Donnie Darko

[Soviet 0]

Have you ever seen this awesome movie? Have you got your theories about it? Please write them here. This is my best movie all time and I want to know, how people thinking about it.

There is my theory.It is pretty long but all have sense. This theory have spolilers then who didn't saw this movie then don't read it. I saw this movie Director's Cut about 8 times and I must write something like this..

THEORY:

The people manipulating the MD and the ML in the movie are future scientists. I'm thinking this just because of the inclusion of all the fancy GUI on a computer looking stuff throughout, notably near the end where it also says PURGE. Plus, Donnie's teacher, Prof. Monnitoff hands him a copy of Steven Hawkings Short History of Time. I usually wouldn't think anything about that, but being as the movie is full of symbols and things like that, I decided to think about it as I thought about Catcher in the Rye; everything is there for a reason, you just have to figure out what that reason is. That book, written by a notable physicist and scientist, is meant to further stimulate the viewer's mind into thinking about science and the possibilities of time travel through science.

 

Now, if you'll all grant me that, continuing on. These future scientists are trying to figure out time travel, and in dabbling with time have made a mistake, leading to the creation of the TU. The point would have to be sometime during Donnie reading, personally I think it is right before his mother walks in and talks to him, or right when he calls her a *BLEEP*. The scientists have now started to manipulate the ML and the MD (Frank) to fix their mistake, lest all of existence be destroyed (there is a time travel paradox here, which is if they destroy existence in their past by making a mistake, they wouldn't be there to make the mistake etc. ad infinitum, but I won't go into that, because I have a half-baked idea about that right now, and I want to fully develop it before I post it).

 

They are trying to guide Donnie to fix the TU by transporting or otherwise manipulating the plane engine... I think their mistake involved accidentally having the plane engine fall out of nowhere, breaking some law of physics and setting off the TU by causing decay in the world. Kind of like in the movie Dogma, where the angels say if God is proven wrong and s/he is infallible, all of existence will end. So they need to create a reason for that engine falling, which they will try to do in the TU. As the engine is hurtling toward the house, Frank as the MD appears and guides Donnie out of his room... Perhaps Donnie's death would be an irreparable mistake further digging them into their hole, and they also would need Donnie for some reason.

 

I'm also assuming that they can add in things they want. Primarily, the book Roberta Sparrow wrote. What if she never actually wrote that book, but just to help guide Donnie they added that in as some sort of explanation as to what was going on? Donnie understanding a little better might make him more willing to follow Frank's orders/manipulations, furthering those scientists' goals.

 

After Donnie has achieved the purpose the scientists created for him, they send him back in time to the moment the tangent universe was created, making it seem like he never left (appears the moment he disappears), and purge his memory of the TU.

 

Here comes my explanation of his death at the end. When the scientists hit PURGE, he does not remember anything. He has residual things left in his mind, as do the other characters (which is why they wave to each other at the end, Frank pokes his eye, etc.), but he still does not realize the engine is falling towards his room. It seems from what I've read that everyone assumes Donnie knows the engine will kill him, and he has a choice to make, but in my opinion after he achieved his task, his memory was purged, and the scientists couldn't care less if he lived or died. He did not know he was about to die, and so he did not leave the room, and the engine came in and killed him

 

As to why he was laughing, it goes back to the residual things left in his mind from him traveling through the TU. He is unhappy because he feels he is alone. But, some of those residual memories and feelings make him, if subconsciously, realize he is not alone. His parents love him, his sisters love him, Gretchen loves him. When he is sent back to the PU, all that floods his mind at once, and he starts laughing. Probably also why he didn't hear Frank's car horn at that point.

 

The point is, for all we know he could have just found meaning to his life, found out he wasn't alone after all, have realized he wanted to live life to the full, and tragically did not realize it would be ended in a few seconds. He did not have the choice to get out of his room.

 

Sooo that's what I came up with. One glaring thing I can't get past is why the scientists need Donnie in the first place. They could just rip an engine off any plane in the TU, and create a portal under it and have the portal above Donnie's house open and problem solved. I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that it fell in Donnie's room, and the scientists forseeing that it somehow linked him to their problem, saved him to use him as a tool for fixing their mistake. If you subscribe to my theory that the scientists created the Philosophy of Time Travel as a guide for Donnie, then perhaps they themselves might not know why they need him beyond the fact that he is needed, simply for everything to go smoothly (Chapter Six: "No one knows how or why a Living Receiver will be chosen).

 

Alternatively, regarding the Philosophy of Time Travel, this is *not* the first time this has happened (damn scientists) and Roberta Sparrow was simply more aware than Donnie, and documented it to the best of her ability. Also would explain the major life changing decision to leave her role as a member of the church clergy. This actually seems better supported now that I think about it, because between chapters six ("Those surrounding the Living Receiver, known as the Manipulated, will fear him and try to destroy him.") and seven ("This is the unfortunate result of their task, which is to assist the Living Receiver in returning the Artifact to the Primary Universe") the role of the manipulated seems confused. An author with a cursory sense of what is going on would write that; scientists who knew pretty well what they were doing would make that role clearer.

 

Either way though, I feel that that is a minor contention in my theory... it is supported either way.

 

Please point out any holes so I can think about them and see if I can explain them within the context of my theory so I can make it stronger or scrap it to come up with something else. Also, if you got through all that, thanks. I know its pretty long :XD: (3hours writing at notepad with translator). Let me know what you think! I know at web are some true theories but I don't trust them.