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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

Film Donnie Darko

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Hello everyone a few questions about the magnificent "Donnie Darko" that need some clearing up for me:
Many of you have concentrated on Donnie's life within the 28 days and the consequences of him not dying on the 2nd of October by the jet engine.
But Frank (Bunny Rabbit) near the beginning of the movie in the first dream tells Donnie: "The WORLD will end in 28 days etc" When he says this does he mean that only his life will end, why does he say the "world" will end? Or does it mean that the his "world" will end?
There is an image shown to us about 30 mins into the film where Donnie is sleeping on the couch and the image that comes up in his dream is:
"Buildings surrounded by clouds and flooded with water" <- Does anyone remember this?
Correct me if I am wrong but isnt this an image of the world ending, or a picture of the future?
And the scene at the end where Donnie is looking at the black clouds and the tornado, isnt this a storm that not only will bring the plane down but also maybe destroy their town?
Because if everyone remembers another thing that Frank the Rabbit says: "They are in great danger" <- These words were meant to be for everyone at the talent show, meaning everybody but Donnie is in danger, therefore something was drawing near that would not only effect Donnie but everyone.
For some reason I not only concentrated on Donnie's two paths of life but also the actual world "maybe" coming to an end because of a simple skip of death (Donnie not dying in his bedroom).
Other small things:
What did it mean when the asian girl runs away from Donnie at the same time dropping a book on the floor with "Donnie Darko" written on it? Does anyone remember this, what exactly does that mean?
There is more I can ask but I don't want to confuse everyone, like it was mentioned, every single person will have a different view.
Thanks.
 
Originally posted by Mr_AuDiO:

Frank (Bunny Rabbit) near the beginning of the movie in the first dream tells Donnie: "The WORLD will end in 28 days etc" When he says this does he mean that only his life will end, why does he say the "world" will end? Or does it mean that the his "world" will end?
There is an image shown to us about 30 mins into the film where Donnie is sleeping on the couch and the image that comes up in his dream is:
"Buildings surrounded by clouds and flooded with water" <- Does anyone remember this?
Correct me if I am wrong but isnt this an image of the world ending, or a picture of the future?
And the scene at the end where Donnie is looking at the black clouds and the tornado, isnt this a storm that not only will bring the plane down but also maybe destroy their town?
Because if everyone remembers another thing that Frank the Rabbit says: "They are in great danger" <- These words were meant to be for everyone at the talent show, meaning everybody but Donnie is in danger, therefore something was drawing near that would not only effect Donnie but everyone.
For some reason I not only concentrated on Donnie's two paths of life but also the actual world "maybe" coming to an end because of a simple skip of death (Donnie not dying in his bedroom).
Other small things:
What did it mean when the asian girl runs away from Donnie at the same time dropping a book on the floor with "Donnie Darko" written on it? Does anyone remember this, what exactly does that mean?
There is more I can ask but I don't want to confuse everyone, like it was mentioned, every single person will have a different view.
Thanks.
OK, now I've seen this movie three times.
*My theory is that when Frank tells Donnie that the world will end, he is talking about Donnie's world, or the world as it is.
eg. Granma Death tells Donnie that every living creature dies alone. Donnie is struggling with this existential idea.
Also, the classroom scene where Donnie's teacher (Drew Barrymore) asks him why the characters in the book destroyed the old man's house, and Donnie says "because they wanted to see what would happen when they tore their world apart." Once again he is dealing with the issue of people's personal worlds.
*I think the image of the buildings submerged in water in the sky is actually an image of the flooded inside of his school superimposed onto a sky background. It looks like lockers and stuff.
*My understanding is that the tornado is his vehicle for time travel and that it is some distance away from the town. That's why he uses the car to get there.
*I also believe that when Frank says "they are in great danger" he is referring to Donnie's loved ones who will die or be hurt if Donnie doesn't go thru with the time travel.
*And I assume that the Asian girl had Donnie Darko written on her book because she had a crush on him. this makes her all the more a tragic figure.
Also, I think the songs that play in the soundtrack have been chosen because their lyrics help explain the ideas behind the movie. Especially the song which plays in the final scenes, as it seems to sum up Donnie's feelings.
Once again, just my theories. I don't think there's a right or wrong when it comes to interpreting art.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks alot Punch, that really helped me and you thank you for having the time to go into detail.
Everything you have mentioned I understand and fully support.
Donnie Darko = Quality :)
 
I just saw this last night, so my thoughts are still brewing, but:
Why did Donnie drive out to Grandma Death's house that night? Especially if he knew what was going to happen?
At the very beginning of the movie, Donnie is on the ground next to his bicycle overlooking the hills. What had just happened?
What about the letter to the old lady? What did it say?
 
