***SPOILER ALERT***

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THE FOLLOWING DOCCUMENT CONTAINS VARIOUS DISCUSSIONS ON NUMEROUS POINTS OF THE MOVIE "DONNIE DARKO" IF YOU READ ANY FURTHER WITHOUT SEEING THE MOVIE YOU WILL SPOIL IT FOR YOURSELF, AND WHATS THE POINT. SEE THE MOVIE FIRST, AND THEN READ MY THOUGHTS.
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Leena,

I still haven't read the suplemental material. To me it was a movie about a 4d suicide/sacrifice. What I'm basing my interpretations on is a vivid imagination, and quantum and super string physics (bless you Warren Ellis, Grant Morrision, Carl Sagen, and Albert Einstein.) Here are my takes on the movie:

1. There aren't TWO vortexes. Your seeing the original vortes..it's start point is October 31, 1988 Tangent Universe, and it's end point is October 2, 1988 Prime Universe (or actualy, a dimentional crossing as discribed in vibrational quantum and super-string theory.) The "artifact" as you call it is the engine. It's broken the light barrier and has traveled backwards through time in order to start this whole mess.

2. I disagree with you in the argument that Donnie has the power to decide weither or not to chose to return the artifact. His coice was weither to get out of bed and live, or to stay in bed and die. At the end of the film, the jet engine from October 31, 1988 still winds up in October 2, 1988. He hasn't returned it at all. The only differance is that Donnie is Dead in this Universe, and in the other one he lived until October 31, 1988.

That's why he created the TU. He knew he was going to be crushed, and decided that it wasn't his bag. By chosing NOT to be in his bed, he created a tangent universe (which according to some theories happens ALL THE TIME). But for some reason, he chose to UNCREATE his tangent universe (and strangly, terminate the lives of everyone in that tangent universe). So the question is, why does he chose to do it.

My theory is that SOMEONE in the film can work forewards and backwards though time. I'm not convinced that it's Donnie. He CAN see time travel, (the 4d construchs...those abyss type special effects that we see are actualy a concept raised by some of a perception of 5 or 6 dimentional beings who can "see" time. IF they were to look at an individual, one of the thoughts concerning what it would look like would be a "strobescopic" effect which would last to infinity forewards and backwards. I like the way the movie presents it, with energy constructs setting up a path for people to follow.) But Donnie seems to want to commit suicide in an extremly 4D way. If I was Donnie I'ld simply say screw it, this world kicks butt. I've got the hot girl, can do what I want, and get to play the stock market in just a few years so Ill be able to buy Microsoft for pennies and be rich by 1995.

Nope, someone in this film is pulling the strings.

Is it Frank? Nope, Frank winds up getting shot in the eye (which has to be extremly uncomfortable), and gets to spend the rest of the movie walking backwards though time as a spirit in a rabbit suit.

D...Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
F...Why do you wear that stupid man suit?

To me, this is the idea that time travel is reserved to energy sources. Of which both Frank and Donnie are. (Which also holds up with some quantum theories).

F...I can do anything I want, and so can you.

But in the TU, this realy doesn't work out well for either of them. Frank get's to play "popeye" for all of eternity, and Donnie winds up being on the lamb because he's a murdering, houseburing, schoolflooding, mascot impaling anti-hero. He had things going great for a while, but well...that entire killing Frank thing realy kind of hampers the happily ever after thing.

So I dont think it's Donnie.

Gretchen?

Nope, I haven't seen any proof that Gretchen gets a darn thing out of these events aside from her first shag. Which, now matter how great it is, cant be worth getting run over by a trans-am.

So, who else knows about time travel?

Could it be that Grandma death is behind Gretchen and Franks deaths?

Hmmm...

Ponder this for a while.

Grannie Death was a nun, but she lost here religion.

The only words that Grannie Death speaks are "all living things die alone".

She is the one who steps out in the street, causing Frank to run over Gretchen. Resulting in Donnie killing Frank. Resulting in Donnie wanting to "put things right" and sacrificing himself. Resulting in the TU to implode upon itself. Resulting in EVERYONE dieing together.

Could it be that Grandma Death is actually the one behind the deaths? Could it be that she engeneered this whole thing? Could be, her book points Donnie in the whole "time Travel" direction. Her spoken words cause him to question the nature of life. Her actions created the chain reactions.

So, perhapse were are to infer the following:

Granny Death is REALY pissed off at God. So much so that she decides that she doesn't want to die alone, creates a dimentional tangent that she controls, set's Donnie up so he can bring about the end of the universe, and then, can die happy knowing that EVERYONE will go with her.

OF course, this doesn't realy hold up either, since there are still numerous Granma Deaths spread out across numerous parrellel universes. (according to the same theoretical quantum mechanics that enabled the TU to be created in the first place.) So while one Granny Death will be more then pleased with her time in uncreation...the others will be fumingly POed that one of them got to pull it off.

Of course that's to assume that the TU was distroyed in the first place. It is a tangent universe after all. Wile ONE Donnie Darko (Darko Prime) was killed, there's nothing to say that that would effect the tangent universe to begin with. It is a tangent universe. The actions in one universe aren't necessarily echoed across the other universes. (That's why they are tangent universes). There may be some echoes, (simmilar events occuring across universes) but not necessarily anything other then that.


Nope, still doesn't make sense. I mean GD is still getting the most out of the package. But I dont think she realy wants to see the TU's wall fall down like so many poorly constructed high school plays' sets.

So maybe it's actualy a 4D battle between Grannie Death and Donnie Darko. Sure sounds like a comic book plot to me. Grannie finds out that there is another person who can travel through time. (Considering that the events up to Donnie burning down the por collectors house are his doing). At this point she decides to get rid of him, so SHE decides to send another version of Frank back in time so donnie will burn down Swayze's house (Still, how can you NOT love that...take that Patric Swayze) thus resulting in Donnies mother to go on the trip, enabling him to throw a party, get his freak on, and find the note from Frank about getting beer...thus causing a light to come on which MAKES Donnie want to search out Granny, and causes Gretchen and Franks deaths.

So in the end, it could just be that Grannie wanted to teach Donnie a lesson. But Donnie being the unpradictable teenage that he is, decides to set things straight, and winds up going one step to far.

Just some thoughts. I'm still standing by my original decision that Donnie is just REALY BAD at constructing 4D mechinations. But then again, he's got one up on me.

Jason

[This message has been edited by fmcorps (edited November 06, 2002).]