Blog Assignment #7

Donnie Darko end
THEME
There are many themes to be found in the film Donnie Darko. The main one in the story is the theme of fear and love. Donnie reveals that he is scared to die alone and throughout the story he is only able to overcome this fear when he finds love. Also, several times the theme of love and fear is mentioned by characters in relation to Donnie and his problems. The narration of the story can be described as both didactic and active. It is didactic because the narration is not always clear and is often purposely misleading to keep the audience interested. However, despite the unreliable order and detail of the narration, when the story concludes loose ends are tied up and the narration turns out to be telling truthful information. The theme of sacrifice always plays a pivotal role in the film. Donnie is faced with the choice of self sacrifice for the greater good. He elects to sacrifice himself to restore order to the universe and save Gretchen and his family.

Critique

This scene of Donnie Darko conveys these themes through it’s use of movement and shape. The song, “Mad World”, which has a slow melody with light instrumentation that focuses on strong lyrics, drives the pacing of the scene.  The theme of the song matches the themes of the film very well. I think this part is a strong reminder that this film is about more than a bizarre time travel story. It really casts light onto the human experience and just how much so many of us suffer but just continue to go through the motions of our every-day lives. "All around me are familiar places, worn out faces" - this line from the song seems a perfect account of Donnie Darko’s story. The shape of scene also helps focus the audiences attention on the characters in the scene. The point of the scene is to show how every character was affected by their time in contact with the tangent universe, so this is especially effective. For instance, every character outside of the family in the last scene is shown in a dark room and they occupy the only lit portions of the room. This way they can stay true to the rule of thirds and still keep the focus where they want it. The combination of the silent images of the characters mixed with the emotionally powerful lyrics effectively create tension and release by revealing each character individually in their own light. Overall, I think this scene conveys the theme of love and fear and also self sacrifice very well.