Donnie Darko

Post by **Lord Mhoram** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:18 am

I watched this at the Philosophy Club meeting at my school. It was fantastic. One of the best movies I've ever seen.

It reminded me a lot of Slaughterhouse-Five in that it dealt largely with the absurdity of modern culture. It used politics and pop culture as a backdrop for Donnie's psychological journey.

As for the psychological aspect, it seemed to me as if the movie posited that mental illness is the key to understanding true reality. His pyschiatrist diagnoses him as a "paranoid schizophrenic," yet the watcher of the movie sees that he is experiencing reality beyond what the "sane" experience. Do the mentally "insane" have a better grip on reality? the movie seems to ask.

There is a sequence where Donnie seems to "see" time - all the people in the room emanate this energy that precedes where they are walking (which is just Time itself, as I took it). If it is Time, then the movie is also dealing with predestination, as the walker cannot stray from the path set before him or her. But Donnie seems to do so, doesn't he? There were also no backward paths...

Which brings up time travel! Another key aspect of the movie. No backward paths indicates no moving back in time.

In addition to all these questions of time and such, the film deals with average adolescent social relationships - Donnie's relationships with his slightly detached parents, his siblings, his friends, his girlfriend.

And of course, there is Frank - the sinister-looking man in a bunny suit. Yeah, the film's a real trip. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Post by **Marv** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:35 am

its a great movie.have you been to the web-site? its amazingly cool.

EDIT: unless your some kind of super genius you wont be able to discuss how the movie fits together without going there. ofcourse you can have opinions on what its about without going there. look, just go there.

Post by **Kinslaughterer** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:43 am

Probably one of the most complicated movies. I've ever seen. Lots of symbols and metaphors....

Post by **Marv** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:50 am

www.donniedarko.com/

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:27 am

I turned this movie off after about 10 minutes.

Post by **sgt.null** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:50 am

it is a great movie. and opens up for a lot of discussion. was Donnie's ending unchangable?

Post by **Cail** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:15 pm

dlbpharmd wrote:I turned this movie off after about 10 minutes.

I've managed to sit through it twice, but I wasn't happy about it either time. I "got" the movie, I just didn't care for it.

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:32 pm

I actually think finding out about the whole idea behind the thing spoiled the film a little for me. I preferred it before I knew there was supposed to be a rational explanation for all of it.

Post by **sgt.null** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:34 pm

i dislike having it explained. more fun if its my interpetation. like finding out what some rem lyrics really are.

Post by **Lord Mhoram** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:20 pm

dennis,

was Donnie's ending unchangable?

Do you mean his death? Yes, it was unchangeable, wasn't it? How could he avoid the shifiting of Time? Even if he somehow transcended his reality and went to the other reality (where the plane crash into his room doesn't kill him), he still dies in the end, doesn't he?

Post by **Marv** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:35 pm

its complicated. as much as i can tell having gone on the website and seen the deleted scenes, Donnie, in OUR universe always died. a seperate donnie was 'created' by Frank(god) in a tangent universe to fix a paradox that had been created. if donnie had died in both our and the tangent universe the world would have ended. donnie had to be around in the tangent universe to send the 'artifact' back.thats why frank said that he had to save him.

Unfortunately, the engine killing 'real' Donnie was the side effect of Tangent Donnie saving our uninverse. When Tangent Donnie sent the engine back and killed 'real' Donnie, it made it impossible for the Tangent universe to exist in the first place, and Primary Donnie knew it when the engine crushed him in the end.

so to answer your question sarge, yes, i think Donnie did have a choice and he began to realise this towards the end of the movie.."I have to obey him...or I'll be all alone..." He sacrificed himself because he knew that if he saved himself it would just be him and frank left.

hope that was reasonably clear...im probably wrong...it is a complicated film.(some of my tenses are wrong aswell, its hard to understand what happened in the past, present or future and errr..what never happened at all.

)

my real question is how much do you think gods influence is a part of this movie? you have donnie who dies to save the world(jesus) and he is described (in one of the deleted scenes i think) as Deus Ex Machina: literally, machine of the gods.

Post by **Worm of Despite** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:07 pm

Enjoyed it the first time, though it wore thin for me after the second viewing. Wouldn't watch it a third time. A well-made film, to be sure, and I love seeing Patrick Swayze getting his ass handed to him by Gyllenhaal’s character.

Post by **sgt.null** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:03 am

Tazz: he was a man, caught in something beyond his control. i don't ascribe any powers to him. he seemed a victim of the sequence.

Mhoram : maybe he has to die because he knows too much and the universe has to correct itself?

so you either end up crazy (the old woman) or dead (Donnie & Frank)

Post by **Marv** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:24 am

the paradox had to be righted. he couldnt be alive and dead at the same time. thats what created the rupture.

also, why was he laughing at the end? ive never understood that.

Post by **Xar** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:36 am

Tazzman wrote:the paradox had to be righted. he couldnt be alive and dead at the same time. thats what created the rupture.

also, why was he laughing at the end? ive never understood that.

As I recall, a theory said that he laughs at the end because though he remembers what happened in the Tangent Universe, he took it to be a dream. Or, possibly, because he knew that, even though he was about to die, he was not alone as he thought at the beginning of the movie (because in the Tangent Universe he had learned that his parents loved him despite his actions, for example) as well as because he knew that Gretchen was alive and she would not die this time. There are also hints that his experience made him believe in God, at which point the last lines of the letter he writes to Mrs. Sparrow make sense in that he knows that, even if he dies, he'll have more to see.

Post by **sgt.null** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:50 pm

i go with him laughing because he sees the connection and realizes his part in it.

Post by **Lord Mhoram** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:23 pm

I think he laughs at the sheer absurdity of all that he has experienced and a sort of twisted joy at the knowledge and experience he's gained.

Post by **sgt.null** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:00 am

agreed.

why did Frank have to die?

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:26 pm

Donnie needed a guide, and only those who die in the splinter universe are able to influence Donnie directly.

Post by **sgt.null** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:54 pm

so he needed someone who was able to see what Donnie needed to see? how did Frank find Donnie?

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko