The Parallelism of Kubrick and Kate

Stanley Kubrick and Kate Bush are two of the most important and influential artists of the 20th Century. Despite this, Kubrick is not renowned for his singing or dancing. Similarly, having recently laboured through Bush’s 1993 self proclaimed ‘load of bollocks’, The Line, The Cross and the Curve, it’s safe to say that she is not synonymous with film making. Yet both of these artists have so much in common it’s astonishing that everyone isn’t talking about it, like, all of the time. According to comedian Michelle Wolf, ‘Blogs are a conversation that no one wanted to have with you’. That observation has never been more applicable than to this red hot topic.

A Pair of Reclusive Eccentrics

The media love labels, and especially love labelling artists who don’t fit neatly into their preconceived notion of celebrity. For many years, Kubrick and Bush were branded eccentric recluses. This was due, in part, to any or all of the following reasons:

• Both preferred to keep their private lives private. 
• Both harboured a well documented fear of flying and rarely worked outside of the UK.
• Both lived in sedate, countryside estates rather than the obvious celebrity hubs; Kubrick lived in Hertfordshire while Bush currently resides in Devon.
• Both allowed very few outsiders into their inner circle, preferring to work with family members and others who demonstrated intense loyalty and devotion. 
• Both required take after take of a performance, in order to capture a specific mood or feeling, and both meticulously sculpted their work during the editing process.
• Both maintained a veil of secrecy around their projects until they were completed, facilitated by an unprecedented lack of studio interference. Kubrick had achieved autonomy as early as 1968, while Bush, ten years later, enjoyed more artistic freedom than any 19 year old signed to a major label should. By 1982, she was writing, performing, producing and mixing the majority of her music in her backyard studio. Kubrick also built an editing suite in his house, and both worked long hours with no clear distinction between their home life and their job. In Kubrick’s case, he literally worked himself to death. 
• Although they are both widely regarded as geniuses and leaders in their field, there are plenty of people who find it hard to sit through either of their works. Kubrick and Bush, despite their fame and popularity, are acquired tastes.

Synchronistic Subject Matter

Throughout their careers, Kubrick and Bush shared more than a passing interest in many of the same topics. For instance:

• ‘Babooshka’ and Eyes Wide Shut share a common theme of infidelity and the wearing of masks.
• ‘Breathing’ and Dr. Strangelove share a fascination with nuclear war. 
• In 1996, Bush recorded a cover of the Irish folk song, ‘Mna Na Heireann’. Kubrick used an instrumental rendition of the same song in 1975, as the main theme of Barry Lyndon.
• ‘Pull Out The Pin’ calls to mind the final scene of Full Metal Jacket, when the Viet Cong sniper comes face to face with her enemy.
• The heist-gone-wrong noir theme is prevalent in Bush’s ‘There Goes a Tenner’ and Kubrick’s The Killing; the final scene of both ending on the image of bank notes fluttering in the breeze.

The Use of Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’ as Source Material

Both Kubrick and Bush adapted texts from a variety of genres. Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and The Shining were all relatively faithful to their source material, while Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut were inspired by 'Red Alert', 'The Short-Timers' and 'Dream Story' respectively. Bush’s most well known adaptations are, of course, 'Wuthering Heights' and 'The Red Shoes', but her back catalogue is full of songs inspired by books, film and television. These include:

• ‘In Search of Peter Pan’ - Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie
• ‘The Wedding List’ - The Bride Wore Black
• ‘The Infant Kiss’ - The Innocents
• ‘Cloudbusting’ - A Book of Dreams, Peter Reich
• ‘The Sensual World’ - Ulysses, James Joyce

By all accounts, Bush was inspired to write ‘Get Out Of My House’ after reading The Shining. In an interview following the album’s release, not only did she refer to the novel as having had an influence on her lyrics with its cold, empty hotel imagery, she also cited Alien as inspiration - it’s characters isolated and hunted by something that’s ‘not very nice’. With her obvious interest in horror, it’s safe to assume that she had seen Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation also. The song itself is the product of multiple ideas and influences:

I hear the lift descending

I hear it hit the landing

I see the hackles on the cat standing

These lyrics call to mind both The Shining and Alien. The following lyrics also lean heavily towards The Shining as inspiration:

This house is full of my mess

This house is full of mistakes

This house is full of madness

And these could easily have been spoken by Jack Torrance himself during his axe wielding homicidal maniac phase:

Woman let me in

Let me bring in the memories

Woman let me in

Let me bring in the Devil Dreams

However, for all its similarities to The Shining, it’s fairly apparent that the house in this song is a metaphor for a person, wanting to be left alone. At the end of the track, she sings of her stubborn refusal to be bound by another:

I will not let you in

I face towards the wind

I change into the mule

The sound of her braying might be a direct reference to Kubrick’s final scene in the film, in which Jack chases Danny through the hedge maze. His cries of ‘Danny!’ devolve into a roar, sounding more like a Minotaur than a man. Or perhaps, even, a donkey.

Think I’ve missed an obvious connection between Stanley Kubrick and Kate Bush? Drawn too long of a bow with the whole concept? Spent far too much time thinking about such trivialities while the world is in turmoil? Your comments and opinions are eagerly awaited below.