignored in favor of luxury, which reflects greed and historical denial. Indigenous patterns and colors appear again and again in the background, often framed in wide shots, but no one ever acknowledges them. This suggests that culture has been stripped of meaning and used only for asthetic value. The hotel don’t feel haunted by ghosts, but by history that has been buried and covered up, making the Overlook a symbol of stolen land and erased identity.

3. Power & Control 

The Shining presents power as something that is inherited and enforced rather than earned. Jack doesn’t gain authority through skill or leadership, but by submitting to the Overlook and its traditions. His role as caretaker mirrors Grady’s before him, and Kubrick shows this through repetition and formal language. Violence is hidden behind politeness, as Jack starts to describe abuse as responsibility and discipline. The hotel doesn’t respond to Jack’s ambition, instead it chooses him because he is willing to repeat its patterns. This suggests power in the film works like a system that replaces people, rather than rewarding them.

4. Women, Wendy & Survival 

Wendy is shown as having very little power within the family, constantly apologising and being physically and emotionally dominated by Jack. Kubrick often frames her at the edge of the shot or makes her look small compared to the hotel’s huge spaces. However, her fear isn’t weakness, it’s awareness. Through shaky camera work, loud breathing and raw sound design, Kubrick forces the audience to experiance her panic instead of dismissing it. Wendy survives because she doesn’t try to control others or assert power, which stops her from becoming part of the hotel’s violent system.

5. Distinction-Level Question

Kubrick presents Jack’s violence not as a sudden mental breakdown, but as the exposure of something that was already there. Isolation, repetition and alcoholism act as pressure rather than direct causes. Jack’s addiction is never properly resolved, and sobriety is treated like a burden instead of recovery. The Overlook doesn’t create his violence, but it encourges it by rewarding control and dominance. By refusing to give a clear answer, Kubrick makes the horror more uncomfortable and suggests that mental health issues can be worsened by systems that already support violence.