Donnie Darko

[anabolice30]

Best movie of all time? I saw it two nights ago. I thought it was tremendous film, with a couple e30s in it. The one thing about it that freaked me out though is I remember watching it when I was a little kid (I'm 18 ). My parents used to rent out our old house to some college kids. The tenants fell behind on rent and got evicted. They trashed the place but left all their VHS tapes behind. My parents put them all in a big trash bag and gave it to me and my cousin. Over the summer each night we would work our way through these movies. I remember putting in Donnie Darko, and in the opening scene Donnie was in his room on his computer, and he got onto a webcam site. On the other end a girl does a strip tease and Donnie jerks off to it. After Donnie is relieved he goes downstairs and joins his family for breakfast. Shortly after his sister comes down the stairs wearing the same clothes as the girl who stripped for Donnie. We see Fred in the background, the frame fades to black, and the movie begins. I was probably 8 when this happened, and I don't remember anything about the movie other than that scene. Needless to say I was freaked out when that wasn't in there two nights ago.

[dannyyisntt]

I learned a lot about you today. Thank you.

[Pantless Spency]

I learned a lot about you today. Thank you.

lol this.

[Mr. Tasty]

Best movie of all time? I saw it two nights ago. I thought it was tremendous film, with a couple e30s in it. The one thing about it that freaked me out though is I remember watching it when I was a little kid (I'm 18 ). My parents used to rent out our old house to some college kids. The tenants fell behind on rent and got evicted. They trashed the place but left all their VHS tapes behind. My parents put them all in a big trash bag and gave it to me and my cousin. Over the summer each night we would work our way through these movies. I remember putting in Donnie Darko, and in the opening scene Donnie was in his room on his computer, and he got onto a webcam site. On the other end a girl does a strip tease and Donnie jerks off to it. After Donnie is relieved he goes downstairs and joins his family for breakfast. Shortly after his sister comes down the stairs wearing the same clothes as the girl who stripped for Donnie. We see Fred in the background, the frame fades to black, and the movie begins. I was probably 8 when this happened, and I don't remember anything about the movie other than that scene. Needless to say I was freaked out when that wasn't in there two nights ago.

you are mixing up two different videos.

[Dozyproductions]

From Reddit. Sounds like this is on the mark. What a great movie.

Donnie Darko was dead before the movie even started.

submitted 1 year ago * by Nsaia

I watched Donnie Darko the other day and had this theory about it, I saw an older post that touched on this theory a bit but I would like to expand on it. Also, First post!

When people die, sometimes they are too heavily linked to earth by something they wanted to experience more than anything but weren't able to, and so sometimes they're given a chance to relive their final days to try and experience what they're missing. But, as they explain, this second chance gives the individual the opportunity to go against what the inevitable set of events will be therefore changing the future. They say that if you travel within God's channel, you could see into the future, and that's precisely what happens, leaving those given this opportunity the ability to go against God's plan.

In Donnie's case, he was killed by a jet engine while he slept and felt he was taken before he was able to accomplish what he believes to be the end all be all point of existence, love, or more specifically sex. Donnie has relationships in his life but none that he considers to be true love, he doesn't feel close to his parents or siblings, more just roommates than a family, and he doesn't care too much for his friends, more just people to pass the time with. The only relationship he hasn't experienced is a romantic one and so, in his mind, he believes that this type of relationship will give him that connection to another person that he feels he hasn't yet experienced.

Obviously it's deeper than just sex, he makes that clear when he talks about his dog, the only thing on earth he ever felt a connection to, however, when his dog went to die by himself he felt that the relationship was one sided and therefore not genuine. The only alternative would be the love of a significant other and the most clear display of mutual love in that sense would be sex and so he fixates on it. He shows this when he's hypnotized and refuses to talk about anything other than his sexual fantasies to the point that he even begins masturbating, which mean he thinks of virtually nothing else in a positive light in his normal day to day. He also shows it when he is explaining his theory on the Smurfs and says "what's the point of living if you don't have a dick", this shows that the only way to be sure love is mutual is to have sex and being unable to have sex would mean there would be no way to be sure it was true love. He also shows it by asking Gretchen out after talking to her only one time, he knows she thinks he's cute and feels like finally he will feel the love he has missed out on.

