alex_taylor10•16d agoProlific Poster

Can we talk about how a chat with my barber changed my view on 'The Shining'?

I was getting a haircut last week and my barber, Mike, asked if I'd seen the movie. I said yeah, it's a classic, but the book is way better (like I always say). He just shook his head and said, 'Nah, man. Kubrick's movie isn't trying to be the book. It's its own thing. The book is about a man falling apart, but the movie is about a haunted place eating a family.' That hit different because I'd never split them up like that before. I always just ranked them, you know? Now I see them as two separate stories that happen to share a name and a hotel. It made me rewatch the film with totally new eyes. Has anyone else had a talk that flipped their whole opinion on an adaptation like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

burns.richard16d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you just casually drop that your barber's name is Mike? That's the part that got me. My barber is also named Mike. Is there some secret rule that all barbers who have deep thoughts about movies have to be named Mike? What are the odds of that? So your Mike sees the movie as a haunted place story, not a man falling apart story. That's a really good way to put it. The hotel is the main character in the film, it's even in the shots more than Jack sometimes. Did your Mike have any other movie takes, or was that his one big masterpiece?

abbychen16d ago

Totally get what you mean about ranking them! That barber is onto something for sure. It's so easy to just compare an adaptation to the source material point by point. Splitting them into two different stories is such a better way to look at it. I had a similar flip with the 'Fight Club' movie and book. For years I just argued about what the movie left out, until a friend pointed out the movie's ending is actually a different kind of punchline. It makes you enjoy both versions way more when you stop making them fight each other.