A close textual analysis on the various devices used by Donnie Darko (2001) as a means of exploring themes

Introduction
The progression of alternative narrative systems in film has soared over the last 30-40 years, as the appeal to make films all the more engaging has been hugely successful and has established a position in mainstream production. Examples of this are seen to come into fruition in films such as Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Usual Suspects (1995) and more recently in films such as The Butterfly Effect (2004) and Inception (2010). If this theme of movie has become such a recurrence with directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan, then what causes them to be of such an appealing nature? Jonathan Eig, a teacher of screenwriting and film history in Washington DC believes these appeals to be of "3 characteristics": First, in these films the character with the surprise invariably is the protagonist, as opposed to a supporting character who affects a more “normal” hero. The next two characteristics work in tandem. The hero in question does not know the true nature of his identity and so is not simply keeping a secret from us. And the audience does not know the backstory either. We are not let in on a secret the hero does not know. A sudden boomlet of movies intentionally lie to the audience and manipulate viewers’ emotional investment in the heroes." Consequent emotional investment in a character of shared intelligence of the audience propels themes and ideology embedded in the film, in expectancy of the audience to mimic the characters thought process and to be of likeness. Director Richard Kelly's debut film, Donnie Darko (2001) possesses several outstanding elements, ranging from technical to thematic issues, all consequent of a use of alternative narrative.

Part 1

Kelly establishes that the film will be an different narrative than audiences will be used to within the first few scenes of the movie. Audience are positioned to the same level of intelligence as Donnie almost instantly as we are first introduced to Donnie in a wide shot, clearly asleep on some kind of isolated road, in quite a rural setting.









according to Annette Kuhn, "characterisation is the cornerstone of any narrative, who's human agents are represented as motivated by personality traits or individual psychology"; and the fact that Kelly first presents Donnie like this, initially levels Donnie par with the audience, as he appears as confused as viewers upon waking followed by a dry smile. The smile is soon after explained as we learn Donnie suffers from schizophrenia and has episodes of sleep walking, Donnie could be interpreted as disadvantaged and undeveloped due to his condition, connoting any stunt of character growth Donnie undergoes, will at the same rate of the audience, leaving them also with the same positioned vulnerability as Donnie also. So, when Donnie is lured out of bed by Frank in another possible sleep walking episode, and the jet engine crashes through the Darko's house, we are as impressionable as Donnie when posed with his objective in the yet discovered "tangent universe".  This aforementioned "emotional investment" in Donnie is key to understanding that each character from that moment forward is either


Part 2

Spatial and Temporal Verisimilitude


Part 3

A high degree of narrative closure

Part 4

Centrality of a psychologically rounded narrative agent

Conclusions
























[1] http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc46.2003/eig.mindfilms/