Shelley Duvall's Evolving Portrayal in "The Shining": Strength in Vulnerability
Shelley Duvall’s role as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” has been looked at differently over time. At first, some people thought she wasn’t very good in the movie. But now, many see her performance as showing a lot about a woman who’s both scared and brave.
In the film, Duvall’s Wendy is in a haunted hotel with her family. She looks small and scared, with wide eyes and messy hair. Her main job is to protect her son Danny from her husband Jack, who gets more dangerous as the story goes on. This danger isn’t just pretend scary; it’s about real things like abuse and meanness. Even though some people thought Wendy in the movie was too weak, Duvall’s acting shows her getting stronger and braver as she tries to keep her family safe.
While the author of the book “The Shining,” Stephen King, didn’t like how Kubrick made Wendy more helpless than in the book, Duvall’s acting adds a lot to her character. It shows how she goes from being really afraid to standing up against the scary things around her.
Duvall went through a lot making the movie, with long days and lots of hard scenes. She said it felt like she was screaming and crying almost all the time. Even though it was tough, Duvall found it helped her feel better after work, like it was a way to let out her feelings.
Looking back, Shelley Duvall’s performance in “The Shining” shows how strong and brave a woman can be, even when she’s scared. Her acting helps us see that strength can come from facing our fears, even when it’s really hard.
Shelley Duvall's Evolving Portrayal in "The Shining": Strength in Vulnerability
Shelley Duvall, The Shining, Gothic heroine