The reason he goes to grandma death's is he's just made love to Gretchin, and now needs answers, so he goes to see grandma death. He feels his life will be complete having completed those tasks.
The waking up at the start just shows that he's having these mental problems before Frank shows up.
...Or maybe not :)
Donnies letter: "Dear Roberta Sparrow, I have reached the end of your book and there are so many questions that I need to ask you. Sometimes I am afraid of what you might tell me. Sometimes I am afraid this is not a work of fiction. I can only hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to."
[ 12 February 2003: Message edited by: Nexus One ]
 
Even though this is a dead thred, I figured I'd post my views..

To the flooding and clouds comment/end of the world: Im thinking that in death the world actually does end to the perciever, right?? The school "flooded", and the "clouds" prolly was talking about the smoke from the burning house..

As for the asian girl.. She was definitely put in there, to further explain on the fear/love argument.... She is really the embodiment of peoples fear thruout the whole movie... Just as you could probably say that gretchen was the embodiement of love..

The trails coming out of the chest where pretty much directly explained in the movie.. Im suprised no one brought up all the conversations Donnie had with his science teacher.. I saw them as some of the most important dialogue in the movie... Saying that any object traveling thru space/time travels on a center of gravity, and then the chest trails are made as an example by Donnie.. He then goes on to ask that if you could see the trails you could change the path, and the teacher says no, because to be able to see them would mean that their was never a path in the first place.. Then Donnie says not if you are on God's path..

^^ I found that very ironic as he seems to acknowledge a god here, but deny it to the therapist...

Also, I realised that if Frank had never led him out the first night, he would have died in the first place, because he would have not had a reason to get up... So basically, it was my interpretation that all this was really jst to show Donnie that he died with a meaning..
 
Thanks so much for this discussion.
This is one of my favorite movies of ALL time.
It is amazing..you never can figure it all the way
out, the more you watch it, the more you see.
YAY! I'm gonna rent it again soon.
 
punch e punch: You mentioned the importance of the songs. I remember clearly towards the end, A song called "Love will Tear us Apart" by Joy Division was being played. Just those words say it all.

"love, love will tear us apart, again" - Joy Division

Someone said something about the Drew Barrymore character? I see her as bringing Gretchen and Donnie together. "sit next to the boy who you find the most cutest" Something like that. Gretchen never picked and Drew Barrymore picked for her. She put them on the "right track" so to speak.

Another thing that just occured. As Barrymore told her to sit next to the cutest, Afterwards the class laughed, Barrymore replied with "Shhh, let her CHOOSE". Gretchen clearly didn't choose, well atleast not in words. Gretchen had to be "guided" as Donnie had been throughout the whole movie. Though only Donnie had the ability to get out of that time period.
I saw the 2 teachers as spirit guides. Mentors. The educated ones. Clearly they know something but were not allowed to reveal all.

In a way, i don't think the whole tangent universe started with Donnie Darko surviving. I think it started of with Grandma Death writing the book. Something/someone triggered her to write the book setting of the course in a different direction. She KNEW Donnie would find out about time travel. She KNEW Donnie would write the letter. Donnie's world would end when he pieced the puzzle together because that was his main purpose in that Tangent universe *I can feel a flame coming up*. I think Donnie was there to write the wrong of Grandma Death and everything she shouldnt' have started.

Ok, maybe i'm getting a little too indepth here. I'll get back to my theory when i'm not buggered from work.
 
If you watch the deleted scenes with the commentary on...the director explains a lot of things that were in the movie. I've watched this movie countless times in the past few months, and here are my general thoughts on the more confusing aspects of the movie. I realize that many of them are God related and many people do not like this. But it is reveiled during the commentary that this is what the director truly did mean from the movie. I don't necessarily like it (I'm an athiest, or at least agnostic and confused).

