The quotation from a BBC interview is, “Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.”
I think King was wrong. Wendy outwits Jack and saves her son. Yeah she screams a lot but that seems pretty realistic to me. When push comes to shove and she can no longer deny what is happening, she shows a lot of strength and intelligence. The idea that she is "just there to scream and be stupid" just does not match up with what the movie actually shows.
Yea I disagree with King here. He wants Wendy to be strong but IMO it’s such a better story with her as this hopeless character who’s dealing with crap way over his head. It makes the story into a classic Greek tragedy.
Highly recommend watching "room 237" a documentary about the shining, some of it veers into speculation but one interesting take was that Kubrick in the film specifically lets Stephen King know that this is his vehicle(the movie) and is quite subtle about the message.
Stephen King has always been bitter that Kubrick made a movie that was better than his book, while inverting the moral of the book.
King's come around by saying basically it is a good movie but a bad adaption, and he's not wrong. They're two different stories with different characters.
What would you say is the moral of the book?
Thats a lot for sure but I really dont think the number of takes shows abuse or not. I dont have an opinion on any alleged abuse of Duvall either way, because it just doesnt matter enough for me to form an informed opinion. Regardless the number of takes and the opinion of the author certainly dont mean much.
He was probably talking about the story. In the book, Wendy is supposed to be strong, not one to be pushed around. In the movie, it's the total opposite.