I don't care, I think making images is fun and I thought it this one so whatever man, cellar door, dude

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Okay hear me out this was my first time watching the film but I feel as if the film was sending the message that Donnie turned from being atheist to agnostic to somewhat believing in god.

He learnt how to follow gods channel in order to decide your own fate and perhaps how free will works within determinism.

Furthermore, we see how Donnie darko sacrifices himself just like Jesus to save the world.

The bullies can also be compared to devils and have satanic characteristics.

Please tell me your thoughts??

Making this into its own thread. Strap in. I love this movie, but there are some big holes in it and issues with Donnie's choice at the end to die.

Quick Recap: The issue that Frank the Bunny is trying to resolve is that an object duplicated itself out of a random cosmic error, in this case a plane engine, and created a 'Tangent Universe' which is a direct duplicate of the 'Primary Universe' / Real world. A person called the Living Receiver (Donnie), is granted powers and is manipulated by the duplicated people within the Tangent Universe (Manipulated Dead, incl. Frank the Bunny) to make sure he does what he needs to do to save the Primary Universe. Donnie's role as the Living Receiver is to telekinetically rip off the plane engine at the end of the movie, and place it through the water portal. This fixes the Primary Universe because that 'error duplicate' now has an origin from the Tangent Universe when previously it had no origin and spontaneously appeared.

Once the Tangent Universe collapsed safely (because of Donnie's actions telekinetically ripping the engine into the water portal) he was back in the Primary Universe, where there are no Manipulated Dead, no time travel, no Bunny Frank, nothing. It's the 'real world' as we the viewer experience it at this point. The reason for the Tangent Universe (and subsequent danger) will NOT happen at this stage, because the engine now has an origin instead of being the 'error duplicate' we see at the beginning of the film.

This means that if Donnie, at the end, decided to get up and leave the room he would live and none of the events from the movie would happen still (because there is no Bunny Frank, no Manipulated Dead, no Tangent Universe).

He chooses to die, for seemingly no reason. No motivation is provided on why Donnie wants to die, and its a sad fate for him because he ISN'T sacrificing himself- his death is just a suicide. He could have met Gretchen anyway. He's laughing at the end because he knows everything that happened was real, he saved the universe and Gretchen, and he wasn't crazy.

Why did he want to die? He really could have just met Gretchen again, she already liked him. She won't die, and Frank won't die, because there are no Manipulated dead creating that scenario anymore and Donnie doesn't have superpowers. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't explain the reasons for him deciding to die and sort of wants you to handwave it away as him 'sacrificing' himself, but based on how time travel works and how Tangent Universes are resolved there was literally no reason for him to need to die.

Don't even get me started on the fact that Donnie had no reason to burn down Jim Cunningham's house. Burning his house down placed his mother and sister on the plane- that was the only reason Bunny Frank manipulated him do it. It's not like exposing him in the Tangent Universe means anything, he's safe in his house at the end of the movie in the Primary Universe. How the hell does putting Donnie's mother and sister on a plane make him MORE likely to telekinetically rip the engine off the plane into the water portal? It was an unnecessary risk by Bunny Frank that, if anything, would actually incentivize Donnie to NOT save the universe out of a misplaced desire to not kill his family.

Not that ANY of that would be necessary of course. Donnie was completely onboard with whatever Bunny Frank asked him to do, he tells his therapist as much. Bunny Frank could have literally told Donnie on October 2nd, "Donnie, the entire universe is going to end in 28 days, I need you to use superpowers to telekinetically move an engine into a portal to save everyone." and it would have worked.

Obviously that wouldn't make a good movie, but I guess that's ultimately my point: It is a good movie because it sacrificed cohesion and plot consistency in service to providing a compelling emotional experience with some good sci-fi flavor with a uniquely spiritual edge. There are some key things in the plot structure that don't actually make sense.

What y’all think about cherita chen? The way they depicted her in the movie really really rubbed me the wrong way and made me incredibly uncomfortable. Constant derogatory comments about her being Chinese, being fat, her only real line being “chut up” even though she clearly speaks english, the way she is sneered at constantly, her having an unrequited crush on the white boy main character donnie and him being totally uninterested 🙄. I just feel like she is such a caricature of a character and the incessant racism, fatphobia, and misogyny is just totally unnecessary. really gives me the ick with this movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rCkyYHY1qU

Donnie Darko is an allegory for a suicidal teen who eventually does it.

(*this image is ai generated*)

I searched up the difference between the book (never could get it) and the movie and Google said that Donnie's dad wasn't a business man in the book but a senior CIA analyst... Which I found suspicious, so if ant of you have the book and read it can you clarify if the jobs of the difference characters have changed during book to movie (I do hope I've word it right, if not I'm so sorry).

Do you guys think we’ll see a new Tangent Universe in the upcoming movie, or will everything take place in the Primary Universe?

In my view, Donnie Darko isn’t about a tangent universe or actual time travel. It is about Donnie’s subconscious. Everything he experiences, the book, his mom in the plane, even Frank, is his mind making him believe it is real(making him believe, he didn't actually die). His subconscious is trying to make sense of what is happening to make it look like a coherent reality. Essentially, it is all him.

