What is Donnie Darko about?

What is Donnie Darko about?
-or 'where is Donnie?'

Donnie Darko, directed by David Kelly and released in 2001, is a film about shared communal and personal experience occurring across a 28 day journey of strange coincidences, destructive revelations, and bittersweet moments.  The eponymous protagonist is the focus of these events, which facilitate his psychological healing, spiritual fulfilment, and finding of a place in society.  His hometown, Middlesex, also faces and expels many of its demons across these 28 days and those closest to Donnie are all deeply affected by the time of the journey's end in one way or another. The film is deeply confusing and ambiguous, and has two key readings: an objective sci-fi narrative depicting a young man accepting his destiny as a divine saviour, and a psychological tale of a delusional teen dreaming an idealised fantasy world the night before his death.

I will treat each reading as simultaneously being the case (with a preference for the objective reading which is more rich in meaning), and begin by briefly explaining the logic which governs the world of the 28 days.  This will provide a skeleton on which to build an argument using Jungian analysis and gnostic concepts to explain what is being experienced in Donnie Darko and what comments it may be making about day-to-day existence in our own world.  The first step will be to examine the exposition of Donnie Darko to explain why Jungian analysis will be more useful to us than Freudian analysis, which finds itself somewhat neutered.  The next phase of my argument will look at Jungian archetypes in Donnie Darko through the perspective of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces to frame the story as one of individual and communal liberation.  
Thirdly I will examine the film in terms of psychological projection, reading various settings and characters as various types of unconscious expression to examine the contents of Middlesex's collective unconscious and that of its dark hero, Donnie.  The fourth phase of my argument will take note of one of the film's strongest motifs- the knowing smile- then use temporal logic to explain its origin and thematic significance.  Lastly the I will examine the presence of god in the film, working on director David Kelly's claim it is a tale of 'divine intervention'.  Using gnostic concepts of god as interpreted by Jung in Seven Sermons to the Dead I will ask what kind of god presides over Donnie Darko and this being contrasts with the popular conceptions of God in conservative America.

Having just watched Donnie Darko for the first time, most viewers will be desperate to know 'what happened'.  Certainly analysis of the film cannot reach its full potential without a proper comprehension of its internal logic.  Here is a brief explanation of the film's events, which can be deduced from a close reading of the film's in-world book, The Philosophy of Time Travel, which acts as a kind of cheat-sheet in this respect.  The film's events occur in two planes of existence- the primary universe and the tangent universe, the latter occurring within the framing of the former in terms of plot.  The tangent universe begins roughly when the clock strikes midnight on the night Frank calls Donnie from his bed, and ends when the plane's engine passes through the vortex in the sky.  
Tangent universes are highly unstable and will cave in and destroy themselves after a few weeks, taking 'all existence' with them.  In the build-up to this collapse, a wormhole leading back to the inception of the tangent universe will open.  The end of the world can be prevented if a particular metal object coined 'The Artifact' is sent through the wormhole.  This task is assigned to 'The Living Receiver', an individual imbued with special powers whom the events of the tangent universe will centre around.  Every other character inhabiting the tangent universe is either 'The Manipulated Living' or 'The Manipulated Dead'.  They are manipulated (by forces which will be discussed later) in ways which direct the The Living Receiver toward his goal, and may behave irrationally because of this.  When all else fails The Manipulated Dead set an insurance trap which forces the Living Receiver to accept his destiny.
So, the following assumptions may be drawn:  Donnie is the Living Receiver, the plane engine is The Artifact, and Gretchen and Frank are the Manipulated Dead whose own deaths form The Insurance Trap. The tangent universe is triggered by Donnie avoiding his own death and closed at least on a metaphorical level when he accepts his fate.  The plot is therefore driven by circular logic, since in saving Donnie's life manipulated-Frank opens the rift in time, only then to commence the hero's quest to close said rift.  To find the meaning behind these events then, we must not look at their material causation but rather their content.  The joy is in the journey, not the destination.

