What is the plot line in Donnie Darko?

Question

Can you tell me what the plot is all about and the significance of various things?

Answer 1

http://imdb.com/title/tt0246578/plotsummary

Answer 2

What various things? The bunny?

The plot, as I get it, is that what is supposed to happen should happen. It's like a deeper philosphy of the Final Destination series. If you are supposed to die at a certain time then that is what needs to happen or else other things, worse things, will happen.

Also, the theory of time travel and American soceity (the hypocrisy of happy, shiny people) are questioned.

Answer 3

I think he's schizophrenic and he sees this imaginary rabbit called Frank who tells him the world will end on a certain day. I watched it a few times and im still not totally sure whats going on but its a great film! Great soundtrack too!

Answer 4

First of all let me say that I liked this movie a lot. It has a lovely atmosphere, and although the plot is anything but water tight, this isn't the only great movie with such problems. (The Exorcist comes to mind.) But on to what doesn't work.

This is basically an elaboration on the objection brought up in the "makes no sense" thread.

Throughout the movie, we are given a sense that spooky Frank (a.k.a MD Frank) is guiding Donnie toward some cosmic destiny. The first time I saw the movie I thought that what Frank meant with the universe ending was that it did for him, when he died. ("Every time someone dies the universe dies," etc.) It seemed that Donnie's destiny was to prevent the deaths of Grechen, Frank, and his mom and sister. This makes perfect sense, as they are worthwhile causes to be sure, and Frank returning from the dead to make this happen also fits well into the structure.

You know of course that storytelling is an ancient art, and that the rules of storytelling are as ancient. No matter how original or creative you want to be, there are fundamental rules you need to obey if your story is to make any sense to the viewers at all. Our minds are trained to interpret stories through these fundamental rules.

One such aspect that is older than philosophy (literally speaking) is that of destiny (Greek "Moira"). Destiny is defined as a demarcation. A border, that no man or god is supposed to cross, or bad things will happen. In old folk tales children are told to "stay on the path" and not even look too closely into the misty woods or listen to the song of the sirens. They must stick to where they are supposed to be, to the manifestation of their Moira, their destiny. And when they don't, the Wicked Witch is free to catch them, and all kinds of hell breaks loose.

There are innumerable stories of people who go back in time and/or space to change something to "right a wrong" and "restore order" to the universe. It's one of the fundamental plot vehicles. On the surface, this is exactly what Donnie Darko is all about too.

All the clues are there. The "tangent universe" that can not sustain itself for more than "several weeks." The anomaly, the jet engine that is someplace it shouldn't--couldn't be. The chain of events emanating from that anomaly that leads to many good peoples' deaths and general havoc. It bears all the markings of a "restoring order to the universe" kind of story.

So, why isn't it working?

Because Richard Kelly can't make up his mind as to what the anomaly exactly consists of. Is it Donnie's surviving the jet engine, the time travel of the jet engine, or the completely invisible and incredibly uncinematic movement of the jet engine between the main universe and the "tangent" one?

[He also can't decide what catastrophe Donnie is supposed to prevent. Is it the deaths of Grechen, Frank, and his mom and sister, or is it the collapse of the universe? I think we expect it to be the first, since those are characters we know and relate to, and we actually see them die. But again comes the science fiction theories and suggest it's the second alternative--something never described or shown in the movie, which makes it a very vague and theoretical threat indeed.]

It can't be Donnie's surviving. If Donnie's Moira was to die that night, and it's his surviving that has upset the order of the universe, then all blame is on Frank. If he hadn't stuck his furry nose in things, Donnie would have died and everything would have been fine. Which of course makes no sense at all.

It can't be the time travel of the jet engine, because at the end of the story, when order is supposedly restored, the jet engine still travels through time. There is no reason to not assume that it is the same jet engine from the same plane that strikes the Darko house. So, even as order is restored to the cosmos, there is still some random unexplained time travelling of airplane parts going on, apparently.

So, it can't be Donnie's living or dying, that's not the change that upsets the universe. It is essentially unimportant, and only indirectly important. Neither is it time travelling jet engines, such things apparently happen every now and then in perfectly balanced universes. It seems as the jet engine's travelling in time rather than just falling through the sky is just a coincidence. It could just as well have been travelling only through space, and the order of the universe would have been as upset.

In fact, the interpretation that comes closest to being logically consistent (but no cigar) is the one suggested on the donniedarko.com website, in the Philosophy of Time Travel pages. Namely, that the anomaly that upsets order and creates the tangent universe is the jet engine moving from the principal universe to the tangent one. In this interpretation, Donnie's surviving is only important because he, being the chosen one, is the only one with the special powers necessary to move the jet engine back to the principal universe. Frank saves him from the jet engine so he can complete this task. Everything seems to fit. Well, not really.

First of all, for the jet engine to be able to move from the principal universe to the tangent universe, the tangent universe needs to exist. Hence, that event can't be what creates the tangent universe, because if it doesn't exist, the event couldn't take place. That's where logic breaks down. But the storytelling logic is actually more important.

A violation of Moira is supposed to be an emotionally loaded event. A time travelling jet engine will do in a fix, but the life and death of a person is the perfect embodiment of destiny. It should be Donnie's living or dying that unbalances the universe. If not, let it at least be the jet engine's ambiguous temporal existence. But it's neither. The important thing seems to be that Donnie is there to move the engine to the principal universe so order is restored. We don't get to see it in the movie, and what it actually means to telekinetically guide the jet engine through its time and space travel so it doesn't enter/create the tangent universe is anybody's guess. But as he does so, it's not even important that he dies. Why didn't he use his funky telekinetic powers to move the jet engine while standing on the lawn, so he didn't die? The bottom line is that Donnie's death is not important. Because if it is, Frank is to blame! Also, there is no mention of these telekinetic powers being connected to some divine insight. The chosen one, toward whom the artifact is attracted, has these powers. Period.

There is a more elaborate interpretation that restores some significance to Franks actions and the whole sequence of events in the movie. When the jet engine first struck the house, Donnie was of course not aware of his "special powers" or his role in the restoration of the universe. Maybe Frank saved him so he could learn about these things, about Sparrow's theories, before the jet engine struck, and know what he needed to do at that moment. (Telekinesize it.) Otherwise, with him dead, no one would be able to save the universe from certain doom. Okay, so far so good. But this till means that Donnie's death has no bearing on the case, and that any philosophical insights about love or life that he may gain during the movie are completely irrelevant. What's important is his telekinetic powers. Donnie could still have lived.

There is no way as I can see it to connect the anomaly that threatens the universe with Donnie's emotional or physical life.

My guess is that Kelly wrote the story meaning for Donnie's death to be the significant piece of the story, but then realized that it didn't work, so came up with the telekinesis and stuff to patch it up. Too bad it really didn't work out. We have to assume that his death is significant, and maybe even pretend that jet engines don't travel in time in normal universes, or the story is just a mess. But those assumptions aren't actually supported by, or even consistent with the story.

And that's what doesn't work.