# Can anyone explain Donnie Darko to me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035 "2002-03-31T07:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/1 "2002-03-31T07:04:40Z")
Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/2 "2002-03-31T15:40:39Z")
I’ll take a stab at it. Needless to say, there are SPOILERS TO COME. LOTS OF THEM. DONT READ THIS IF YOU PLAN TO SEE THE MOVIE It’s a self-perpetuating time loop that is constantly repeating the events of October 2-31. On October 31, the engine falls off of the 747 passes through the time portal to October 2, crashing into Donnie’s bedroom. On the same night (31), Frank, wearing the demonic bunny suit, runs over Gretchen, killing her, and is subsequently killed by Donnie, who shoots him in the eye. Frank goes back in time and leads Donnie throught the events of the next 28 days and 6 hours, up to the point that he and Gretchen are killed, thus creating the time loop. Donnie, through his conversations with Dr. Monnitoff and by reading _The Philosophy of Time Travel_ realizes that he is actually in charge of his fate, and has the power to prevent Gretchen’s death. He finds a time portal, travels back to the night of the accident, and chooses to stay in his room and be killed rather than perpetuate the time loop that leads to the death of two innocent people. It’s about predestination vs. free will. Donnie, being the only one to see the whole picture, is able to choose his path, but the path that leads to the most good is the predestined one (which Donnie refers to as “choosing God’s channel” in his conversation with Dr. Monnitoff). Thus, though he is able to choose whether to followed his predestined path, to choose not to follow it only makes things worse. Donnie is a Christ figure. He is an innocent who knows the future, exposes a false prophet, (Jim Cunningham), and must choose to sacrifice himself to save the lives of innocents who, because they cannot see as he does, cannot save themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/3 "2002-03-31T21:31:59Z")
Thank you! I could argue the illogic of some stuff, but still, it makes more sense to me now. stoid ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/4 "2002-03-31T22:18:29Z")
You own. Thank you. And thanks also to **Stoid** for starting this thread. I rented _Donnie Darko_ last week and I’ve been percolating it fruitlessly ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/5 "2002-03-31T23:30:45Z")
I’m happy I watched it JUST for the cover of “Mad World” at the end. Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/6 "2002-04-01T01:10:38Z")
Stoid and White Lightning: Thanks. I don’t intend for this to be taken as the definitive explanation, and I’m wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few holes in my interpretation, but I think I’ve got the basics covered. I missed some of the Christ symbolism. Donnie, being guided by someone only he can communicate with, causes a flood and a holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/7 "2003-03-31T07:20:02Z")
Wait, so how does Frank know how to travel through time? He seemed to not really know what was going on when he ran over Gretchen. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/8 "2003-03-31T13:06:17Z")
Try this thread : **Daffy Darko** [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=117411&highlight=Daffy+AND+Darko](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=117411&highlight=Daffy+AND+Darko) ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/9 "2003-03-31T14:14:37Z")
That thread died an unjust death **CalMeacham**. You did good. [Side note: “daffy:” did not show up in red.] ---
**Author:** ![Exoskeleton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@Exoskeleton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exoskeleton)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/10 "2003-03-31T16:55:28Z")
Forgive me for not being up with the Bible, but what prophet does Christ expose as a fraud? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/11 "2003-03-31T19:45:07Z")
Number Six’s explanation is very close to the DVD commentary. The creators also talk about a “shard” reality that splits off and gets out of control, and Donnie brings it back to normal by sacrificing himself. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/12 "2003-03-31T21:54:38Z")
I pretty much got what **Number Six** got out of it, although I don’t think that Frank was time-traveling. Rather, I think that Donnie was getting glimpses of the future that he couldn’t properly interpret, because humans aren’t supposed to be able to perceive time like that. So when kept having “conversations” with Frank, he was actually seeing the future, and trying to incorporate it into his normal, three-dimensional perceptions. Very cool and weird movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/13 "2003-03-31T22:42:44Z")
The director’s explanation was not especially satisfying to me, but here’s what I’ve been able to put together based on the DVD commentary, _The Philosophy of Time Travel_ (also on the DVD), and the official website. Fair warning, you may be better off ignoring it – I much prefered the explanation I thought of after first seeing the movie, and I think **Number Six** ’s is better than the official one too. In fact, I consider _Donnie Darko_ a prime example of why artists should avoid explaining their work – their explanations are often worse than the ones the audience can invent for themselves. Anyway, for no discernable reason, “tangent universes” occasionally split off from the main (“real”) universe. In _Donnie Darko_, such a split occurs just a little while before the engine hits the Darko house. The bulk of the movie is set in the tangent universe. These tangent universes are unstable and cannot sustain themselves for more than a few weeks. If they collapse, they take the main universe out with them. To prevent this, someone is chosen through unknown means (by god?) to fix things. In this case, it’s Donnie. He has to send a metal object (the plane engine) from the tangent universe into the main universe. I’m not sure how this works, but the chosen one has special powers and I guess he kind of wraps the tangent universe up into the metal object and shoots it over to the main universe where things stabilize. According to _The Philosophy of Time Travel_ the metal object always ends up killing the main universe version of the chosen one, although it is unclear why this is necessary. Maybe cleaning up the tangent universe is like covering up a murder; you don’t want any living witnesses. The chosen one is the only person who will remember anything about the tangent universe. Others may have some dim impressions of what happened (that’s why Frank is rubbing his eye at the end of the movie), but no real memories of it. People who die within the tangent universe (like Frank) may become ghosts that can travel back and forth in time within the tangent universe and act as a guide to the chosen one. I’m not sure why Gretchen doesn’t play this role as well, except that maybe her ghost figured Donnie would really go off the deep end and be unable to complete his task if he started seeing visions of his girlfriend dead. Even living people in the tangent universe will unconsciously act to drive the chosen one towards the completion of his task. In _Donnie Darko_, they generally accomplish this by setting it up so Donnie is in such a wretched personal situation that he doesn’t mind sacrificing himself in the end. There are subtler ways they influence Donnie though, like how the teacher writing “Cellar Door” on the board led Donnie to be at Roberta Sparrow’s house on Halloween. It was also important that Donnie know when the plane would be overhead. That’s why Frank told him to burn down the Patrick Swayze character’s house, because that led to Mrs. Darko having to chaperone the dance trip and she told Donnie when her flight home would be. