Time is not relative – a modern and postmodern approach to time in The Shining

Stutterheim, Kerstin

Abstract

Time spans and temporal relationships in film narratives are relevant to the dramaturgical or dramatic form of the screenplay. As humans, we experience time as linear and causal, in rhythm with our breath and heartbeat. The significance of time and our experiences of rhythm in screenwriting is therefore of great importance and of dramaturgical interest. Plots leading up to a specific event, as in a thriller, require a different plot organisation than an epic biographical narrative. In science fiction, the characters' experience of time, detached from weightlessness and time of day, can allow for expansion. After a brief overview of the influence of temporal relations on narrative forms and their organisation, this chapter will discuss the handling of temporal relationships and their significance for the plot in more detail with the example of The Shining (UK/US 1980). This movie is a particularly interesting example regarding the construction of time. Not only because the movie tells about time as fluid as it gets experienced by the characters within a certain period, but also with concepts of eternity and circularity within that setting. In the sense of a postmodern aesthetic in cinematic works, the design of the film THE SHINING alludes to something unrepresentable, which is sensualized as a metaphor in the film's plot. This movie is also an interesting example to illustrate and understand how an aesthetic design of aspects that cannot be represented via an representation of reality – such as the history of crimes against the Indigenous population that took place in a certain region – can be achieved through aesthetic design.

Citation

Stutterheim, K. (in press). Time is not relative – a modern and postmodern approach to time in The Shining. In Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Screenplay Theory. Bloomsbury Publishing

• Deposit Date: Jan 28, 2025
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Screenplay Theory
• ISBN: 9781501394065
• Keywords: Dramaturgy; Time; Chronotopos; Narration; Screenwriting; Film; Storytelling
• Publisher URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/
• Contract Date: Aug 23, 2022