So donnie dies without having felt true love and as a result thinks that he was taken too early and is given an opportunity by the deity in his universe to relive the last month of his life under the terms that he will be able to try and accomplish what he is missing and see for himself if that gives him the peace of mind he feels he needs. The condition, though, is that now he knows when and how he will die so he is faced with a decision to accept his fate, or rewrite fate with whatever consequences that entails. His teacher Dr. Monnatov says it to Donnie when he tells him that if you could see the future, you could choose not to act the way you're destined to, making predetermined fate not exist.

So the movie begins with Donnie having already died in the normal time stream and plops him on top of that cliff showing where he needs to return, should he choose to. The movie then continues and uses Frank as sort of a conduit to help accomplish anything he desires, but he also acts as a guide, reminding him that he has a finite amount of time to make a decision. And like I said earlier, he asks Gretchen out after speaking to her once, he knows he doesn't have a lot of time but he knows she thinks he's cute and so she's as good of a choice as any to have sex with and feel what he needs to feel. But to his dismay, they don't have sex right away and don't even have any physical interaction for two weeks and he grows more and more frustrated until finally he just comes out and says "it's been two weeks and we haven't even..." now what I believe he was going to say was "haven't even had sex" but he realizes she would be upset by that so he stops and she finishes with "you want to kiss me?". Now, it isn't exactly what he had in mind but it's a start so without another word he dives in to kiss her only for her to stop him, frustrating him more, but does allow him to understand it isn't something you can force.

So because he isn't able to have sex and he realizes that it won't happen as quick as he wants, he starts doing other things he has always wanted to do because he knows he won't have to face the consequences if he doesn't want to. And like a lot of kids his first target for revenge is his school, he doesn't feel appreciated and feels that they need to be punished for their apathy by flooding the school and writing "they made me do it" in spray paint as a message to the school that their inability to even try and relate or treat him well left him with no choice but to react in a destructive way. And he justifies this through the story "the destructors", if destruction is a form of creation than destroying the water main could create awareness of the bad behavior on the side of the administration.

His next target is a motivational speaker, another adult who refuses to help on an individual basis and instead has these blanket answers that are good enough for anyone but are so poorly developed that they really don't help at all. He has been raised with this mentality his whole life, when he acts out, his parents put him in therapy. His therapist sees issues and immediately puts him on drugs. That doesn't solve the problem? Try more drugs and hypnosis. His whole life he has felt like a burden to the adults he interacts with and feels that not one adult has made a genuine effort to just try talking to him and see what's going on in his head. He even almost gets that type of relationship with Dr. Monnatov when he is able to speak to him about time travel. But Dr. Monnatov, like all adults, lets him down by stopping the conversation because continuing it could cost him his job. Donnie doesn't interact with him after that because that was the last attempt he would ever make to try and relate to an adult because even when he feels a connection with one, he gets let down again.

This anger comes to fruition when he burns down Jim Cunninghams house to try and send a message that it doesn't matter how successful you may seem to be in understanding and helping children, but at the end of the day you're only stroking your ego and not getting anything accomplished, you might as well be fucking those children for all the good you're doing. Which, as it turns out, he was, which only infuriates Donnie more because not only is Jim Cunningham a fraud and represents everything he hates about adults, but he's also experiencing what Donnie wants more than anything.

And throughout all of this extracurricular activity he begins to develop an actual relationship with Gretchen and truly care for her, something that becomes more and more attractive to him even to the point of possibly choosing not to live up to his end of the bargain and die when he should. Those feelings begin to fade when he starts to learn about Roberta Sparrow. The way she acts and the things she knows make it clear to Donnie that she is just like him, someone who died too early and was given a second chance, but unlike Donnie, her time was up and she had chosen to stay and not accept her fate and so she remained, wealthy, but ultimately a ghost walking the earth haunted by her decision.

As a nun she died without ever being able to have or raise children and was sent back to be able to experience that, so in her second chance she quit the church, became a science teacher, and tried to fulfill her greatest desire. However, interacting with the children she taught either didn't satisfy her, or more likely, satisfied her to the point of being unable to give it up once she had it. And so, she chose not to die and was forced to live with her choice which meant the children she cared for eventually not caring at all for her and even robbing her of her wealth when they could, her perfect life turned sour and it left her a hollow shell to die alone.

The story comes to a climax when they have their Halloween party and Donnie is able to have sex with Gretchen. Finally he is able to partake in what he believed to be the only reason to live but interestingly, when he does he realizes that the sex was a byproduct of the love, not a determinant of love. He realized he loved her with or without the sex and for the first time understands that sex is not as important as the connection and love is more abstract than he imagined. Sadly though, he knows his time is almost up and he knows through the example set by Roberta Sparrow that his fate is sealed and holding on to this happiness will inevitably turn sour and leave him to die alone. Even though he feels true and genuine love, he won't be able to live out his life with this love because like Roberta, his destiny has already come full circle and staying when he should go will mean he can't sustain this happiness.

