'The Shining' movie from 1980 labelled as 'misogynistic' by Stephen King

The Shining came out in 1980 and was a huge success as a horror flick. However, the film had its fair share of controversies. According to Cheatsheet and a number of other portals like BBC and Rolling Stone, writer Stephen King called the movie a misogynistic portrayal of women. King further backed his statement by saying that Wendy in the film only exists to do stupid things and scream from time to time. However, that is not how he had written the character in his books.

Stephen King calls The Shining a misogynistic film

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Those who have read The Shining know for a fact that the character of Wendy was nothing like the portrayal done by Shelley Duvall. In the film, Wendy gets bossed around and is easily afraid of her husband even before the main arc takes place. This, however, is not the case in the books.

As in the books, Wendy is a no-nonsense character and stands up for what she believes in. The character of Wendy was written to be a peppy and bubbly blonde. She does not easily submit to every whim of her husband and thus this aspect makes her very different from the portrayal in the Stanley Kubrick film.

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Further on, Kubrick also went on to undo certain bits from the original book and thus give Wendy a whole different character perspective. King, in several interviews, has stated that he absolutely despises the portrayal of Wendy in The Shining. He further added that the character only exists to screen as a dishrag. He pointed out that his version of the character of Wendy was nothing close to that shown in the film. He ended this statement by clearly mentioning that it was not the woman he wrote about in his books, according to reports by the portals.

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Despite the objection from Jack Nicholson and Stephen King himself, the character of Wendy was written differently for the movies. Originally, Jessica Lange was the actor recommended for the role of Wendy as she had impressed critics with her performance in American Horror story. However, director Kubrick was adamant and picked Duvall instead for the role. Jessica was considered to be the perfect fit for the character of Wendy due to her features matching almost perfectly with the character Stephen King originally had in mind.

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