I just finished watching the movie for the very first time. Excellent flick, definetely gave me a lot to think about.
I think that one of the things that the write wanted to express was how people that are more intelligent that others get looked upon by the less intelligent people who play along with everything that is fed to them by the government, church, etc. This explains drew barrymores part in the movie as well as the science teachers and the little asian girl.
Throughout the entire movie, donnie is misunderstood. Nobody could understand where he is coming from because they do not percieve reality as he does. The little asian girl is misunderstood because i'm not even sure she speaks english fluently. I think she is there to just show how majority of the people look at foreigners. Donnie is considered a schitzophrenic with delusions. Drew Barrymore (the teacher) is considered to not know how to teach and gets fired because her methods are unsatisfactory by majority standards. The science teacher refuses to discuss time travel on a more deeper level out of fear that (majority) will take away his job because those ideas that donnie suggested about god are considered irrational in his field and insane by majority. The little asian girl just wants to keep to herself because she understands that she is being judged by her appearance plus cultural divergence so because of this she wishes to block off everybody and just conentrate on her studies. I think the ear muffs covering her ears represent how she doesn't care to hear what anybody has to say because they do not understand/see her perspective + make fun of her for seeing things in the way that she does. Another reasons i think this is the case is because the only thing she sais throughout the entire movie is "shut up!", also showing how she doesn't want to hear wat anybody has to say about her anymore. Even when donnie goes to tell her everything is going to be ok, she misunderstands maybe because she might not even know english and just from being used to everybody picking on her she assumes that he is as well or perhaps she does understand english but is so used to shutting herself off to everybody else because of how she was being treated that she reacts in that way and runs off because she doesn't know what to do. So basically it could be to show what happens to people who are treated that way.
Another intersting observation i made was when the crazy teacher lady asked to donnie to put an x on love or fear when presented with a certain scenario, he goes on to say he cannot just break it down to those 2 things because it is irrational and there are other variables at play. The irony in this is that the reason donnie is treated the way he is, drew barrymore getting fired, the asian girl being made fun of, and the science teachers fear of getting fired all come from the fear side of that line on the part of the people who preach that it really is just fear and love when it comes down to it.
What i dont understand is that originally is why donnie flooded the school or burned down that guys house. The only reason he did it was because frank told him to. Had he not listened, he would not have been at the old ladies house with his girlfriend that night, and his mother would not have been on the flight.
Also, from what i understand the only reason donnie did not get hit by the engine the first time is because frank appeared to him and told him the his world was going to end at a certain time. So he did not choose to avoid dying, it happened by chance. Therefore it was not his fate to die. So him not dying was not him avoiding his fate resulting in him losing his family as a result of doing so. Perhaps it was franks fate to die at the hands of donnie because he is a disturbed violent individual that burned down a house and flooded the school, maybe that is why is he is on pills at the beginning of the movie. Not because he hallucinated frank or watever. At the end of the movie donnie realizes that he doesnt want anything to happen because of his violent actions and his only way out of committing all those acts that result in everybody getting killed including frank is to get hit by the plane. Basically god or some sort of higher power is giving him a chance to not kill all those people by creating a time rift that will cause a plane engine to come into his room. He is then shown his fate, flooding of the school, killing frank because he ran over his girl, and burning down that guys house. He didnt do it in order to expose the guy, he is not even sure why he is doing it when he is doing it maybe it is just because he does not like the guy. So the higher power sais, here is fate, everybody has one. I'm giving you a chance to change yours but you will have to let yourself die.
blah... random thoughts...
anyway... i'm really friggin tired and um, i'm sorry if some of this reply doesn't make much sense. I'm too tired to proofread or write more. Maybe i will later......
peace and much love,
- Trails604 -