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/14 "2003-03-31T23:10:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > \*\*He finds a time portal, travels back to the night of the accident, and chooses to stay in his room and be killed rather than perpetuate the time loop that leads to the death of two innocent people. > > It’s about predestination vs. free will. Donnie, being the only one to see the whole picture, is able to choose his path, but the path that leads to the most good is the predestined one (which Donnie refers to as “choosing God’s channel” in his conversation with Dr. Monnitoff). Thus, though he is able to choose whether to followed his predestined path, to choose not to follow it only makes things worse. > > Donnie is a Christ figure. He is an innocent who knows the future, exposes a false prophet, (Jim Cunningham), and must choose to sacrifice himself to save the lives of innocents who, because they cannot see as he does, cannot save themselves. \*\* But having died, Donnie won’t be around to burn down Cunningham’s house and expose him as a pedophile. One could argue that he helps more people by exposing Cunningham. Does saving the lives of two innocent people outweigh the damage a person like Cunningham could do to people’s lives? Other than that small problem, I find Number Six’s explaination compelling… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/15 "2003-03-31T23:43:56Z")
> [@](#): > > But having died, Donnie won’t be around to burn down Cunningham’s house and expose him as a pedophile. One could argue that he helps more people by exposing Cunningham. Does saving the lives of two innocent people outweigh the damage a person like Cunningham could do to people’s lives? Well, during the big musical interlude after Donnie gets squashed like a bug, you see Cunningham sitting up in bed and weeping. I’m guessing it’s not out of guilt over what he’d been doing to kids, otherwise he wouldn’t have been doing that to kids. I think it was over what he experienced after being arrested (which wasn’t shown in the movie, but you can imagine it was really unpleasant). So as far as this character goes, I’m hoping that his “dream” of what would happen if he got busted was enough to scare him out of doing it anymore. Not as satisfying as him getting caught and punished, but if he doens’t hurt any additional people, that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/16 "2003-04-01T07:37:10Z")
There’s a deleted scene on the DVD showing Donnie in his bedroom just after he’s been killed by the jet engine, and he is impaled on part of it with his eyes still open. The imagery is that of a pieta (sorry, don’t know how to get the accent mark over that word). One of my favorite films. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/17 "2003-04-02T08:18:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > \*\* > People who die within the tangent universe (like Frank) may become ghosts that can travel back and forth in time within the tangent universe and act as a guide to the chosen one. I’m not sure why Gretchen doesn’t play this role as well, except that maybe her ghost figured Donnie would really go off the deep end and be unable to complete his task if he started seeing visions of his girlfriend dead. > \*\* Yes, but he didn’t even know Frank was a ghost. I think Frank is a much better choice than Gretchen, since he knew Gretchen, and had a relationship with her while having these visions. Plus, he would have recognized her as soon as she entered his life. Unless she was wearing some freaky mask. Are you sure the DVD explains that Darko was randomly chosen? I got the impression from the movie that he was born to have some sort of greater meaning. It just seems like he’s the center of the bazaro “alternate” universe. There’s a lot about the film that doesn’t make sense (I didn’t rent the DVD). **Number Six** Didn’t three people die? The child, mother, and Gretchen? What were the mother and father talking about in the hotel room, something about a schoolmate of theirs dieing on the way to the prom? The said he was “doomed” like they say Donnie is. Something like that? ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/18 "2003-04-02T12:24:23Z")
You know, I’ve seen this godawful movie a few times now just trying to get the “buzz”. I’ve reviewed and rehashed the commentary and what the creators were going for, etc. And I can’t find anything at all that doesn’t fit much more reasonably into the following statement: Donnie is a severely undertreated schizophrenic. Nothing more. Nothing less. There is no valid religious imagery. The boy is simply clinical, and we see the world through his eyes. As a result, our own sanity and reason makes us look for imagery where there is none. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/19 "2003-04-02T16:26:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \* > \*\* > Are you sure the DVD explains that Darko was randomly chosen? I got the impression from the movie that he was born to have some sort of greater meaning. \*\* I didn’t say it was random, I said it happened by unknown means. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FallenAngel \* > \*\* > And I can’t find anything at all that doesn’t fit much more reasonably into the following statement: Donnie is a severely undertreated schizophrenic. Nothing more. Nothing less. There is no valid religious imagery. The boy is simply clinical, and we see the world through his eyes. As a result, our own sanity and reason makes us look for imagery where there is none. \*\* The director is quite insistent in his commentary that Donnie is not schizophrenic. I think that’s a stupid thing for him to say since interpreting Donnie as a schizophrenic is perfectly consistent with the events of the movie, but apparently that wasn’t a part of the director’s artistic vision. Personally, I think if he didn’t want anyone to think Donnie was schizophrenic he should have made the movie differently rather than just telling people in the commentary that it isn’t so, but I’m crabby that way. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035/20 "2003-04-02T20:23:33Z")
If Donnie is schizophrenic, then the majority of the movie takes place in his mind, in the few moments between the jet engine falling on his room and his death. It’s not impossible, but that’s a lot of hallucination for just a few moments. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-donnie-darko-to-me/101035.md?page=2)