THE INNER CHILD

As soon as he enters the family bedroom, he says “Wendy I’m home”. Whilst this may have a brief moment of comic relief, it also has a far deeper, darker meaning. Jack wishes he could stay at the Overlook for ever, and ever, and ever. By calling this place home, he fully accepts that he belongs here, that the Overlook has now absorbed him and it is his home.

The famed line “Here’s Johnny!” was improvised. Having not left England since 1975, nor been to America since 1968, Kubrick was unaware of the popularity of The Johnny Carson Show. However, by Jack calling himself Johnny he not only delivers a moment of comic payoff, he also shows the division between his selves - he doesn’t even know his own name anymore.

By this stage, Jack is clearly not a fully functional human being anymore : his gait has descended to that of an animal limping. Emotionally also he has regressed to a childlike state by repeating children’s nursery rhymes, and being able to exhibit only the most primitive emotions : anger, hate, violence.

The use of children’s nursery rhymes and other imagery is also of significant importance : in the same way that the hotel uses the images of children to connect to Danny, it also presents adults, and the use of childlike and regressive imagery to connect to the ‘inner child’ of Jack, who is retreating further inside himself - perhaps to hide from, or absolve himself, from the horror he is surrounded by.

These deliberate references to childhood icons such as Mickey Mouse, Road Runner, Bugs Bunny (“What’s Up Doc?“ asks Halloran at one juncture), Hansel and Gretel and the ‘Three Little Pigs’ nursery rhyme were inspired by a book - called "The Uses of Enchantment" by Bruno Bettelheim - which postulates that all things - persons, objects, and buildings - can possess a spirit, be it good, or bad, benevolent or malignant.