Jack Torance In The Shining

Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining (1980) depicts a family man, Jack Torrance, driven to a murderous rampage by a nefarious haunted hotel. But is the hotel truly responsible for his actions? However haunted or evil the hotel is, Jack’s own predisposition towards hypermasculine traits and his susceptibility to misogynistic ideas engenders his murderous rampage and subsequent demise. The Shining, in addition to being completely terrifying, exemplifies and hyperbolizes the effect patriarchal ways of thinking have on one’s mental health and domestic harmony.
Even before they arrive at the hotel, Jack clearly holds hypermasculine views and is predisposed to violence. His wife, Wendy, tells of a time in which Jack dislocated their son’s shoulder when he was drunk:
It was just one of those things, you know. Purely an accident. My husband had, uh, been drinking, and he came home about three hours late. So he wasn't exactly in the greatest mood that night. And, well, Danny had scattered some of his school papers all over the room, and my husband grabbed his arm and pulled him away from them. It's... it's just the sort of thing you do a hundred times with a child, you know, in the park or in the
Although Jack succumbs completely to this violent hypermasculinity, it is important to note that this approach does not end well for him - he fails in his attempt to “correct” his family and freezes to death. While hypermasculinity and misogyny rarely lead to attempted murder and death, they most certainly cause contention and unrest among families and are often significantly detrimental to the well-being of people of all ages and genders. Furthermore, although Kubrick does not suggest a way to avoid such patterns of misogynistic thinking and action, he clearly demonstrates the detrimental effects they can have on men, women, and children