Donnie Darko Essay

Analyzing Donnie Darko Donnie Darko takes place in Middlesex, Virginia, in 1988. The story depicts a young man, Donnie Darko, experiencing time travel and tangent universes through the help of his friend, Frank the bunny. After surviving an almost deadly accident, Frank gives Donnie an allotted amount of time before the world will end, Donnie begins to explore what it means to live while in the process, falling in love, and discovering secrets to the universe that give him the power to alter time and destiny.

The film Donnie Darko explores the complicated question of the possibility of time travel and tangent universes, however, director Richard Kelly seems to have an alternative goal in the film, attempting to explore human emotion and psychosis

Kelly builds the suspense by linking these feelings of uncertainty to psychosis in Donnie and science, these two ideas juxtaposed creates a breach in the reality of the viewer from Donnie’s reality. The fragmentation in the storyline begins when Donnie narrowly escapes death, creating a tangent universe with limited time and goals that must be achieved according to Frank. When Frank is encountered in the film, Donnie is sent into a dreamlike state, when the meeting is done, the film attempts to stitch this supernatural meetings back into the normal narrative of the film, creating a conflict in mood and driving the suspense and eeriness even further. As these meetings occur more frequently, Donnie’s mental health seems to deteriorate and he becomes more detached from society, experiencing symptoms of dissociation. Donnie becomes increasingly paranoid by the lack of time presented with him, causing more encounters with Frank, and more fractured, illusory scenes which begs the viewer to wonder whether Frank is a result of Donnie’s crumbling sanity or whether Frank truly is the messenger from the future he claims to