ABSTRACT
Wendy Torrance and Alice Harford are two housewives and mothers of a single child, married to men in the throes of their horrific and nightmarish unconscious. Both women exert a certain power over them—a power which, in a patriarchal society, puts them in a precarious position, as their words, voices, and very presence ignite in their husbands a very masculine rage. Perceived as shrews—Wendy’s hysteria vs. Alice’s laughter—the two women are nonetheless very different and are differently represented by Kubrick. Furthermore, the actresses’ experiences on set also stand in stark contrast, with Shelley Duvall exposing in interviews Kubrick’s harsh treatment during the making of The Shining, also apparent in Vivian Kubrick’s documentary Making The Shining (1980). Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, assures she felt “protected” by Kubrick, especially in his treatment of nudity, and speaks of a director who “wasn’t torturous.” Leaning on Duvall’s and Kidman’s existing interviews, this chapter proposes to analyze how the actresses’ contrasting experiences on set influenced their interpretations and how they translate onto the screen through Kubrick’s representation of their bodies, the choice of costumes, as well as his use of colors and close-ups.