Even the music playing, "Love will tear us apart" by Joy Division, as he walks down the stairs shows his decision. It's his love for her that will tear them apart, it's the love he feels that won't allow him to selfishly stay on earth longer than he should because it's finally not all about him and there is a greater purpose at hand and that purpose is doing whatever is necessary to give her the best future possible, meaning of course that her future will be without him. Knowing that if he were able to stay she would love him as deeply as he loves her was good enough. So time comes and he becomes driven to do what he now knows he needs to do. The only hiccup he runs into is being held at knife point by his school bullies, but they become distracted by Franks car and Donnie says "Dues ex Machina", meaning he sees divine intervention, specifically Frank, who won't allow him to die in that way because that isn't how it supposed to happen, so the bullies leave, gretchen dies, Frank gets shot and becomes able to be Donnie's guide, and Donnie is able to save everyone and not give into the selfish temptation of trying to stay on earth longer than he should.

So he admits his fate, dies, and we get a small glimpse into what life will be like for those around him based on his sacrifice. Gretchen is safe, his family is safe, and life can go on. The only thing remaining is an echo of that now non-existent time stream manifested in the dreams of those involved.

tldr; donnie died before the movie started and he knew he was fated to die again.

Edit: Formatting, I'm still new to posting so if anyone has any feedback that might help read this post more clearly please let me know, it will be happily received.

[anabolice30]

^^ That is definitely a good theory, but whenever people talk about these movies the one thing that no one seems to touch on is how in therapy, Dr. Thurman tells Donnie that if the Universe ends no one will be left except for Donnie and Frank, which seems to terrorize Donnie, which to me indicates that Donnie is just a schizo and all of his delusions are created by a malicious therapist. Or the movie could be showing two timelines simultaneously, and leave it up to the viewer to decide which one is real, and which one is delusion.

[ParsedOut]

I remember watching that movie over 10 years ago, really really really fucking high after a mellow party at a buddies house. Only a few of us left, watched it without saying a word. In typical stoned fashion, it felt like the movie was 5 hours long. Total mindfuck. I'm too afraid to watch it again sober, might cause irreparable mental damage.

[Dozyproductions]

Watched it again just now because you know... the gas and electric guy is coming anywhere between 9-5. Don't be afraid to watch it sober!

Interesting theories. So the plane engine would still be a bridge between both universes but without any meaning behind it. Im a bit more privy to the one previously mentioned above. If it was just an entire delusion of Donnie's schizophrenia acting up without any real hints to it, well that would just be even more frustrating. ;)

Interesting fact: opening weekend the movie only ended up with half a million in sales.

[anabolice30]

I remember watching that movie over 10 years ago, really really really fucking high after a mellow party at a buddies house. Only a few of us left, watched it without saying a word. In typical stoned fashion, it felt like the movie was 5 hours long. Total mindfuck. I'm too afraid to watch it again sober, might cause irreparable mental damage.

I watched it sober, but my mind's anus had been primed by a few weeks of saturday night toking sessions beforehand. It's worth it m8

[evandael]

It's been a while since I've watched this. It was definitely one of my favorite movies in my teens. Might have to revisit it.

[Hooffenstein HD]

It's right up there with Waterworld.

[delatlanta1281]

I remember watching that movie over 10 years ago, really really really fucking high after a mellow party at a buddies house. Only a few of us left, watched it without saying a word. In typical stoned fashion, it felt like the movie was 5 hours long. Total mindfuck. I'm too afraid to watch it again sober, might cause irreparable mental damage.

I feel the same way about the movie Platoon.

[graveshaker]

I'm 42 and just watched it online moments ago for the first time. Never even heard of this movie before opening this thread. This movie made absolutely no since to me at all. I tried very hard to enjoy the movie waiting for the "good part" that never happened. I want my precious time back.

[Mr. Tasty]

I'm 42 and just watched it online moments ago for the first time. Never even heard of this movie before opening this thread. This movie made absolutely no since to me at all. I tried very hard to enjoy the movie waiting for the "good part" that never happened. I want my precious time back.

definitely a cult classic to potheads. I enjoyed it though.

[Dozyproductions]

okay, OP. Can you find any even mention of the OG scene here? I only get his hypnosis jackoff scene being one of the best jackoff movie scenes but nothing about the other.