I'd never really thought about how discordant the movie and the book are. interesting read. I suppose this raises the debate, though: Does it matter that the book and the novel are so different?
No of course it doesn't matter. I've never read the shining, but I don't have to to appreciate how awesome the movie is. It is a masterpiece. I can see king's point, but he clearly can't watch the movie objectively like soelone who has no knowledge of the novel can. The characters act like ant in an ant farm, because the house has claimed them, except for Danny of course, who has one of the best performances by a child ever, IMO. Shining is in my top 5 favorite movies of all time, and I think it's a affront to all it's fans to say that we start with the conclusion that Kubrick is genius and work backward.