Great Character: Danny Torrance/Tony (“The Shining”)
The Great Character theme for the month: Supernatural. Today: Danny Torrance/Tony in The Shining, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson, novel by Stephen King
A child in peril is one of the truly most distressing experiences to witness. Their complete dependence and trust in grown ups to shield them from the ills of the world generates instant sympathy from anyone with even an entry-level moral conscience. With that said, when the expected adult duty to serve and protect children is selfishly violated, evil’s ugliest cousin emerges — a horrific hunter of the helpless. In The Shining, the 1980 Stanley Kubrick horror film standard written by Kubrick and Diane Johnson based on Stephen King’s third novel, 5 year-old Danny Torrance not only faces this danger, but he sees glimpses of it before and after it happens thanks to his “imaginary friend” Tony.
The Shining IMDB:
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Danny Torrance, played by Danny Lloyd, has had several issues sabotage his childhood: an alcoholic father, child abuse, steady relocation, unsteady friendships and schooling, as well as Tony — the voice of his ability to “shine,” or see the unseen. As far as children characters in cinema are concerned, we would be hard pressed to locate a youngster more complicated than the internal drawbridge between Danny the scared boy and his paranormal tour guide Tony.
DANNY TORRANCE: Tony is a little boy that lives in my mouth.
Danny’s possession by Tony includes his soft-spoken voice deepening with some harsh gloom and a bouncing puppetry pointer finger. This “day-to-nightmare” transformation also produces fearful forebodings of creepy twin girls, bloody rivers roaring from elevator doors and the eerie essence of the Overlook Hotel, Danny’s soon-to-be residence being an address of murder.
In the eyes of Danny’s parents, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall), Tony is able to masquerade as a harmless figment of Danny’s kiddie imagination. But Danny’s detrimental exposure to vicious violence has been unfortunately more expansive than they realize.
DANNY TORRANCE: Don’t worry, Mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on TV.
Danny’s medical physician also sees Danny’s Tony moments as child’s play, with a possible origin stemming from Jack Torrance’s cruel rage that Wendy has confessed to. But once Danny sets his little feet into the giant square footage of the Overlook Hotel, he finally meets an adult confidant that also possesses “The Shining,” the chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers). Dick thoroughly mentors Danny on their ability to “shine” and the potential magnitude of the malevolent mental imagery associated with the Overlook Hotel.
DANNY TORRANCE: You’re scared of Room 237, ain’t ya?
With Danny’s physical presence now in close proximity to the supernatural presence of the Overlook Hotel’s past tragedies, the unsettling visual aids only increase. Tony has clearly threatened Danny to keep these ill communications a secret. With his shine partner Dick Hallorann way back home in Miami for the winter, his irritable dad Jack Torrance having a complete breakdown and his overwhelmed mother Wendy emotionally broken by her family’s degenerative sanity, Danny’s protection from Tony’s influence is null and void.
DANNY TORRANCE: [As Tony] Danny’s not here, Mrs. Torrance … Danny can’t wake up, Mrs. Torrance … Danny’s gone away, Mrs. Torrance.
The mammoth Overlook Hotel becomes an imposing haunted house occupied with much more of the deceased than the living.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI
Danny becomes even more afraid of his father, who finds himself increasingly influenced by the much more wicked wavelength of the spiritual spectrum.
DANNY TORRANCE: You wouldn’t ever hurt Mommy and me, would you?
Tony eventually becomes completely invested in occupying Danny’s anatomy, no longer settling for the part-time participation. To make matters worse for the tirelessly tormented Wendy, Danny’s victimization from Tony and Room 237 have paralleled with her husband Jack’s total decent into ax-wielding reenactments of the previous Overlook horror show. Danny/Tony ultimately utter what has become one of the most iconic red alert proclamations in horror film mythology:
DANNY TORRANCE: Redrum. Redrum. *Redrum!*
[Wendy sees the word in the mirror which spells “murder”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLjixsUEj5E
For his vessel for futuristic fear and a past of paranoia, his search for a childhood that has been reduced to toilet paper for parental problems and his ability to embody our deepest concerns and sympathies — Danny Torrance/Tony is one completely GREAT CHARACTER in supernatural storytelling’s alternate level of living.
Wisdom sometimes emerges out of the mouths of babes and such is the case with little Danny Torrance. That whole “Redrum” motif scared me big time when I first saw The Shining. Definitely a great character for this month’s theme.
Thank you, Jason, for this post. What’s your favorite bit from the movie? Please join us in comments to discuss The Shining.
You may follow Jason on Twitter: @A2Jason.
