Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko
September 6, 2004
>watch a sci-fi film and write how the program defines and creates reality

One of my absolute favorite films is Donnie Darko (directed by Richard Kelly, starring Jake Gyllenhaal). It is a psychological and artistic film that questions the idea of time/fate and the basic morals of ‘the idea American’. In the film Donnie is a boy suffering from psychological and sleep-related complications.
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, but after watching the film you see that it is the result of many possible events. The final scene in the movie is the beginning all over again, only this time Donnie accepts the 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 film, 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 are the result of extensive thinking about questions of life and the unknown. To avoid objections, philosophers and artists portray their ideas through abstract art and call it “science fiction”.