Throughout the movie “The Shining” I had the question of: Is Tony a good character? Is he trying to help or trying to hurt? I think there can be an argument for either side. In the beginning Danny tells Dick Halloran that Tony tells Danny not to tell anyone about Tony or anything that Tony says to him. This, in my view, puts Tony in a bad connotation. Anyone who tries to hide himself or herself cannot be good. But there also times when Tony shows that he is a good being. An example is when Tony rights “redrum” on the door and then starts screaming it in order to wake Wendy up and warn her of Jack coming to kill them. Without this warning, Danny and Wendy would have definitely been murdered at the hands of Jack. Another question that I had as the movie went on was: What is Tony? And after much thought I have come up with a few answers. He could be a supernatural being that has inhabited Danny’s body. In this movie something like that would not be very strange. But also Tony could be an alter ego of Danny that Danny made up. I believe this to be the case. Danny has had a traumatic childhood between being abused by his father and having the scary visions caused by having “the shine.” I think that Danny made Tony up in order to cope. He could not explain the visions by himself and so he made Tony in order to do so. And then after a while this alter ego became a part of Danny by itself. It became a whole different being, sort of like Norman Bates in “Psycho.” Tony was always a part of Danny and at times would take over completely, just like Norman’s mother.
I think it's really interesting how you explore the aspect of Tony and who is he is to Danny within your post. I agree with you when you say it could be a number of different things. However, I disagree with your view on how you think Danny created Tony in order to cope with his past. I think due to "the shine" and the fact that Dick Hallorann knew what Tony was to Danny, that it had to be something supernatural or mentally common between them. Dick Hallorann knew what Tony was doing to Danny, therefore it wasn't a coping mechanism for Danny. It was something that had be established in the past through other individuals.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Tony can be explained as the supernatural ability in Danny. He predicts the future and is a warning of consequence. Although the idea of Tony comes off as rather frightening, we really see him in the end as a source of good. Just like you said Tony warns wendy of near by dangers by screaming "redrum" (murder said backwards) in order to wake her up from a deep sleep. In the end it can be concluded that Tony is really a good and not an evil. What ever Tony is it wants to protect Danny and the ones he love.
ReplyDeleteI like the comparison you made between Danny's alter ego Tony and Norman Bates in Psycho. Tony seems to be a whole other persona altogether, and not just something Danny made up. I wouldn't call him good or evil, but more neutral. In the scene where Wendy finds Danny with a ripped shirt, cuts and bruises, Jack says that he thinks Danny (Tony, really) did it to himself (and I wouldn't usually count on Jack to tell the truth but it seems clear that he didn't do it and he also is the closest to the "paranormal" happenings in the hotel). I'm not sure what Tony's intentions were there, besides maybe another way to alert Wendy like in the "redrum" scene. Regardless, Tony certainly has a mind of his own.
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