Film Donnie Darko

[NESSxix]

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To Answer number two:
"Chut Up!"

 

[Ludikruz]

like i said.. alot of what you guys are contemplating is explained in the book that goes with the movie

 

[Big boy]

Originally posted by cravNbeets:
Edit:
I've watched it about 4 times and I have a few questions if anyone would care to field them.
1. Is the jet engine that falls in Donnie's room from the plane that his mom and sister are on? If so did the mom and sister die on the "second" 10.30.88 even after Donnie sacrafices himself?
2. Does anyone have any ideas on what the fat Asian girl is supposed to symbolize? I get the idea that she is supposed to symbolize purity and innocence. Where as the two trouble making youths represent the opposite. Fear and love spectrum maybe?
3. What in the name of God is the point of Drew Berrymore's role? Aside from her helpful cellar door comment she seemed to serve no purpose and waivered in between a good and bad character.
I've got a million more ????s I really liked this flick but I would be lying my ass off if I said I totally understood it
[ 09 September 2002: Message edited by: cravNbeets ]
1: no, because the reason his mother went to star search with the dance team was because the coach stayed. the coach had to go to Patric Swazys child pornography trial. since Donnie died he couldn't burn down his house the police didn't find the kiddie porn. BUT the sister might have died because the coach could have also taken the "red eye" flight home.
2: she's a fat asian chick deal withit
3: she was the producer of the movie, she wanted a little action too.
[ 10 September 2002: Message edited by: Big boy ]

 

[cravNbeets]

Originally posted by Big boy:

1: no, because the reason his mother went to star search with the dance team was because the coach stayed. the coach had to go to Patric Swazys child pornography trial. since Donnie died he couldn't burn down his house the police didn't find the kiddie porn. BUT the sister might have died because the coach could have also taken the "red eye" flight home.
2: she's a fat asian chick deal withit
3: she was the producer of the movie, she wanted a little action too.
[ 10 September 2002: Message edited by: Big boy ]
Obviously the mom wasn't on the plane. That was an error in my question. Thanks for entertaining my theory tho.
As for the answer to my last 2 ?'s I asked if anyone had any theories on the characters' sybolyism.
Saying "fat asian chick, deal w/ it" and "she wanted a piece too" does not really qualify as analysis.
I had some legit questions, anyone have some legit answers?
[ 11 September 2002: Message edited by: cravNbeets ]

 

[NESSxix]

Alot of Drew Barrymoore's scenes were cut from the movie. if you get the dvd, it shows alot of drew's scenes that were cut. it adds a little more to the movie.

 

[Physix Media]

Originally posted by cravNbeets:

Obviously the mom wasn't on the plane. That was an error in my question. Thanks for entertaining my theory tho.

The mother WAS on the plane... at least in the 'alternate future'... the wing on the plane that killed Donnie Darko was the wing that the mother and little daughter was on in the future...
there was a time rift... and depending on the author's take on time travel and "changing the past", you can argue that one never REALLY changes the past during time travel rather it creates a 'splinter' effect....
the time rift was there, regardless of what Donnie Darko did or the parents or whoever... so it COULD be said that it wouldn't matter WHO was on the plane...
OR you could say that there is a 'time loop' between two alternative realities bridging them...
OR you could say that the 'second ending' where he goes back in time and stays in bed when he KNOWS what's going to happen creates a diverging reality...
In that theory, the denizens of the 'original reality' are still living in the fact that the bunny guy is dead, the mother is dead, the little sister is dead, the girl is dead and now, Donnie Darko is missing...... and this new diverging reality veers off the path of the 'original timeline' and Donnie is dead... but everyone else is alive....
I haven't listened to the DVD section where the director explains things, so i don't know what his take is on time travel ... or even if it was time travel to begin with ...
-physix

 

[Physix Media]

Originally posted by Big boy:
what Donnie Darko character are you
Booger!
I'm Gretchen fuckin' Ross....
I rather be Donnie, so I could jerk off and knwo that i am touching a FLY ASS MUH FUCKA!!!
heh!
ahem!
-physix

 

[aristofenes]