1.) The movie was really about Divine Intervention... not just simple time travel. Obviously the whole concept of time travel is a paradox (Where would the jet engine have come from if Donnie never burnt the house down and his mother/sister were never on the plane to begin with) if you remember correctly, the jet engine comes from NO WHERE... The only answer to this is: Divine Intervention. "god" (using frank as a messenger) shows Donnie what would have happened in his life if he did not die. He is shown why it is important that he DOES die (God is just rationalizing the death of an innocent at HIS hand). Donnie DID follow god's path throughout the whole movie, in both realities, he kept saying that he had the choice to go where he pleased, but he never really did, in either reality or universe or whatever.... Donnie was guided out of the house, Gretchen, flooding the school, the fire (which caused his mother's travels/death), the gun (which caused Frank's death), to the cellar at Grandma Death's house (which caused Gretchen/Frank;s deaths), and ultimately to the hill in the car where he watched the beginning of the end of his life/alternate path.

2.) Donnie was definately not totally insane/schizophrenic (sp?). He definately had his emotional problems, but mostly he saw things the way they were. His hallucinations were real to him (shown to him by God) and not just some schizo hallucination. He was being shown his path. He was an extremely intelligent realist, which others thought him insane for. When he told the ugly bitch gym teacher that life isn't just about fare and love, he was being realistic. Humans are complex beings that don't just thrive on instinct, we have intallect and emotion driving us on every road we take.

I will add more to this when I have more time...so much more to discuss about this fantastic film.
 
1. I assume that Grandma Death ccould also see the "paths".. Hence the whole mailbox thing, and quitting being a nun to teach science.. Certainly would makee sense if you starting getting messages from god one day to make a profound switch like that.

2. The website clarifies a whole lot of things, like time travel, and untied ends... www.donniedarko.com

donnie: why do you always where that stupid bunnie suit?
frank: why do you always where that stupid man suit?
 
Also, some new insight..

With the asian girl.. Did anyone find it ironic that she always seemed to be listening in or watching Donnie as he made important discoveries?? Considering that with her innocence almost makes her seem an embodiement of a guardian angel, or god himself.. Ties in with the religious aspect of the movie, and also explains why she is included so much.. Ironically, the song she dances to at the talent show is called "Autumn Angel"..

What about the fat guy??? Was he just thrown in for humor?? That would not really explain why he showed up again later in the movie...
 
I figure it was just as a joke.. but it does a close up of him at the party, wearing the same suit, smoking, and watching the same people.
 
even more fucking commentary

sorry, i just found this movie last week, hence my over excitement...

check out the tangent universe, the book written by roberta sparrow..

This really sums up Donnie's purpose in the movie.. Frank says 28 days till the world ends.. Previously, I had assumed that it was Donnie's world that was going to end, but according to the book that goes with the movie, the actual world was going to end(something about a blackhole forming if a tangent universe collapses).

This is interesting because it now brings the purpose of Donnie's "trips" not just as an explanation of why he should die, but exactually as a "savior" of the world... It was his purpose to guide the airplane jet and kill himself, as a much larger sacrifice than I had previously thought..

This would also back up why there was so much immeadiate death in the events following the airplane engine falling, and not killing Donnie.. It showed the urgency of the need of his death..

By showing him waking up on the road the night before, it shows that Donnie was sleep walking long before Frank and tangent universes came into play.. Does this mean that Frank actually didnt lead himself into the tangent, but Donnie actually slept walked himself into it... at that point missing death and then slipping into a tangent universe.... Crazy shite.
 
silverfucked said:
What about the fat guy??? Was he just thrown in for humor?? That would not really explain why he showed up again later in the movie...
Click to expand...

I thought that was hilarious...I took it as being quite random in a movie in which everyone (and every thing) stood for something..though there may be some symbolism in his being, I haven't figured it out...
 
^^or Alice in Wonderland?

not sure if that was mentioned already, and I don't feel like reading through the whole thread.
 
I need someone to sit down and go over the basis of what makes this movie so fucking great with me, because I guess I just don't see it. I mean, it was an entertaining movie, unlike anything I've ever seen... but it just didn't make an impact on me at all. Maybe it's an age thing...
 
^^

you could just read through the 3+ pages in this thread on theories behind this movie and what makes it a cut above the rest. The symbolism, the acting, the plot, can all be read differently by each individual.

8)
 
Fat guy

The fat guy leering in the two scenes was actually the FEDS keeping an eye out on Donnie, because of the myserious jet engine that fell into Donnie's house. At least, that is what Richard Kelly said in the commentary.
 
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