Now we are prepared for analysis proper, let's start at the start.  The audience are introduced to Donnie's (primary universe) suburban world as he wakes up looking down over Middlesex and cycles down through it back to his house.  Nostalgic 80s music plays and camera moves in great swooshes, capturing in slo-mo a world of tidy lawns lit by morning light filtering through rich green leaves.  And yet it seems pretty clear we should take what we are seeing with a pinch of salt.  From the presence of shell suited joggers to the striking emptiness of the streets, we are made to feel very aware that this is 1980s US suburbia- a place more or less by definition of darkness bubbling underneath superficial tranquillity.
With repression foremost in our minds, the film moves on a to a sequence introducing Donnie's family, culminating in their evening meal.   The joint concepts of family and repression would seem to invoke Freud, but Kelly quickly nips this type of interpretation in the bud by making it clear that each family member (except little girl Sam) is aware the other is a sexual being, and is healthily at ease with this fact.  The dinner scene, whilst depicting dysfunctionality, is largely comedic.  Sexuality is a joke, and Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal's characters have no problem exchanging verbal blows over 'squeezing one out',  and 'sucking a fuck'.  Ultimately, Donnie Darko is a celebration of strangeness, not an attempt to diagnose it as madness- as asserted by Gretchen later when she clarifies that by calling Donnie weird, she was paying him a complement.  In a film which is pro-creativity and anti-conformity, it is better to use Jung than Freud.  Jung believed greatly in the power of expression to lead out the unconscious, using painting and other artforms as therapy.  With the commencing of the tangent universe Donnie relies greatly on his artistic power to express his unconscious to aid his internal healing process and his drawings capture much of the spirit of the film and its world.

'It's like some kind of superhero or something,' says Gretchen, on hearing Donnie's name.  Donnie absolutely is the hero- he is eponymous and has been singled out as The Living Receiver to save the universe.  He is what Jung calls an archetypal figure- an figure of universal human myth built into mankind's collective unconscious and expressed in our storytelling.  In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell used the Jungian mode of thought to draw up the archetypal blueprint for human myth, based on extensive research into world myth and folk tales.  It charts the journey of the hero passing through identifiable stages, interacting with various archetypal figures along the way.  Frank and Grandma Death act as (deeply Gothic) spirit guides, instigating the 'Call to Adventure'.  Another notable guide is Donnie's psychiatrist- so immersed in myth that she is able at one point able to speak to Donnie in the language of the tangent universe and warn him what will happen to him if he fails.  The hero finally achieves a sublime state of power and insight (Donnie uses his telekinesis to push The Artifact into the wormhole) after confronting various obstacles (his mental health, the school disciplinary system, the violence of the bullies) and is able to welcome his death when it comes rather than selfishly cling on to existence (Donnie laughs happily as he knowingly accepts the jet engine must land on him for time to continue properly.)
Campbell points out the hero's mark of success is measured by the extent to which he brings spiritual liberation to himself and also his community, enabling social growth in each sphere.  This definition fits Donnie Darko very nicely.  During his time in the tangent universe Donnie develops greatly as a human being, changing from a sullen, aggressive boy to a more content, expressive and friendly young man.  Compare the heartfelt reconciliation scenes with each of his parents to his utter disrespect for them displayed in the exposition.  Largely thanks to his actions Middlesex is made conscious of its darker side, and forced to confront it, shown most strongly in the exposure and arrest of Jim Cunningham as a paedophile.  Even if for a moment, the consumer-culture sexualisation of children is brought into question and is made visible to those usually oblivious to it.  The shot showing various Middlesex characters waking from their 'dreams' captures the emotional effect Donnie has had on his hometown, using common colour schemes, continuous camera motion and gentle cuts to indicate these people are a community and have been sharing experience collectively.  Donnie is the common ground of all Middlesex- poignantly illustrated as his Science and English teacher smile knowingly to each other, speaking his name.

