Donnie Darko & the Philosophy of Time Travel.
February 23rd 2008 21:22
A few of you guys were interesting in a small university assignment I wrote for Donnie Darko after we were talking about how similar it was between that and the Butterfly Effect. The only real differences I saw between the two were the whole ‘go back to change the past’ link but the two movies are very different. For The Butterfly Effect its about changing the outcomes of one person’s life but for Donnie Darko, it expands to a young man trying to save the world from destruction.
It might sound a bit ridiculous but it’s all written in the Philosophy of Time Travel. It should be noted that this book or theory is completely false and was written by Donnie Darko’s director Richard Kelly as a structure to his movie. In the movie Donnie reads the book that, in the movie, it written by Roberta Sparrow.
My university teacher examined the normal theater version of the movie which focuses more on Donnie’s schizophrenia than anything else. In the director’s cut, which is the version I chose to look at for my presentation, I focused on the Philosophy of Time Travel. The chapters are written a page long but I’ll just summarize what each one is about.
For this post I am going to go through the Philosophy of Time Travel, so for people reading this still trying to figure out what the hell happened in the movie this should make things a bit clearer. I don’t think I’m going to compare the Butterfly Effect and Donnie Darko as I feel the only similarity between the two is changing the past and nothing more. I might comment about the movies in the end, but I think this post should be saved for the movie that is Donnie Darko. So here we go Bucket Heads!
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TIME TRAVEL!!!
Chapter One: The Tangent Universe.
This character talks about the “Primary Universe” (our world) and states that there are other dimensions of time that are stable but can be damaged. An example is when there is a rip in time which is state to be very rare. When a rip (time travel) occurs (example: like a jet engine from the future) a secondary universe is created called the “Tangent Universe” which attempts to stablise the flow of time but not fix the situation. Since the Tangent Universe is not stable it will collapse within weeks and will destroy itself and the Primary Universe. (As Frank says, “28 Days, 6 Hours, 42 Minutes, 12 seconds”).
Chapter Two: Water and Metal.
Water and metal are two key components during this period. Water is the key to allow travel between the Primary and Tangent (worm holes or Time Portals, or the tunnels created of liquid in the movie). Metal is the substance of the item that created the time rip to begin. These are known as “Artifacts” (the jet engine). Donnie can see the tunnels of water coming out of people’s bodies throughout the movie, predicting what they are going to do next.
Chapter Four: The Artifact and the Living.
The Living are the people who are at the center of the appearance of the Artifact (Donnie and his family when the jet engine crashes through their house). The appearance of the Artifact is the first sign that a Tangent Universe was created, as their sudden appearance from nowhere defies all logical explanation (a jet engine falling from the sky out of nowhere without the report of any planes going down).
Chapter Six: The Living Receiver.
The Living Receiver is the person placed in changed to fix the universe to make it whole again. If the LR fails to do so the universe will collapse. The LR is one that displays supernatural abilities. Occurring to some websites Donnie has superhuman strength (being able to lodge an axe into a solid bronze statue), and telekinesis (ripping the jet engine from the plane his mother and sister were on). Setting Cunningham’s house on fire and flooding the school are not powers but things that he psychically done himself.
The LR will receive terrifying nightmares, auditory and visual hallucinations as well as visions while the Tangent Universe exists. It mentions the “Manipulated” who are people who wish to stop Donnie from achieving his goals. An example is the bully from Donnie’s high school who almost kills Donnie towards the end of the movie.
Chapter Seven: The Manipulated Living.
These people are alive within the Tangent Universe and are linked to the LR. The interact with him in order for him to fulfill his task in fixing the time rip. Every character in the movie (Donnie’s teachers for example) are examples of these however Donnie, Gretchen, Samantha, Rose and Frank are not Manipulated Living. More on this later on.
Chapter Ten: The Manipulated Dead.
These are people who have died during the Tangent, (Gretchen, Frank, Samantha and Rose). Since this is not the “Primary Universe” but the “Tangent Universe” they will be returned to life if the rip has been fixed. The Manipulated Dead guides the LR to his goal or the “Ensurance Trap” which is set up by a series of events, with the outcome that the LR will save mankind.
