All these years after its release, debates around Donnie Darko's true meaning rage on.
Some elements can be adequately explained, while others are ambiguous and ripe for interpretation.
We're here to offer insight — and lots of spoilers — on both fronts.
Separating Donnie Darko's deeper meaning from its surface-level narrative is crucial to
understanding the ending.
Superficially, it's the story of wide-eyed teenager Donnie, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Throughout the film, he struggles to fit in with his peers.
From the get-go, Donnie seems to suffer from delusions.
Combined with a track record of unruly behavior, regular therapy sessions, and medication,
it's heavily implied that Donnie is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
"Donnie is experiencing what is commonly called a 'daylight hallucination.'"
Beyond the typical challenges of adolescence, Donnie is plagued by disturbing hallucinations
of a six-foot rabbit named Frank.
He drinks, rebels, and falls in love with one of his classmates, Gretchen Ross, played
by Jena Malone.
He also has a love-hate relationship with his parents, Rose and Eddie, played by Mary
McDonnell and Holmes Osborne, and his sisters, Samantha and Elizabeth, played by Daveigh
Chase and Jake Gyllenhaal's real-life sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
But Donnie's hallucinations are part of a tangent universe where doomsday is coming,
and time travel is real.
Using this outlandish premise, director Richard Kelly's cult classic simultaneously tackles
themes of fate, religion, sacrifice, love, loss, and loneliness.
Let's take a closer look at The Philosophy of Time Travel.
It's the book given to Donnie by his science teacher Kenneth Monnitoff,
The book was written in 1944 by wispy-haired Roberta Sparrow, portrayed by actress Patience
Cleveland.
Sparrow used to be a science teacher at Donnie's school, years before she was known as Grandma
Death.
The only way to make any sense of the text is by reading excerpts directly.
"It's called The Philosophy of Time Travel."
"What does philosophy have to do with time travel?"
"And guess who wrote it?"
Helpfully, the 2003 Director's Cut DVD included text from the fictitious book.
The text provides a number of technical terms relating to the two different dimensions Donnie
Darko takes place in — the Primary Universe and the Tangent Universe.
The Primary Universe is the universe we live in.
The Tangent Universe is a carbon copy of the Primary Universe, which forms when there's
a glitch in the Fourth Dimension of Time.
"Duh."
"Heh."
"Excuse me, no 'Duh' is a product of fear."
In the film's timeline, this glitch occurs shortly before the jet engine crashes into
the Darko household on October 2, 1988.
That's when Donnie first sees Frank in his dreams.
After saving Donnie's life by guiding him away from his house, Frank makes a prophetic
warning: In 28 days , six hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds, the world will end.
"Why?"
Here's the reason why: Tangent Universes are "highly unstable" and only exist for a few
weeks.
Eventually, they collapse on themselves.
According to The Philosophy of Time Travel, they form
"... a black hole within the Primary Universe, capable of destroying all existence."
The events in the Tangent Universe that occur from October 2 to October 31 transpire away
from the Primary Universe's timeline.
In effect, the Primary Universe is "on hold" during the Tangent Universe's existence, which
explains the glitch in the Fourth Dimension of Time.
Got all that?
Fortunately, there's a way the universe can be saved.
The Artifact — which, in this case, is the jet engine — is the key.
The Tangent Universe is a like-for-like copy of the Primary Universe.
The Artifact is an exception that materializes spontaneously after a Tangent Universe is
formed.
This object, made of metal, is erroneously copied twice, and it's the first sign that
a Tangent Universe has formed.
It's the only difference between the two universes and it disrupts the natural order of things.
"I'm not following you."
You see, in order for the Tangent Universe to collapse safely after its twenty-eight-day
lifespan, it must be identical to the Primary Universe — so the Artifact needs to leave
the Tangent Universe before it can collapse.
The only way to remove the Artifact from the universe is to send it through a time portal
back to the Primary Universe.
To save the universe, someone living inside the Tangent Universe must transfer the Artifact
back in time to October 2nd, 1988.
To clarify, there are actually three jet engines in Donnie Darko.
Jet Engine 1 belongs in the Primary Universe, still attached to its airplane.
The Tangent Universe forms, containing Jet Engine 2 and Jet Engine 3.
Jet Engine 2 is correctly attached to the duplicated airplane, which Donnie's mother
and sister travel on later in the film.
Jet Engine 3 is the anomaly: With nowhere to go in the Tangent Universe, it crashes
into the Darko family's house — but Frank manages to save Donnie.
Jet Engine 2 is later torn from the airplane and sent back to the Primary Universe, killing
Donnie.
By the end of the film, the Primary Universe contains the identical Jet Engine 1 and Jet
Engine 2.
But because the Primary Universe is stable, it's able to withstand the anomaly of two
identical objects.
Donnie Darko is chosen as the Living Receiver, and his mission is to return the Artifact
to the Primary Universe.
Why was Donnie chosen?
Well, as The Philosophy of Time Travel conveniently states:
"...no one knows how or why a Receiver will be chosen..."
"You call this clarity?"
The Philosophy of Time Travel states that the Living Receiver is blessed with "Fourth
Dimensional Powers," including, quote, "enhanced strength, telekinesis, mind control, and the
ability to conjure fire and water."
Knowing this helps explain how Donnie was able to succeed in his mission.
But these powers come with a cost — the Living Receiver also experiences hallucinations
and terrifying dreams.
"Who is he going to kill, Donnie?"
"I can see him right now!"
It's not only the Living Receiver who's affected.
Those who are close to Donnie subconsciously guide him along on his mission, often acting
erratically.
