The Characters in Donnie Darko Are Isolated, Confused and Many Are Unable to Cope with Reality. Richard Kelly Has Presented a Disturbing Portrait of Human Existence and Interpersonal Relationships. Discuss.
Join now to read essay The Characters in Donnie Darko Are Isolated, Confused and Many Are Unable to Cope with Reality. Richard Kelly Has Presented a Disturbing Portrait of Human Existence and Interpersonal Relationships. Discuss.
In Richard Kelly’s controversial cult classic, Donnie Darko, the characters are isolated, confused and many are unable to cope with reality. The film presents a potentially disturbing portrait of human existence in terms of a dual reality. The interpersonal relationships displayed in the film are complex and present a disconcerting view on such relations between people. The characters in the film all share this inner confusion and inability to cope, and yet, on the outside, they are all different and appear to be handling their situation in different ways.
The main character in the film is Donnie Darko himself. Donnie does not fit into the middle class, conservative community that he has been bought up in. He appears to be the epitome of everything that the people of his community are not. Donnie feels isolated from this seeing himself as an outsider, highly intelligent and provocative at school. Donnie is alone and sometimes disoriented in his daily existence until he meets both Frank, a six foot man dressed in a Halloween rabbit costume, and Gretchen, a new girl at school with a broken family whom he befriends. These two relationships are founded on need and mental confusion. Frank the rabbit is also Donnie’s sister’s boyfriend but in two different times, Frank before and after his death. Donnie’s uniqueness can sometimes be explained by his referred mental condition, that is he hallucinates the image of Frank dressed in his Halloween costume. Donnie is coerced by Frank to carry out destructive behaviour, such as flooding the school and burning down Jim Cunningham’s house. Donnie is also led by Frank to the conclusion that a parallel universe exists in which Donnie has a significant part to play in determining the outcome back in the original universe; Donnie can choose to save himself, or to save the one he loves, Gretchen.
Gretchen is Donnie’s normality; she is a simple character who accepts Donnie despite his obvious differences to other boys at school. His very volatile world is less so when she is in it. They balance each other out as she finds herself somewhat isolated because of her family background. The sequence of events in the film significantly alters as a result of Donnie falling in love with Gretchen. If Donnie had never met Gretchen and developed a relationship with her he would have never discovered the tangent universe and would never have been driven to murder in a fit of revenge to avenge Gretchen’s death. In viewing the story as two parallel narratives we see that Donnie’s decisions have great bearing for Frank who dies in one story but lives in the other. As confusing as the stories become, the
Gretchen theme and the ending is still very important to the story. The main characters, like the rest of the cast, go nowhere for the majority of the movie. Gretchen, after her mother’s assassination and the ending of the film comes on the heels of her family and family of Donnie and Donnie, continues to struggle with the negative impact of her loss and with her brother and grandmother. One wonders if Gretchen is a source of motivation for the rest of the family. The main character who dies in a single frame has the greatest amount of power and ability in the movie and will be the basis for how the rest of the cast will be handled. A lot of the plot is told through the use of flashbacks and, during the final movie, there are several scenes where we see the main characters on a trip to a country where they have already returned. That way we no longer have to see the main characters in their own worlds, but are able to see the children of that country, in addition to the family. Some of the young people who take the role of Donnie to escape death, even with Donnie’s best attempts at reconciliation and love, will have an immediate impact on the rest of the cast. Donnie’s family is made stronger, and the final ending plays well with that strong connection to the children of that country. Donnie makes the most of the emotional support Donnie gives her family, and she finds the love she takes from him at that moment, especially with his younger brother. Donnie’ also makes some other changes that make up for her lack in strength. She learns to trust the other adults who are willing to lead her to that place, and also becomes more willing to take more risks with things that could lead her to fall in love and have a future with herself. She also gets to learn how to become a better parent, but still find herself to be a problem actor and sometimes a leader. The story is also told with an emphasis on friendship and not just just about conflict. The whole story revolves around friendship being a way of life as it’s always been. One of the main characters, Gretchen, is a girl who is still very young (at that time) and just discovering out of her childhood that other people are not exactly her friends is great relief to her. She realizes her father is no longer with her and decides to make a full return for love and love and become her mother. There are many other small changes as well (and more importantly the fact that she is allowed freedom to speak out against his injustice or that she is not in this position). The main character from the movie is a young woman, who has fallen in love with Donnie. While it was almost a year before he died, she chose to spend most of her time with him and he was gone for a short period of time. While there is little to no reason why she chose to take part in the film, she really has a lot of power and she can help make her life easier for Donnie again. The story also explores the relationship between mother and son, and between family and