Shining Vale: Every Literary Reference (So Far)
Warning: Contains spoilers for Shining Vale episode 2.
The horror-comedy series Shining Vale draws heavily on some classic horror, particularly Stephen King; however, there are plenty of other literary references and easter eggs in every episode that all serve their own purposes. As Shining Vale delves into the world of horror, hauntings, and psychosis, it is extremely self-aware of its place in the horror genre. As a genre that is often looked down on by literary critics, but was also born in its current form from the Gothic traditions from writers like Horace Walpole with his The Castle of Otranto, and later the works of Edgar Allen Poe, the combination of literary references and an irreverent horror series is well put together.
Shining Vale follows Pat Phelps (Courteney Cox) and her family as they relocate from Brooklyn to Connecticut in the wake of her affair as her husband, Terry (Greg Kinnear), tries to forgive her. As a writer, Pat had huge success with her novel, Cressida Unbound, 17 years ago and there’s some dispute among the characters as to whether the novel was erotica or a story of female empowerment. Pat is now trying to write her next novel having suffered from 7 years of writer’s block but is also having to face the fact that her house might be haunted.
Related: Shining Vale: Every Easter Egg & Reference To The Shining (King & Kubrick)
It’s perhaps no surprise that Shining Vale includes plenty of references to other works of fiction as the series itself appears to be based on a reimaging of an older work. Many of the themes and imagery used in Shining Vale are reworked from Stephen King’s The Shining and the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation but are reexamined through a modern-day and female lens. Combined
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