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Donnie Darko - What does it mean ?


Max Headroom

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Donnie Darko is on the tele tonight. I have watched the film at least a dozen times, but I dont get it. Dont get me wrong it is an excellent film but I still end up going "huh!". I must be either stoopid or thick or both. Can anyone throw any light on the subject :help:

 

Only that anyone who says they know what it means probably doesn't!!

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If you watch the DVD there's an explanation of the plot in the extras, written in the book the old woman Roberta Sparrow!? wrote. To be honest I think it was written as an after thought because people needed some sort of explanation to what was going on.

 

There's a web version of it here:

 

THIS IS A SPOILER!!!!

 

http://vecna.verge-rpg.com/darko/philosophy.html

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If you see the film again after reading that then it starts to make a wierd kind of sense :)

It was a while ago that I saw it (s'pose I'll have to sit through it again!), but I thought it was a kind of 'you can't escape fate; it's gonna get you in the end' kind of thing?

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The g/f: Well the first time I saw it, i had to watch it again as soon as it had finished, I thought that it was a great film and once i had read a few bits and bobs on the internet it made sense to me. There are so many 'theories' about different parts of the film. I don't want to write too much for those who've not seen it but just have a thrawl through google and then choose which theory you want to go along with I suppose. 5/5 for me.

 

:looney:

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I still think all the theories (even the one on the DVD) are exactly that. Why go to all the bother writing such a complicated plot just for everyone in the cinema to not understand it?

 

I think it's one of those films that just leaves it to your own imagination :)

 

That said, there's a deleted scene of a convo between Donnie and Frank that focuses heavily on the religous "holy intervention" thing...maybe the director originally planned the film to be fully explained by the end, but instead decided to just leave it to the viewer.

 

Still a top, top film either way :thumbs:

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The g/f again: I did enjoy trying to work it all out myself and I agree that that's what the y wanted, people to just make up their own minds.

 

Some of the theories are interesting though, some believable and some by people with WAY too much time on their hands!

 

I didn't rate Mulholland drive and don't say it's because I didn't 'get it' I just didn't think it was that great.

 

And yes, Donnie Darko IS brilliant (also IMO) .

 

Are you all going to be watching it tonight?

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Just take films such as Donnie Darko as pieces of art for you to draw your own conclusions and feelings from.

 

I think most of us have been brainwashed by multi-plex hollywood to expect linear stories and 1 dimensional characters. Films such as Donnie Darko allow the viewer to draw their own depths from the film :)

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A good write-up!

 

Donnie gets out to ask her if she is all right, and she whispers something to the effect of, "Every living creature on this planet dies alone,"

 

Actually I think she says "every living thing has one".... talking about the water-looking things coming out of people's chests.

 

SPOILER BELOW!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I get the impression that the Tangent universe wasn't created to prove anything to Donnie, but was created via a rip in space and time. He was chosen by god and guided via Frank and those watery looking guiding things :conf: to bring it back into existence again before it collapsed and destroyed the universe, ie.,

 

The Tangent Universe

--------------------

 

The Primary Universe is fraught with great peril. War, plague, famine and natural disaster are common. Death comes to us all.

 

The Fourth Dimension of Time is a stable construct, though it is not impenetrable.

 

Incidents when the fabric of the fourth dimension becomes corrupted are incredibly rare.

 

If a Tangent Universe occurs, it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks.

 

Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence.

 

So maybe the act of the engine falling onto Donnie from the "real" world into the tangent world seals the rip in space / time and saves everyone? :conf:

 

My head hurts.

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The watery-looking things are, IMO, the path someone is going to take in the near term - you'll note they all go in the direction people then go in. It's a representation of their timeline and I think that's alluded to in the DVD extra's book as well. Because it's all to do with timelines that makes sense to me. Donnie starts seeing them because of what's happening to him.

 

Once thing I can't work out is the old paradox - Frank gets Donnie out the house and so he survives the engine falling on his bedroom. This allows his family to go to that show thing and it's their plane that has the engine fall off which drops through the time rift and lands on Donnie in the past :blink: But if Frank didn't wake him up and save him from the engine, it'd never have fallen off into the time rift?! Even if it still fell off, the time rift wouldn't be there because Donnie hadn't accidently survived and caused the budded universe. Gah.

 

-Ian

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I will be watching it again tonight, I absolutely enjoy this "type" of film one that makes you think. I enjoyed "Brazil" by Terry Gillam and "Twelve Monkeys" with Bruce Willis. It seems I am not alone

 

G/f: I really enjoyed Twelve Monkeys too, have you seen "The I inside" ? I recommend it if you like films like the ones mentioned.

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The watery-looking things are, IMO, the path someone is going to take in the near term - you'll note they all go in the direction people then go in. It's a representation of their timeline and I think that's alluded to in the DVD extra's book as well. Because it's all to do with timelines that makes sense to me. Donnie starts seeing them because of what's happening to him.

 

Once thing I can't work out is the old paradox - Frank gets Donnie out the house and so he survives the engine falling on his bedroom. This allows his family to go to that show thing and it's their plane that has the engine fall off which drops through the time rift and lands on Donnie in the past :blink: But if Frank didn't wake him up and save him from the engine, it'd never have fallen off into the time rift?! Even if it still fell off, the time rift wouldn't be there because Donnie hadn't accidently survived and caused the budded universe. Gah.

 

-Ian

 

The g/f:

(POSSIBLE SPOILER)

 

 

 

Well IMO Donnie goes back not only to save his g/f from being run over but also to save his mother, because.... when donnie survived he "outted" the paedophile which in turn made that teacher woman not able to go to the dance show which meant his mother went in her place, when donnie goes back and chooses to die, although the paedophile gets away with it his mother is not on the plane which loses its engine, which may have crashed???

 

I couldnt find a reason in the film why the plane wouldnt have been there in the first place, so the engine was always going to crash into his room?

 

Weird isn't it how many people's lives are affected by something so small and it can be traced back to a point too - obviously Donnie sleep walking.... and not being there to be killed.

 

again, it's a great film and it's great that it gets people talking in depth about

it.

 

Oh and i agree, the wormy watery things are a persons future path. Yes. Lol. Ok.

 

Lindsey

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It makes you realise that whatever you do however small and insignificant or big and grand, you cannot change the course of your life. If its going to happen it will, whether you do something or not. OR a small incident may change everything. As an example, I was going home and met one of my friends who persuaded me to go to this party in town, I was going to say no but said yes, I went to the party and met this lass who ended up being my wife. What if I missed my friend by a minute and went home or said no i wasnt going, where would I be now but for that meeting with my friend?

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If you think Donnie Darko doesnt make sense watch Mulholland Drive or any David Lynch film.

 

Donnie Darko is brilliant in my opinion

 

Heh heh. If you think 'Mulholland Drive' or other David Lynch films don't make sense, try Tsukomoto's 'Tetsuo Iron Man', some Peter Greenaway, or Andy Warhol (the latter only if you want to be confused and bored senseless).

 

If there's one thing I love, it's a headf**k film. Lots of good stuff out there.

 

Got to love 'Eraserhead' btw, John Nance is just so odd.

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