What I reckon was going on in Donnie Darko….

July 19, 2005

What I reckon was going on in Donnie Darko….

Donnie Darko: You know you’ve seen something special as the Mad World montage rolls - you feel a rise in emotion as Donnie lies still in the crushed remains of his bedroom - the credits cascade and there is a feeling that you’ve been taken somewhere over the last few hours and as a result you know more about what’s going on in your life - but still you can’t explain what the hell just happened ....

In the end, due to the many ways of reading the films events, what you want it to mean is the most important thing - as long as it said something to you. Me personally I’d summarise as such: Donnie’s mission is to return the metal artefact that has passed through the walls of time (creating a tangent universe) back to reality. If he fails to do so, the universes structure will collapse, with a black hole sucking everything into oblivion after the allotted time span has elapsed (28 days etc etc) - reason being tangent universes do not hang around too long and are very unstable.

For Donnie to realise his purpose, he is helped by messages sent via a ”higher power” in the form of Frank, as he unconsciously flicks destinies switches to pattern a series of butterfly effects to occur that will eventually allow him to realise his powers and what he must ultimately do. As demonstrated by the freaky tubes of water emanating from the chests of those within the tangent universe (who are not consciously aware of events) - people have a preordained path in life to follow within the dimensions of time and reality (ref the conversation with Noah Wyles science teacher) - However, Donnie can see these paths and more importantly change them - by virtue of Frank he can ”see God’s path” and change the future.

Seeing as we are dealing with a tangent universe here and not reality, anyone that dies within it will not have their soul passed to the other side, they aren’t really dead, they are asleep, therefore that means that Frank will become the ”manipulated dead” when Donnie shoots him - allowing him to be used as a vessel for the messages from the higher power and travel back and forth within the time period of that universe. Donnie has to kill him later on for him to help him at the beginning and save his life.

The main thing that I am unsure of myself about is with the death of Gretchen - how does her death enable him to complete his quest? my main assumption is that she acts as a messenger to Donnie in the same way as Frank, but with more subtlety - the directors cut shows more of their relationship and she does indeed have a huge effect on his life - she is a gift to him in a sea of uncertainty - he’s got to see the good in the world in order to want to ultimately want to save it - perhaps if she wasn’t in his life he wouldn’t believe he could fly (as this is what happens unseen in the end - he flies up and rips the engine from the plane - throwing it back through the portal - his powers of flight are alluded to by the axe in the statue) and that she dies means he is willing to risk everything to save reality - as this is the only way to save her.

Once the engine is returned, the unstable tangent universe is shut (and so also shutting out the possibility of a Black Hole that occurs when tangent universes collapse) and all awake from a fiercely lucid dream - little realising that this dream was reality in another dimension.

The engine falls upon and kills Donnie tragically - his death isn’t required for events to continue - at the beginning Donnie cheats death when Frank calls to him - but here in reality there is no Frank to rescue him (although the beeping car horn is a distant attempt - Frank is his sisters boyfriend dropping her off). The future has already been changed due to the insights that all those who awake from the dream now possess - the engine is the only evidence that any of what they dreamt took place at all - and, bear with me here, it won’t happen again in the future as it has already taken place.

In a way Donnie is a little biblical in character, rescuing humanity and sacrificing himself in the process, but safe in the knowledge that he is not alone when he dies and therefore doesn’t need to be afraid - Donnie has seen the proof he has always been searching for in Frank, the dream in which he dies becomes the best he ever had, he is a super hero and he rescues us all.

Lastly you may be thinking that far too much of the meaning behind Donnie Darko seems hidden in the psyche of those that have interpreted it and the mind of the director and writer (one and the same) Richard Kelly. You have to remember though, that we live in changing times and that the experience of this film is not upon the cinema screen alone - it’s across many channels - it makes us ask so many questions that we delve into many forms of communication in order so that we may find the answers - internet, literature (read Graham Greens The Destructors), music, religion, science and fantasy - furthermore it leads us to communicate with one another in an attempt to fathom our understanding of the events - not only of the film but of life itself.....

Whoa..........

what famous old book does that sound like (yeah alright, I know - I’m pushing it here)

Of course it could just be a really cool tale of teenage angst, accidental time travel and getting the girl while listening to a quality soundtrack.....

and I might of smoked too much of the good stuff while watching it....

but as Clarence in True Romance says… THAT was a fucking movie!

Spo | July 19, 2005