Director: Robert Jonathan Demme vs Director: Stanley Kubrick
Style:
The Silence of the Lambs and The Shining are similar in terms of style. Both movies can be considered thrillers with a psychological twist, exploring the darker side of the human condition. According to Box Office Mojo, both films were budgeted at 19 million, but The Silence of the Lambs did much better in the box office, making a domestic total of $132,742,922, while The Shining only made $44,017,374. The Shining is a bit slower paced than The Silence of the Lambs. It begins with a "normal" family going to stay at a hotel. It is not until near halfway through the movie that the main character, Jack, finally loses his mind completely, going after his wife and young child. On the contrary, The Silence of the Lambs opens with a student of the FBI Academy receiving an urgent assignment from her teacher and future boss, kicking the movie off with some action. He wants her to interview a convicted murderer/cannibal Hannibal Lecter, in hopes of shedding new light on a recent serial killer investigation involving "Buffalo Bill."
The Silence of the Lambs includes some very interesting camera shots compared to The Shining, in my opinion. I feel The Silence of the Lambs is more of a visual movie, while The Shining really emphasizes parallels and hidden meanings. Because of this, there is more meaning in the camerawork of The Silence of the Lambs than that of The Shining.
Since The Silence of the Lambs is a movie about investigation, many scenes show characters finding or examining evidence. The camera moves in such a way that the viewer feels like he is looking at a piece of evidence through the eyes of the investigator. There is a lot of panning camera movement throughout the movie, as if someone was turning his/her head towards the object at the end of the pan. This movie also has a theme of looking into someone's eyes. I assume that is because some people believe that the eyes are the windows to the soul, where all truth lies. In a movie about murder investigation, including this "truth" aspect fits into the story perfectly.
Technology:
Both The Silence of the Lambs and The Shining are relatively old movies. I say that with hesitation because 1991 really isn't old in the grand scheme of things, just in the world of technological advancement. Because of this, both movies have fairly simple special effects, most having to do with blood. One of the few special effects that really stands out is The Shining's elevator scene. In this scene, it appears as though gallons upon gallons of blood is pouring out of an elevator door. While the scene may seem very complex, it was actually a pretty simple move on the director's part. The elevator set was actually a miniature version of the real one. That way, Kubrick could shoot as many takes as he needed without ruining a whole room every time. Similarly, Demme incorporated some fake blood during the Hannibal Lecter kill scenes in The Silence of the Lambs. This is much simpler than the infamous elevator scene, but still considered an important special effect for the story.
As I stated before, The Silence of the Lambs contains many investigatory scenes involving eyes and the act of camera panning to mirror investigation. To do so, the director added many camera shots that were lengthy in duration, following the subject of the scene. The camera seemed to be following the action as opposed to jump cutting between scenes. Similarly, The Shining also contains some longer camera shots. For example, when Johnny's child, Danny, is riding his tricycle through the hallways of the hotel, the camera swiftly follows the trike instead of cutting the shot. This ensures the viewer will relate to the character, being able to put themselves in his shoes(or rather, tricycle seat).
American Culture/History & Hidden Meanings:
The Shining is a very complex movie involving many hidden meaning regarding the culture of the time and history. The Silence of the Lambs, on the other hand, is fairly straight forward in terms of what it's trying to say. There are many instances in Kubrick's film where he incorporated hidden messages in scenes. One of the most popular is the conspiracy theory of the Apollo 11 moon landing being a hoax. There is a theory circulating the internet that America faked the moon landing to get ahead of Russia in the space race. It is thought that Stanley Kubrick was the director who made the video and pictures possible. Afterwards, it is said that Kubrick felt guilty and wanted to confess his involvement. He apparently did so through The Shining. There are many instances in the film when space travel is brought up. The most blatant would probably be the scene where Danny is wearing an Apollo 11 sweater. In another scene, a picture on a refrigerator shows a spaceship during takeoff. Jack's famous written line, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," is said to intentionally begin with the word "All," looking like A11, as in Apollo 11. In the food pantry of the hotel, there is packaged powered food, like the kind astronauts eat. Lastly, room 237 of the Overlook Hotel may have been a large part of the movie because Earth is 237,000 miles from the moon. The list of these strange occurrences goes on and on. Is all of this simple coincidence? It very well could be. However, Kubrick was known for being very meticulous while directing his movies and is said to have placed every detail in his sets intentionally.
Another cultural reference is all of the Native American furniture and decorations in the Overlook Hotel. Although it is explained that the hotel was built on an ancient burial ground, it is also assumed that Kubrick is hinting at America's history with the conflict between early American settlers and the country's native people. Throughout the movie, there is a constant theme of red, white, and blue, which is often related to America. In fact, the owner of the hotel even looks like John F. Kennedy, wearing the patriotic colors and also having an American flag on his desk and an eagle statue behind him.
In comparison, The Silence of the Lambs is less a movie about symbolisms and hidden messages. Despite this fact, I have heard that, similar to The Shining, nothing is random. In the scene when Hannibal Lecter warns Starling to not bore him with questions, he goes on to explain that a census taker once pushed him too far with questions. In response, Lecter "ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." Besides the liver/cannibalism part, this may seem like a harmless meal. However, upon further investigation, it is clear that Lecter intentionally rattled off those ingredients to the psychologist FBI trainee. Apparently, those foods could be very dangerous and potentially fatal when mixed with certain medications ranging from depression to multiple personalty disorders treatments. This is a clue that Lecter is off his meds, a very scary thought after hearing about what the psychopath is capable of.
My Discovery:
Both films hint at the fact that women are weak in comparison to men, but eventually get the last say, or, in other words, win. In The Silence of the Lambs, FBI trainee Starling is shown walking through an official building looking for her boss. When she gets into the elevator, she is very clearly the only woman, completely surrounded by much taller, buffer men. She is shown looking up while some of the men are looking down on her, as if belittling her.
Throughout the movie, she is constantly taken advantage of being of her gender. When she first speaks with Lecter, some of the other inmates say very inappropriate and crude comment about her as she walks by. One action even makes her cry, one of the oldest signs of weakness. However, by the end of the movie, Starling has found the culprit and even shoots him, killing him. This defeats the initially assumed stereotype that women are weak, as she comes out victorious. Similarly, Jack's wife, Wendy, is shown as a weak character throughout the film, constantly crying in fear of her crazy husband. When Jack is breaking down the door to the bathroom she is stashed in, she can do nothing but stand there frozen, screaming. She is clearly the victim and the weaker of the two in this situation. At the end of The Shining, Wendy is able to escape the hotel (and the clutches of her psychotic husband) with her son, Danny. Jack is then shown frozen to death. Both of these movies have an overarching theme of female triumph, showing both woman as protagonist characters who ultimately win by the end of the film.
Horror movies tend to be made for males, especially teenager males who happen to have a higher sex drive. Because of this, many of the main characters/victims are young females. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, one of the first victims is a helpless female, who also happens to be half clothed. Again, in Psycho, the victim is a pretty young woman who is slain while taking a shower. This theme occurs over and over again, however The Shining and The Silence of the Lambs were able to break from the traditional female victim path, which is quite refreshing if you ask me.
I highly recommend both of these movies, if you still want to watch them after all of that ^^^. Roger Ebert awarded both movies with four stars and I couldn't agree more. They get the viewers thinking while also putting them on the edge of their seats. Check out Ebert's reviews here:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-silence-of-the-lambs-1991
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