The Power of Illusion Isolation has a very powerful effect on some people, and an extreme case of this is shown in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining. The name alone tends to scare me as scenes of Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) flash through my head. When the story of a prior family that served as winter overseers for the Overlook Hotel, during which time the husband became insane, is told we hear Jack reply, "You …showed first 75 words of 1016 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1016 total…this maze before. The cycle of this evil hotel and its former overseer had been broken, but would other families crack under the same circumstances? The final image of truth and illusion is done beautifully and leaves the audience thinking again. We are given a look at a picture of the 1921 Fourth of July ball, where Jack is the life of the party. Was it reality, or just the illusion and shining of the house?