The Stanley Hotel sits in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. For more than 100 years, renowned guests have stayed in one of its stately rooms. Today, daily tours guide visitors through the long corridors of the grand colonial revival building. And all tours lead to room 217.
In 1974, the famed horror fiction writer Stephen King and his wife stayed in room 217. The hotel was preparing to close for the winter as impending snow storms threatened to render roads impassable. 217 was the only room with guests that winter; the only one within living guests, that is. Tour guides will tell you that there were ghosts that kept King company. And as legend has it, these ghoulish occupants inspired King to write his bestselling novel, The Shining, which appropriately takes place in an empty hotel.
"Wasn't the tour scary?" my mother asked on our way to the parking lot. We were on a family ski trip to Colorado and decided to take a day off for sightseeing. I was 9 years old.
"No way. I'm not afraid of ghosts," I proclaimed.
"I bet you can't watch the entire movie," she declared.
In 1980, the American film director, Stanley Kubrick, adapted Stephen King's novel. The Shining is considered by many as one of the scariest movies of all time.
"Let's watch it on the way back to the hotel!" I begged.
So my mother went off to the gift shop and bought the DVD. We were staying at Breckenridge, about a three-hour drive from the base of Rocky Mountain National Park, where the Stanley hotel is located. There would be plenty of time to see the movie from the back seat of our rental car. The question remains whether it was appropriate for my parents to allow their 9-year old child to watch an R-rated horror movie. Perhaps a psychiatrist in my future will have the answer.
I watched the whole damn thing. To claim the movie changed my life is overly dramatic. Still, it may have affected my relationship with my identical twin cousins. Shamefully, I cannot tell the twin girls apart. A plausible excuse is that they live in Switzerland and I don't see them very often. But my sister is certain it's because I don't look at them when they are together. After all, they remind me of The Shining. Anyone who has seen the movie is familiar with the iconic visual. In the creepy scene, murdered twin girls stand side by side in an empty hallway and ask to "come and play with us." Needless to say, I have always kept a safe distance between my cousins and me.
From The Shining (1980)
I have yet to build up the courage to watch The Shining again. But I became intrigued by Stanley Kubrick. I learned that he directed just nine movies between 1957 and 1987. And remarkably, seven of these movies are included in the IMDb list of 250 Top Rated Movies of all time (Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket). Knowing that The Shining is the only Kubrick film in this group that fits the horror movie genre, I decided to explore some of his other works. I began with Paths of Glory, an anti-war film from 1957.
Paths of Glory is based on a novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb. The story is based on real-life French soldiers executed by their own army during World War I. In an early scene, Kubrick sets the tone for the movie's central theme when Colonel Dax, played by Kirk Douglas, is confronted by General Mireau. While ordering Dax to lead his men into an almost certain defeat, the general says, "show me a patriot, and I'll show you an honest man." Dax replies by quoting the 18th-century British writer Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."
Kirk Douglas from Paths of Glory (1957)
Johnson was not a critic of patriots but was critical of those who falsely professed patriotism to promote selfish agendas. General Mireau was fully aware that his order would result in massive casualties with little chance of success. But with the promise of a promotion after an unlikely victory, he stood behind the shield of patriotism to challenge anyone who dared to question his order. After the failed campaign, Mireau set his sights on innocent soldiers as scapegoats. He had three random men executed for cowardice. Once again, he defended his actions by declaring loyalty to his country.
To falsely tie personal motives with patriotism is nothing new. False patriotism didn't originate in Samuel Johnson's time and did not end after World War I. In the mid 20th century, America was preoccupied with McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee that accused (without proper evidence) citizens of subversive anti-government behaviors. Today, with the rise of Nationalism, the excessively aggressive cousin of patriotism, scoundrels have a fertile environment for refuge.
When politicians and pundits counter ideological opposition with the accusation of disloyalty and sedition, democratic ideals are challenged. Silencing critics as unpatriotic is a recipe for authoritarian ultranationalism. To the scoundrels, it is patriotic to storm the United States Capitol as long as they are breaking windows and striking police with an American flag. And those who criticize their leader clearly “hate America.”
U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 (Image from cnn.com)
If “patriotism” is defined as the love and loyalty for a country, it seems like a good thing. Respecting a nation’s laws and supporting its citizens should lead to harmony and prosperity. However, when zealots and scoundrels use patriotism as a weapon, conflicts may arise, both within and outside a nation’s borders.
Paths of Glory was filmed more than 60 years ago, but its message remains relevant. It's not a horror movie, but the actions depicted by Kubrick are horrible, exposing human vulnerabilities that threaten decency. In an interview, Kubrick said, "He (man) is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved...And any attempt to create social institutions on a false view of the nature of man is probably doomed to failure."
Kubrick died in 1999. His prophecy of societal collapse has yet been realized in the United States. But the current growth of Nationalism threatens democratic ideals, casting dissenters as infidels and journalists as the "enemy of the people." Xenophobia and racism are normalized, threatening peace within our borders. The selfish cruelty of man depicted in Paths of Glory is scarier than any horror movie.
Kirk Douglas died in 2020 at the age of 103. A year before his death, the World War I film 1917 was released to critical acclaim, receiving ten Academy Award nominations. But according to Forbes writer Will Jeakle, “Kirk Douglas made a better World War I film than 1917.” I agree. Both 1917 and Paths of Glory present captivating narratives depicting the brutal war in realistic detail. Kubrick’s 1957 film lacks modern filmmaking techniques, but its brilliant cinematography is still impressive. Most importantly, Paths of Glory rises above the plot because its examination of the meaning of patriotism still resonates today.
Andrew’s Grade: A
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