Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect (Revised –Final Copy)

Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect (Revised –Final Copy)
September 6, 2004
>watch a sci-fi film and write how the program defines and creates reality

For this journal I have chosen to write about one of my absolute favorite films, Donnie Darko (directed by Richard Kelly, starring Jake Gyllenhaal), and The Butterfly Effect; Both are psychological and artistic films that question the idea of time/fate and the basic morals of ‘the ideal American’. In the film Donnie is a boy suffering from psychological and sleep-related complications; he relates to reality because he deals with the concept of time and fate. In Donnie Darko, The Butterfly Effect and the ‘real world’ there is the idea that every action that takes place is part of a sequence that molds the future.

The movie begins with Donnie biking home after waking up in a forest (a result of his sleep walking), when he reaches home he finds his room demolished from a fallen airplane jet engine. This scene seems random at first, but it is the result of many possible events. The final scene is a repitition of the beginning, only this time Donnie accepts his fate of death.

This ending is like that of The Butterfly Effect (starring Ashton Kutcher); where, of all the possible things that can happen, sometimes the existence of one person can alter fate in such a way it is beneficial to others. Both of these films link to the idea of cause and effect in the real world. In life we often regret decisions that we have made. I believe that the choices that we make alter the chain of events that lead up to the future.

In the Donnie Darko, Donnie gets the opportunity to explore the idea of time travel, see the future and change fate. I like to take this concept and apply it with my own life. Though I may not be able to see the future or what could be, I am also a participant in some sort of predestined pattern. I hate wondering what could have been, so I take what I can see and do now and use it. Time is a precious thing, it will constantly continue whether we are here or not. So, in your time in existence, it is up to you to decide what you want to do with what you have and control your own fate.

Perhaps science fiction films like Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect are the result of someone who has done extensive thinking concerning questions of life and the unknown. To avoid objections, these philosophers and artists portray their ideas through abstract art and call it “science fiction”.