Rethinking History [a(s) bit(s)]

Now that The Shining has been around for a while we might like to reflect upon the time in which it was made. Doing so seems to contribute to an understanding of the film. As was probably mentioned earlier, the 1920's were a really good time for film and art in general. New techniques were being explored and established. The art cinema was kicking but, Macho Grande style, from Odessa to Paris. There was a sense of unlimited possibility for the medium. Compare that to the 1970's when the attitude was more an expression of the idea that everything had been said and done. Where was there to take the technology after sound, color, 3-D, wide-screen, Dolby, and other special effects? The industry had really become just that - an industry. Was there anything original to be done. Of course there was. Music video was on the horizon:) Hollywood was making a comeback with big budget spectacles.

During the 1970's there was a renewed interest in the silent era, culminating in the Brighton festival and perhaps Coppolas re-release of Abel Gances' Napoleon, or Chaplins' re-releases. In 1984 Metropolis was re-released with a new pop-music soundtrack. There was also renewed interest in film sound on the academic level. The line between high and low art had been thoroughly blurred to say the least. Artists of all medium were borrowing from pop-culture. In film this was manifested in part by the use of popular music for soundtracks, which was becoming quite commonplace. During this time television and pornography continued to gain ground from the once dominant narrative movies.

One trend of the 1970's is what might be called the "pop-musicization" of the film industry. With the success of the pseudo-art movie Easy Rider it became apparent that there was a large youth market to be exploited by the movies. The average movie goer was about fifteen to twenty five years old. The horror movie found a popular audience in this youth market. During the 1970's horror was becoming more legit and respectable, with big-time auteurs dabbling with, and leaving a mark on, the genre. The incorporation of sound technologies from the music industry might be another aspect of the pop-musicization trend. For example, the expansion of the multi-track for the soundtrack. The music video, and its associated technologies, were also becoming commonplace during the time period in which The Shining was made.

Throughout the 1970's the quality of cinema sound was held inferior to that of music production due to economic reasons. There simply wasn't enough economic stimulus for the film studios to adopt better technologies at a rate that might have been feasible. Home video and cable TV was also becoming more widespread during this time, enabling people to not only listen to music but watch movies at home as well. The merging of the music and film industries had been nearly completed on an institutional level by this era. For example, EMI Studios produced both music and movies, including the music of Pink Floyd and the films of Stanley Kubrick. The the music, radio, movie, and television industries, though, had been closely related throughout the twentieth century. The movie industry and music industry were closer and more similar than ever though.