So, if tangent Middlesex is a collective expression of the unconscious of its inhabitants, centred around and built on the unconscious of Donnie Darko, what unsaid truths are being expressed and where are they being projected?  An excellent place to begin answering this question would be the Halloween fancy dress party Donnie and his sister throw.  Jung's thought on unconscious expression was deeply influenced by his experiences of the Carnival of Basel, where he saw people using wild costume and loud music to express parts of themselves they usually could not.  Donnie's party works in much this way.  People dress in scary, aggressive, or role-adapting costume- becoming something they cannot normally be in 1980s suburbia, or perhaps simply an exaggeration of what they already are.  Music both romantic and aggressive plays, expressing collective teen desires.  Donnie loses his virginity and ignores the voice of his mother on the answerphone.  The party is an expression of the collective unconscious of the town's teen population.  The teens are angsty, angry, happy and horny.
Moving on to forms of projection from the individual,  we might ponder over which parts of Donnie Frank represents.   When Donnie first meets Frank we see the man in the rabbit suit at a distance, from Donnie's eye level, intercut with slow fades of Donnie's smirking face- subjectivity and projection are highly implied.   Kelly gives us a big hint in one of Cunningham's self-help videos where an actor says 'I looked into the mirror and saw my ego reflection'.  If Frank is Donnie's ego then for Donnie creativity truly is a dark and destructive force.  Frank may be better read as Donnie's 'shadow', a Jungian concept embodying all that is bad and more importantly weak in Donnie.  He can then be seen as representing Donnie's mental illness- causing him to be unhappy and antisocial.  Frank is also referred to as 'god' at one point.  This seems questionable- a misidentification of divinity by a Donnie who has not reached enlightenment.
The most intriguing form of Jungian projection in Donnie Darko is that of the animus and anima.  For Donnie, his interactions with women are far more meaningful than his interactions with men.  Across his journey he becomes increasingly in touch with his emotions through his heartfelt moments with these people: his romancing of Gretchen, his negotiation of inner self with the psychiatrist, his touching moments of reconciliation with his mother and older sister, etc.  To read the tangent world as Donnie's subjective imaginings  translates this experience into his developing a healthy relation with his anima.  Furthermore, Donnie himself can be read as animus.  As a focus of the town's collective unconscious he is a source of fascination and also danger for many of its female inhabitants.  As they bond closer characters like Gretchen, Cherita, and his English teacher become more enamoured with him, and so draw closer to their anima.  Note the beautiful, admiring expression on Elizabeth's face as she watches Donnie go upstairs with Gretchen, before immediately looking for (living) Frank, her boyfriend.

Drawing closer to Donnie often provokes knowing smiles and expressions from characters, often leaving the shot hanging there for a few poignant moments.  What are these characters experiencing?  To explain this it would be best to start in the key sequence in the 'Average Day at School' scene, where the camera moves around the world of the school at varying temporal speeds, introducing many new characters and creating a profoundly bittersweet and off-kilter tangent-world vibe.  Note that when time slows down characters under the spotlight seem to have a greater insight into what is going on around them- Kitty watches down the hallway sternly as Donnie wanders thoughtfully through it to class, and his English teacher watches Sparklemotion in sheer bemusement.  With this in mind let's work on the premise that when time is distorted, consciousness may exist outside it.  This certainly applies to Donnie.  On asking Frank what he needs to do, he is given the answer 'you should already know by now'.  Manipulated-Frank knows, because he is extremely in touch with the tangent world's logic and exists outside of time, and thus perceives all events simultaneously.  So to get to the point, the characters closest to Donnie are those most aware of the tangent universe's nature, and are thus closer to existing outside of time themselves.  This temporal state allows the character to perceive, at whatever level of consciousness, the full joy, sadness, and irony experienced in the tangent universe.  It is no wonder their knowing smiles are so bittersweet.

Thus far we have looked at what the tangent universe is, but have not asked 'why'?  We have accepted the laws of The Laws of the Philosophy of Time Travel, but not asked who wrote the laws.  The basic answer is plain: god.  Kelly states that while he wants to leave Donnie Darko open to interpretation, it is a story of 'divine intervention'.  The big question here is 'what is the nature of god?'  Gnosticism classically gives two versions of its god; a 'plemora' which is supreme- infinite and unknowable, and a 'demiurge'- a lesser and more tangible creator god.  Interestingly the name of the latter stems from the Greek word for 'worker', giving Donnie's description of the 'spears' as 'workers' a great deal of significance.  Perhaps in Donnie Darko the plemora takes tangible form as a demiurge in the working parts of the tangent-world.  
This may help explain the description of Frank as 'god'.  The idea of a simplistic lesser god contrasted against a more sublime deity is relevant to the film's social context.  US conservatism, the flavour of the month in 1980s Middlesex, attaches itself to evangelical Christianity, whose blunt and mindless simplicity is best captured on the slogan one of Kitty's t-shirts which reads 'God is awesome!'.  Jung's take on gnosticism in Seven Sermons to the Dead casts a creature called Abraxas as the supreme being of the universe.  It surpasses God and Satan, and is benevolent and terrifying in infinite measure.  Abraxas makes Kitty's God look pathetic and cartoonish in comparison.  Whatever presides over Donnie Darko (aside from David Kelly) is far more mystic and invisible than any conventional suburban Christian conception of God.

In Donnie Darko emotion and feeling brush up against hard sci-fi physics to create a broad celebration of imagination and its healing power.  I have argued in terms of the film's inner logic to understand it on its own terms, and used the highly applicable ideas of Carl Jung to unpack its deeper meaning.  We have learned that from cycling through suburbia to teenage death, Donnie Darko is at heart a universal tale of growth, community, (un)consciousness and the navigation of destiny.