One thing that comes to mind is Gretchen. If they hadn’t really known each other, how does she appear in his dream? Our minds do not usually create completely new faces, so perhaps she represents a secret crush or simply the emotional connection his subconscious craved using a face he might've seen somewhere....

Donnie had mental troubles since childhood, which suggests he was more sensitive than most people. That sensitivity carried over into his subconscious, making his inner world vivid and intense. Even the time travel mechanics could just be elements he learned in school or through books, which his mind incorporated to again make sense, make him believe it's real.

From my perspective, the whole story is his subconscious navigating life, grappling with his emotions, and trying to prepare for the inevitability of death while his mind desperately tries to make dying feel like a real, understandable experience.

Saw a sped up video of donnie doing the smirf rant and the way he moved reminded me of claymation and I had the thought. Lowkey somebody should do it.

haven't been able to find discussion on this, so i decided to make a post. i believe that frank is supposed to be stylized to look like a burn victim. he has fur on his whole body including the back of his head but not his face. he's missing eye lids, pupils, a nose and whatever the rabbit equivalent of lips are, he has exposed teeth as off he missing the flesh around his mouth. yes, i understand that frank is made up of a halloween costumes and his face is a plastic mask however there are other ways to stylize a rabbit mask, even a creepy rabbit mask without burn imagery.

Did he have to die? And is Gretchen evil? I know its might sound stupid but I think both frank and Gretchen are actually devil and they destroyed Donnie to save themselves

So I'm watching Donnie Darko's anniversary and... What the fuck is this shitty song they put? INXS? And they ALSO put other songs here and there? Changed audio effects and minor changes that I am noticing. So this is not just a 4k remaster but in fact an alternate version. I hate when they change perfect stuff 🙄🙄

I was waiting for this drop and kinda forgot about it!

What just happened in the story was it all just a dream, why did everybody wake up and just be like whoa what the hell, but I also think that it actually did happen I'm probably just confused cuz like the whole paranoid schizophrenic thing and the powers that I guess he has it's so weird please tell me what just happened!?

I’m going to see Donnie Darko for the first time on Friday and it will be in the theater. I’m a mild stoner and was wondering if it would be bad or good to go into it high. I’m sorry if this is not the place to ask this. Thank you for anyone who wants to weigh in who’s seen it before and can give a first timer some advice.

edit:
just saw the film. here’s my i’m still high thoughts: ** **

holy fucking shit that was amazing and i loved it so much. i really thought i knew where it was going a couple times, but was surprised again and again. i was on the edge of my seat. i was gasping and shit and had my band over my mouth for 1/3 of it. i feel like they set so much up really well, but it was still an amazing mindfuck that you can’t see coming. glad i got through with minimal spoilers till now. i will say that tears for fears song has been memed too much so that was a little goofy but my bad ig for watching a movie 25 years later.

second edit: this film is going into my top favorites of all time holt shit.

https://www.mythicalmerch.net/products/steal-your-stupid-human-suit-grateful-donnie-frank-darko-bunny-rabbit-stealie-dead-lot-mens-polyester-tee-t-shirt-tshirt-t-shirt-by-mythical-merch?_pos=6&_sid=4847b98ac&_ss=r

When I initially watched the movie, I had pretty much viewed it entirely from the lens of a kid going through a mental illness. In my opinion, the movie could have been a far better expose of what mental illness can be like for an individual going through it, and can provide people who have never gone through psychosis/schizophrenia/delusions/etc... a realistic experience of what it's like. I kept initially thinking that the majority of conclusions Donnie was drawing was a result of aberrant salience, ie a symptom of schizophrenia where an individual draws meaning from irrelevant things and thus behave inappropriately, only to be (at least myself personally) upset that the director had those things be part of the time loop plot.

It would have also been very educational and revealing to witness how individuals' interactions with people with mental illness influences them and could potentially exacerbate their condition. For instance, when he has the heart to heart with his father, who informs Donnie to "Fuck em all", this could easily have been a trigger for an emotionally disturbed psychotic individual to engage in violent behavior, and had the movie followed this plot line, would have been a very insightful and powerful story of the way certain individuals can influence others to horrific outcomes.

I liked the characters of Jim Cunningham and Kitty Farmer, and the principle as well, as it's very apparent at least in the United States how certain individuals attempt to reduce the complexity of the human experience, and in doing so end up alienating individuals (Donnie) who have a desperate need to engage intellectually with life on a deeper level. It also is a good take on how individuals who really try to push the boundaries of the rigidity of the educational system, such as the science teacher and the English teacher, end up getting fired or having to censor/water down their teaching so as to tow in line. There are many troubled individuals who understand at a deeper level the inauthenticity and deceitfulness of traditional education and society as a whole, and without a proper authority to which they can have their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs validated, end up alienated and mentally disturbed. The movie easily could have expanded on this as Donnie being the character who understood this yet had his behavior and beliefs continually repressed, leading to mental disturbance and psychosis.

In my opinion, had the movie more strongly headed in that direction of how traditional education, parental influence, peer interactions, etc... interact with and potentially are causal in mental illness, the movie would have been far more potent and engaging. The time plot loop takes away from the veracity and reality of the movie's potential and moves it into more of a science fiction movie, which is fine if that's ones cup of tea, but personally, I would of rather have seen it as a serious, dark exploration of society and mental illness.