"Donnie Darko" satirizes the superstition of god, religions and cults by showing that they are man's flawed inventions.
Religions and cults attempt to fit man into whatever doctrines and outlook they have concocted and codified into bibles, tablets or whatever. That is revealed in "Darko" when the teacher tries to get Darko to put an "X" into her diagram between Love and Fear. Darko refuses and says that the answer to her question is too complex to be scaled down to an "X" between two points on a blackboard.
Darko is telling the teacher that Jim Cunningham's cult (and by extension all godly systems) cannot be simplified by "X's." Religions and cults consist of systems with doctrines and a particular place for man within those systems. "Donnie Darko's" message is that there is no system in which man can or should be neatly placed.
When Darko visits the psychiatrist she puts words into his mouth by bringing the idea of god into his thoughts and by putting god language into his mouth, when god-thoughts are furthest from his mind. "Donnie Darko" is about the fact that god and god-talk is nothing but man's invention (in this case, the psychiatrist's)--not the other way around.
Not to say that Donnie isn't familiar with religious terminology as when he laughingly calls Cunningham an "antichrist" to his face.
This is like General Bush placing North Korea, Iran and Iraq into a pseudo-religious belief system of "good and evil," and trying to shove it down American throats and down the world's throats. Except that the reasonable world and reasonable Americans like a Donnie don't buy it.
That may be why "Donnie Darko" got little recognition. It's too subtle or too blasphemous for simple American minds like those of the religious right, who happen to be Bush's biggest and blindest supporters.

 

[cravNbeets]

^^^Excellent insight and interpretation. Doesn't Donnie directly tell his shrink that he doesn't believe in a god? I can't remember the exact words but I'm pretty sure he does.
Well done

 

[aristofenes]

Thanks cravNbeets.
I don't remember the entire dialogue with the shrink either. And I can't find the screenplay online. Eventually, hopefully someone will post it on one of the screenplay sites.
aristofenes

 

[cravNbeets]

DD: "I don't even question it. It's absurd"
Shrink: The search for god is absurd?"
DD: "It is if we all die alone"
I think that's pretty close

 

[aristofenes]

Thanks for the words, J.D.
To me, they are the words of a remarkable script, and then some:
psychiatrist --The search for god is absurd?
Donnie --It is if we all die alone.
Thanks again,
Bob

 

[Dtergent]

I guess Grandma Death cheated her death? That's what I think. Not cheated, but didn't concede to it like Donnie did. Perhaps because his continued life held much more negative impact on people surrounding him.
I really loved this movie.

 

[Lingo]

^^
Grandma Death didn't have much of a life to begin with. She too could see the "fate bubbles" that Donny could see. She knew that her fate was to wait for the letter. If she hadn't been at the mailbox that night, Frank's car would have never swerved to hit Donnie's girlfriend.
Adios,
Steve

 

[Righty1776]

Though i don't like my movies always spelled out for me, i am hesitant to say i liked this Donnie Darko simply because it was too confusing. I haven't seen it in months so i can't even remember most of it but u know what i'd love? For someone to give a rundown of the movie with it's twists and turns of the plotline. To really explain it. Arisofenes did a good job of explaining some of it with a clear, level-headed approach. I challenge anyone to do the same for the rest of the movie. It would be appreciated

 

[Dtergent]

I don't think anyone ever sees this movie in the same way. It's gonna be different for every single person, in my opinion.
Like one of my friends said, "I was sure as shit about the story right after I watched it. But once I started talking about it with other people, I got really confused."

 

[Nexus One]

I'm Donnie!
Rock!
[ 03 November 2002: Message edited by: Nexus One ]

 

[alasdairm]

i hear from my friends across the pond that DD finally opened in UK theatres. go see it
alasdair

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

^^ it opened in London theatres only, last weekend and is still not on general release. As soon as I see a showing near me, I'm there!!

 

[bdreligrrl]

I finally saw Donnie Darko last night. Now I know what all the hype and praise was about... wow. That movie was insane. Amazing, even. And between conversations I've had about it, reading the various opinions/revelations in this thread, and just thinking about it nonstop all day, I basically have an understanding of most of it - but as someone already stated, everyone is going to view the movie somewhat differently. And I like that about it.
Oh, and someone mentioned that maybe the mother and little sister died anyways... No way. While it WAS a piece of their plane that went thru the time rip and traveled back a month to kill Donnie, this action caused the month to replay itself. Therefore, everything happened differently and they weren't on that plane. Every action in life, no matter how small, affects what comes after that, and after that, and so on. Donnie's death changed the course of countless lives in this movie, because he accepted his fate, didn't try to change it, and therefore didn't alter the fates of those around him (i.e. they only died because he didn't).
Okay now I'm just rambling... anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet needs to see it again. It's a mind-fuck and a half, but in a GOOD way.
Peace ~Katie