»Donnie Darko«

Just watched Donnie Darko again and - what with all the Neo is messiah stuff- I wondered if anyone had any ideas about what Donnie is supposed to be. Is Donnie supposed to be a messiah figure (he saves the world by allowing himself to die)?

I interpreted it as that, he doesnt save the world by dieing he just realises that he is trapped in a time loop (groundhog day style) and realises it at the end and allows himself to die (as an act of remorse) knowing he will come back. Thats why he laughs maniacally.
The bunny rabbit is his subconscious trying to remind him of what is going to happen and try to escape it as his subconscious. Thats why the rabbit can predict things and tell him about that peado guy.
Also the 'liquid snakes' that come out of people is his subconscious remembering the path people will walk and what they will do.
I have a theory that he is in this time warp as a punishment from a powerful entity, such as got or satan, his name Donny Darko has connotations of evil, maybe he was a servant of the devil and is being forever punished to live eternally through rejection, lonelynes, his love being killed, the suffering of others ect. This could be backed up by the many sad things he sees, such as old lady death, the fat bullied chinese girl in love with him.
I can imagine living through his loop in the film being incredibly horrible (apart from maybe kissing that girl ) which I suppose though would make her death even more hurtful and bitter. I like the way you can tell he really loves her though the subtle body language, very good acting.
I think this could be his hell because losing the person you love over and over again is possibly the hardest thing i can imagine.

But the rabbit says the world will end. In the end he escapes from Frank by going down the time hole and dying in his room like he was supposed to. Before, he says that he has to do what Frank says because Frank saved his life. At the end he finally escapes from Frank and he accepts his death - and that is why he is laughing. That was my interpretation.

A few questions on your view. I think there are a couple of problems with it.
1) What does Frank mean by "that is when the world will end"?
2) What makes you think Donnie will go through this all over again? Donnie talks about a set path for time (he calls it 'god's channel') but he doesn't talk about a time loop (that I can remember).
3) Donnie seems quite proud of what he does and even when he does bad things good often seems to come of it
- he floods the school > starts going out with the girl (he says if the school hadn't been flooded he wouldn't have had the discussion where she says she'll 'go with' him.)
- he burns down the therapy guys house> uncovers a kiddie porn ring
- he insults his teacher > he gets stuff from his parents (last one is a bad example I know)
He is a disturbed boy but he often seems to be doing the right thing in spite of how it initially seems. How can he be seen to be working for the devil, when it comes down to it?

I have no certain idea of how all this fits together (I'll bet few people do). Any ideas on the above points?

BTW the Graham Greene short story from the movie is online

Btw I havent seen this film for a looong time
Well I thought


A few questions on your view. I think there are a couple of problems with it.
1) What does Frank mean by "that is when the world will end"?


1) Its his subconscious, so he says something that will motivate himself to find out about/ remember the time loop (it has been twisted like in a dream) "The world will end" could be his subconscious twisting "this world will end" -meaning this time loop and the route you take this time.

2) What makes you think Donnie will go through this all over again? Donnie talks about a set path for time (he calls it 'god's channel') but he doesn't talk about a time loop (that I can remember).

2) At the end of the film he is right back at the start of the film in his bed before the plane crashing into his house. His mind tells him facts about the world, (as the rabbit saying about the peado guy, how long he has till the next loop or end of the world) So he must have experianced it before, as frank is not some magical entity, the real life frank is just some guy who likes drawing weird bunnies. It is his subconscios personifying itself as the thing that eventually brings him the most trauma (as Frank kills his girl and is then killed by Donny.)

Donnie seems quite proud of what he does and even when he does bad things good often seems to come of it
- he floods the school > starts going out with the girl (he says if the school hadn't been flooded he wouldn't have had the discussion where she says she'll 'go with' him.)
- he burns down the therapy guys house> uncovers a kiddie porn ring
- he insults his teacher > he gets stuff from his parents (last one is a bad example I know)
He is a disturbed boy but he often seems to be doing the right thing in spite of how it initially seems. How can he be seen to be working for the devil, when it comes down to it?


3)My theory was that he worked for the devil or was beng punished by one of the big two. I meant to say beforehand to the loops he was working for one of them and the loops are created just for him, he may not have even been born into the family darko, it may all be just made up to trap and punish him. The reason I thought he was working for one of them and then was punished for being out of line in some way was the very personal and complex punishment the loops would be, id expect satan to just hand out run of the mill tridant poking and molten hot baths to just any old sinner.
I dont beleive donny is evil or ever was, I just think he could have been doing the bidding of the devil, Its not like you could argue with him is it? I think he may have just been 'born' a daemon.
Athough I accept the employee theory was just made up quickly and not really thought through. But I thought Id explain why and how I came up with it.

Do you remember the bit where his therapist says "If the sky were to fall all there would be is you and him (Frank)" ?

It seems that she is saying that all that would be left would be Donnie and his fear and anguish. The therapist (quite surreally I thought) seems keen that Donnie should look to God so he can take leave of Frank. It all seems a bit cofusing though.

I'm not sure if DD is a traditional Christian movie, a gnostic movie, or something else - like Nietzsche or Hegel perhaps? It all seems a bit too mixed up to be any of them.

I dont think its christian as it mocks religious people quite a bit, and the

love<--------------------------------->Fear spectrum is kind of mocking the jehova whitness and born again christian demeanor. Id say its more of an athiest movie that explores the mixture between science and mystisism.
Showing that magic can be explained scientificly but it is till mystic, do you get where im waffleing to?
Its 3:30 am here and im going a bed strange.
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*Edit!* hahahah look at my freudian slip! i ment to write bit.

Yeah same here, I'm desperately trying to write a Nietzsche essay. I'm writing quotes to put in the essay but I can't seem to fit it all together properly.

I would say that the way Donnie fits everything together is Nietzschean except that he decides that it was better that he hadn't lived in the end. I would say that it is closer to buddhism (breaking out of the cycle) only his therapist seems to be put in a good light and suggests that he look to God. As a result I think perhaps Gnosticism is the most likely explanation.

This site gave an interesting explanation:

Gayie Dorko

Another postive comment from the enlightening Mirra.

its a dorky movie for women and idiots...

i found it to be funny...