This is where things start to get a bit confusing. So, Frank dies but it able to contact Donnie in this alternate world created to save the normal world. Frank sets up a chain reaction so that Donnie will achieve his goal of closing the rip. An example is how Frank tells Donnie to flood the school, which means he meet Gretchen for the first time and talks to her, which leads to their relationship and the main reason why Donnie wants to turn back time (to save the one he loves). Another example is how Frank makes Donnie turn the Cunningham’s house, which leads to the discovery of his child porn collection, which makes Donnie’s mother be the person to take the girls to their dance competition so that Donnie can blow up the plane to travel back in time.
Chapter Twelve: Dreams.
The final chapter in the book states that the memories of the Tangent Universe appear to many of the Manipulated Living and Manipulated Dead in their dreams. Many will not be able to make out what happened while some have a clue that the Tangent Universe existed, (the “awakening” scene at the end of the movie). Some of these people may feel remorse from their actions in the Tangent Universe and the only sign of existence that this university existed will be the appearance of the Artifact (the jet engine).
And that wraps up the Philosophy of Time Travel. There are chapters missing I know and I did not forget to put them in, these are the only chapters written for some reason. So that is Donnie Darko explained via this theory. It either made things a lot clearer for people who have watched the movie that were confused or I just made people even more confused than before. So what are some themes coming out of this movie?
No Free Will.
According to this book we do not have free will. Everything that we do is set up by another force so that a greater goal can be achieved. The ‘tunnels of water’ in people guides them in the movie which asks the question, if one can see what another’s path was would one intervene and change it? Are we all mere puppets in someone’s grand plan? Personally Bucket Heads I strongly say no. I’m not too comfortable having something guide me or have everything that I do in my life planned out without me knowing.
It's All In Your Mind.
You don’t have to view Donnie Darko through the Philosophy of Time Travel. One can look at this movie as Donnie’s schizophrenia getting out of control. There doesn’t have to be a theory of time travel backing this movie up and the event at the start of the movie (his near death from the jet engine) could have speed up the illness. We see how people interact with him as well. His parents appear to have given up hope, his teachers don’t care too much about him and his psychiatrist acknowledges she can do nothing for him as his condition gets worse. In the end, Donnie is a very reckless youth who floods his school, burns down a house and kills the man who ran down his girlfriend, but was right that he could turn back time to make everything right again. This point leads to dreams.
Premonitions & Dreams.
Now the movie can be seen as one big dream without any mention of schizophrenia or time travel. Donnie’s dream can be seen as a premonition of the events that were going to come. When Donnie wakes up in his bed laughing it he may have thought the dream was crazy and so stupid he laughed, and we all know what happens next if we’ve seen the movie before. Everyone who wakes up at the end of the movie could have their dreams linked to one another, exposing the fears they have for the things they love (this plays on the theme of Fear & Love as presented by Cunningham).
So there you have it, Donnie Darko examined through Philosophy of Time Travel as well other aspects. Sorry for the length of the post, I tend to get a bit carried away when I start talking about Donnie Darko. Hope you’ve all enjoyed this!
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Comment by Damo
It is one way out movie that sticks in the mind.
I believe that images from the book were on the DVD I watched a few years ago.
Comment by Wayne F
Bucket Snipets
The images from the book did appear on the director's cut of Donnie Drako. It was part of the special features as well which went through the chapters. I think it helped out a fair bit in understanding the movie.
Thanks for the comment.
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
I really enjoyed this 'thread' on the film... and so it was. Working in the realms of the psychic myself, one has to realise the constant form of a tangent reality and not overlook the 'self fulfilling prophecy' aspect of any prediction.
That we have free will, may well yet prove a fallacy, as the choices we make are the choices were meant to make and that everything happened in that exact moment... and yet I cannot tell people what to do through prediction ... only to advise of the various scenarios that can be played out by each decision made... for example : what it looks like if you do walk down the isle with that guy, if you choose not to. What if you go off with the other guy and so on and so forth. The jury is still out.
I just loved the way you explained this quintessentially, brilliant film.
Thanks for taking the effort, it helped me fathom a couple tricky aspects.
Lilla ...
Comment by Wayne F
Bucket Snipets
I'm glad that this explanation of the film through time travel has helped you out
Donnie Drako is a great movie that opened up so many questions I could talk about it forever. As for the free will theory I'm totally against the idea of some "high being" pulling the strings or setting up the chain effect for me to do my daily tasks. I learnt about a few theories on man's will in some Philosophy units from last year and it was interesting to see some of these adopted into this movie.
I'm really glad you enjoyed this thread, thanks a ton for the support!
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Wayne F
Bucket Snipets
Glad it helped you understand the movie better
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Comment by nimd4