Dear all,
Welcome to the accompanying
blog post for my Literary Drinks YouTube video on Stephen King’s The Shining.
If you haven’t watched it yet:
And you can subscribe to my channel here:
For our videos we want to mix
up the range of our books as much as we can so following on from our first video
on “Dombey and Son” by Charles Dickens we move on in time to try our taste buds
out on some Gin Martinis; or Martians
as Jack Torrance would say.
Amazingly The Shining was first published in 1977 but many people would also
know it from the 1980 film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. In many interviews
Stephen King has explained his dislike of the film adaptation and I should say
that when doing these videos we always reference the book. Personally, I love
the film too but it is important to point out, and as anyone who has read it
will tell you, it varies hugely and there are some major plot elements totally
absent. If you would like to learn more about the book in general then here are
a few sites to help you out:
There are some great websites
out there that make comparisons between novels and their film adaptations so if
you are interested in finding out more then it is a nice way to spend your
lunch break or free time, you may be surprised by some of your findings. There
is also a great documentary on the making of the film that is worth watching. For
our purposes there is one thing to note for anyone watching our video that
hasn’t read the book. As Jack steps into “The Gold Room” in the film or “The
Colorado Lounge” in the book and starts a discussion with the imaginary bartender
Lloyd he accepts Lloyds answer of his request for hair of the dog as a bourbon on the rocks… in the book Jack drinks Gin Martinis. Hence, we made Gin Martinis.
I think it is important to
point out that our videos are for fun and the reason I chose The Shining is that I really like the
book, however I am aware that there are some very serious issues in the book
relating to alcohol so I didn’t want to make light of it. Let me very briefly
share a few thoughts on the theme of alcohol.
Firstly, as I mentioned in the
video, Stephen King has talked and written openly about his experiences of alcoholism
and the impact it had on his life. He was able to draw on this, combined with
the pressures of parenting, writing and financial problems when forming the
Torrance family and especially of course, Jack.
Like
Stephen, Jack is an alcoholic in recovery and through the use of flashbacks and
jumps in time the book reveals to us more and more about the impact his
drinking had on his family, physically and emotionally. One recurring trauma
Jack both remembers and is forced to remember by his wife is the breaking of
his son’s arm. Stephen King has talked about his frustrations with bringing up
children and how he had to deal with having violent thoughts about harming them
and you can feel the pain in this reflected in Jack’s inner thoughts.
Jack
has trouble controlling his temper and stopping himself from flying into rages
and alcohol only worsened that aspect of his personality and so later, sober,
he has to learn how to deal with the violence that is within him and that is
what ‘the hotel’ tries to take advantage of. The film consists of the events at
the Overlook Hotel but in the book we learn (of course no film can ever
replicate the entire contents of a book no matter how faithful it wants to be,
else we would have a ten hour film) about Jack’s past as a teacher, some of the
problems he faced dealing with authority and that link between authority and
alcohol can be seen in the theme of ‘possession’. Jack doesn’t like to be told
what to do, he doesn’t like to be out of control, he doesn’t want to be
disturbed and of course that is exactly what the hotel tries to do. The
ultimate connection to violence then becomes real in the hotel’s desire to get
Jack to kill his family.
In
the book the focus is much more on the son, Danny, and how the hotel really
wants him (for his powers) but Danny, with the help from another character,
manages to prevent this (through some scary scenes!) so the hotel has to
control Jack instead, which it finds easier to do considering all his problems
and hence weaker mind. So as we start reading part of the intrigue that keeps
you in suspense is deciding if what Jack is going through is a result of mental
illness - extreme guilt and self-persecution, depression… or the developing
awareness of his own childhood and the suffering from his own father’s
drinking… but once the real reason becomes apparent, the malevolent force of
the hotel itself, we see it try a tactic: the use of alcohol - and an easy way to
get to an alcoholic - through a well stocked bar! And that is where we come in!
Now, it is clear from the book that Jack doesn’t actually drink the twenty Martians … or is it?
After all, if it can open the bolt on the pantry door, then… well, why don’t
you read it yourself and make your own mind up.
Gin
Martini
- Gin: 75 ml or 2.6 fl oz
- Dry Vermouth: 10ml or 0.4 fl oz
- Stir with ice
- Olives
El
Presidente
- Rum: 50ml or 1.8 fl oz
- Dry Vermouth: 20ml or 0.7 fl oz
- Tripe Sec: 10ml or 0.4 fl oz
- Grenadine: 5ml or 0.2 fl oz
- Shake with ice
- Twist of orange zest
The
Shining
The edition I own and used for
this video was published by New England Library, new edition 1980 and the
twenty third impression 1993. ISBN: 9780450040184
Page 224.
‘So here’s what,’ Jack said. ‘You set me up an even twenty martinis. An even twenty, just like that, kazang. One for every month I’ve been on the wagon and one to grow on. You can do that, can’t you? You aren’t too busy?’ Lloyd said he wasn’t busy at all. ‘Good man. You line those martians up right along the bar and I’m going to take them down, one by one. White man’s burden, Lloyd my man.’
Thanks for watching and don’t
forget to let me know if you have any recommendations on what we should
recreate next.
Thanks once more to Ruairi of The
Bonneville
And Gerard of Moon
In a Box
Enjoy! (Responsibly)
Salud!
Please join me on all my social media pages:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinkingplainly
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RGRankine (Personal Channel)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgrankine
Instagram: http://instagram.com/rgrankine
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/thinkingplainly/
Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/thinkingplainly
And Author Profile Pages to keep informed of the latest releases:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/IqRZK (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)
Nook: http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf
Google: http://bit.ly/1yyMhQx
Scribd: http://bit.ly/1xVQlLh
Apple: Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine
Kobo: Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine
***