Other than Donnie, all the other characters fall into one of two categories: the Manipulated
Living, or the Manipulated Dead.
Most characters in Donnie Darko fall into the first category, "the Manipulated Living."
They have an important job but know little of it, subconsciously helping Donnie along
his journey.
"I guess people are just born with tragedy in their blood…"
Donnie's fate is to kill Frank, portrayed by actor James Duval, by shooting him through
the eye.
After Frank is killed, he becomes one of the Manipulated Dead.
This is crucial.
Without Frank as a guide, Donnie would have no warning, and no indication of his role
in saving the universe.
Anyone killed in the Tangent Universe becomes one of the Manipulated Dead.
Their in-universe death makes them more powerful than the Manipulating Living.
This is presumably because their spirits move beyond the material world to a metaphysical
dimension, while they remain alive in the suspended Primary Universe.
They're capable of time travel and, unlike the living, have conscious knowledge of the
threat of universal annihilation.
Frank's influence is obvious.
"Why do you make me flood the school?"
"You're in great danger."
He commands Donnie to flood the school and burn down Jim Cunningham's house.
Every action that Frank encourages has very significant consequences.
Kenneth Monnitoff helps Donnie discover his purpose by discussing wormholes, portals,
and the feasibility of time travel before.
Fellow teacher Karen Pomeroy, portrayed by Drew Barrymore, plays Cupid between Gretchen
and Donnie, giving Gretchen this bizarre instruction:
Sit next to the boy you think is the cutest.
Quiet!"
After she's fired, she opts for more overt tactics, like writing "Cellar Door" on the
chalkboard.
Well, after leaving a Halloween party, Donnie opens a cellar door.
"Cellar door!"
"What?"
But after opening the door, he bumps into bullies Seth and Ricky.
Why are they there?
Because they are among the Manipulated Living.
Once they've dragged Donnie and Gretchen outdoors, the pieces are in place for Frank's arrival.
Frank swerves his car to avoid Roberta Sparrow and ends up running over Gretchen.
The events in the Tangent Universe imply something, or someone, is orchestrating everything behind
the scenes.
Graffiti outside Donnie's school reads, "They made me do it," but who are "they"?
In the DVD commentary, director Richard Kelly explains that the force, in essence, is God.
Throughout the film, God is represented in the form of a glowing tunnel.
During therapy, Donnie refers to the tunnels as:
"Workers… assigned to each one of us."
These "workers" first appear In Donnie's house, leading Donnie to his parents' room, where
he finds the gun he eventually uses to kill Frank.
During therapy, Donnie opens up about his fear of dying alone.
Without discovering God, it sounds highly unlikely he would have ever sacrificed himself.
"The search for God is absurd?"
"It is if everyone dies alone."
However, Donnie's direct communication with God, in the form of the aforementioned workers,
comforts him.
Donnie utters a phrase to Seth when Frank's speeding car saves him from the knife-wielding
bully:
Deus ex machina."
"What did you just say?"
"Deus ex machina" is in reference to a plot device used in fiction when an unexpected
event saves a hopeless situation.
However, its translation "God from the machine" has a different implication: Donnie knows
Frank's arrival is part of God's plan.
As they take a stroll through the park, Gretchen asks Donnie:
"What if you could go back in time, and take all those hours of pain and darkness, and
replace them with something better?"
That comment seems innocent at the time, but remember: Gretchen is one of the Manipulated
Dead, since she dies in the Tangent Universe.
She was nudging Donnie towards his fate.
"What if you could go back in time and take all those hours of pain and darkness, and
replace them with something better?"
After shooting Frank, Donnie carries Gretchen's body to his house, stops off to kiss a sleeping
Elizabeth on the head, then drives the family car to Carpathian Ridge.
An ominous twister-like cloud forms.
But what happens next?
As the plane his mother and sister have both boarded travels towards the cloud, Donnie
chuckles.
On first viewing, it's unclear that he's using telekinesis, a power given to him as the Living
Receiver, to rip the engine from the plane and send it through the portal, back in time
to the Primary Universe.
The natural order of the universe is thus restored, which means the Tangent Universe
can collapse safely, as Frank's countdown reaches zero.
This collapse is symbolized by the past 28 days played in reverse.
Donnie's voiceover reads aloud from the letter he sent to Roberta Sparrow:
"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."
The narrative then returns to the Primary Universe, last seen at the beginning of the
film before Donnie is woken up by Frank.
Donnie sits up in bed, hysterically laughing.
Then Jet Engine 2, sent back in time from October 30, crashes into his room and Donnie
is killed.
"Donnie Darko.
What the hell kind of name is that?
It's like some sort of superhero or something."
"What makes you think I'm not?"
In the end, Donnie Darko is a superhero story.
When he wakes up in bed after successfully returning the Artifact, Donnie laughs because
he's saved the universe, and saved the lives of Gretchen and Frank.
His impact reaches further into the Primary Universe, too, with characters later recollecting
key moments from the Tangent Universe.
In The Philosophy of Time Travel, it's said that when the Manipulated Living and Dead
wake up in the Primary Universe,
"they are often haunted by the experience in their dreams."
In other words, they experience a vague recollection of events living on in their subconscious.
In one of the most fitting choices for movie soundtracks, an acoustic cover of Tears for
Fears' "Mad World" plays, which notably includes the line: "The dreams in which I'm dying are
the best I've ever had."
It's an apt reference to Donnie Darko, the troubled teen who sacrificed his life to protect
the universe, and whose heroism is only vaguely remembered in the dreams of all the people
he saved.
Tune in next time, when Looper weighs in on the many merits of performance-art troupe
Sparkle Motion.
"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion."
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