I watched Donnie Darko again last night – it’s a very interesting movie, which uses a teen-movie basis to explore many interesting themes, including those of destiny and death. However, it has been somewhat of a victim of its own cult success, and many people have written pieces interpreting the story in various ways. More than a few of these interpretations have tried to reconcile the theme of time travel with real scientific theory, whilst others try to explain the surface plot elements themselves – in other words, ‘who does what’ in the movie. I thought it would be interesting in this post to describe some of the symbolic references that abound in the film, and show how their use link the movie to general symbolic themes in Western culture; it is these links that capture the imagination of many viewers, sometimes unconsciously, and are part of what makes the film so compelling for many people.
Links to cultural themes in our society is a well-trodden path in literature and film. One of the most well-known examples is J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘Lord of the Rings’, which makes use of numerous folk culture themes such as dwarves, elves, wizards and more, and whose narrative is based on medieval and pre-medieval tales from Europe. Tolkein was of course a Professor of Old English, and had at his disposal a large corpus of work from which to derive his stories. More simply, he used what the really rather simple formula tale of good versus evil, whereby a young acolyte is guided by a wise elder, and uses his knowledge to battle and conquer evil. Any student of literature or film will immediately recognise the parallels between this story and any number of modern derivatives. Obvious examples are The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. Whilst the individual characters may take on one or more Jungian archetypes, the same archetypes are present in all these stories. These parallels have been pointed out in countless pieces, so I will just summarise the two obvious ones – the apprentice and the teacher:
- Frodo = Harry Potter = Luke Skywalker = Dorothy
- Gandalf = Dumbledore = Obi-Wan Kenobi = Witch of the East
The point here is not to point out that such parallels exist, or even that one story may be simply derived from another. What’s important to note is that they all call on pre-existing archetypes that are evocative in our culture, and which therefore produce a lure which catches the reader or viewer’s attention.
It is not only characters and archetypes which are used in these stories, which are basically sorts of folk tales. Many elements are also inserted into these stories which have symbolic meaning. Donnie Darko uses many such symbols. First and foremost is the obvious motif of the Rabbit – the ‘Frank’ character – that guides Donnie through his story. The rabbit is a nocturnal creature, and of course in the film Donnie only meets the rabbit at night. In mythology the rabbit is very often associated with the moon, and is why the shapes on the moon’s surface have often been interpreted as a rabbit. The association with the moon links the symbol of the rabbit with the phases of the moon, and the rabbit’s reputation for fertility (like the hare’s) adds to this so that the rabbit comes to symbolise death and rebirth. Easter is based around the ‘death’ during the new moon, and its subsequent rebirth after three days (hence the Christian idea of raising the temple in 3 days) is basically why we have an Easter bunny. Also, the moon dies each morning to be born again in the evening, like the rabbit was once thought to. The rabbit motif clearly then links to the idea in Donnie Darko of death (and hence rebirth?). It is curious that the time that Donnie has to live – or really to learn – during the film is about the length of a lunar cycle, 28 days. It is also worth noting that at the end of the film, Donnie’s youngest sister sits on the aeroplane holding a toy rabbit – this is the same aeroplane that is the operative cause for Donnie’s death.
A secondary rabbit motif is the ‘path to knowledge’, a theme that occurs across many folk stories. Animals are often helpers in folk tales, and in more modern stories the rabbit is often a guide to knowledge. One need only think of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, who guides Alice down the hole and thence into a wider world; in Donnie Darko the rabbit also leads Donnie to a golf course with its own holes. The Alice in Wonderland rabbit motif is basically copied wholesale in the recent film The Matrix, and we can therefore strongly suspect that the same is true in Donnie Darko (whether it is also true in ‘Harvey’ is more tenuous!).
The journey into knowledge parallels the theme of death and rebirth, and the links to Christian practice is clear: physical death and rebirth are linked with spiritual rebirth (this is why converted Christians are often called ‘twice-born’). The first thing that the rabbit says to Donnie is ‘wake up’, linking it to spiritual awakening. By the way, the rabbit also appears in the form of a car (a Volkswagen Rabbit) to guide Gretchen.
Another symbol in the film is that of water. Water, or being underwater, is a symbol of the unconscious, and rising out of the water is related to coming into consciousness in some way. The first act in Genesis (the book, not the band!) is moving over the face of the waters, and the first act that Donnie makes is the releasing of water in the school, symbolising a release from the unconscious. Water is also the sustainer of life, so the release of water may also symbolise the giving of life (physical or spiritual). And of course, water symbolises cleansing and regeneration, hence baptism being both cleansing and a symbolic rising from the unconscious. The rabbit is also often seen next to water in the film, by the way.
At the same time as Donnie releases the water, he embeds an axe into the head of a bronze dog in the school grounds. The dog has an ambiguous role in symbology, often referring to fidelity, but also to ignorance in the sense that the dog follows blindly. The symbolic defeating of the dog can therefore refer to the overcoming of ignorance in the journey into knowledge. This is a symbol that has been used in medieval illustrations, where a knight defeats the dog.
With regard to guidance and knowledge, Donnie Darko makes use of the almost universal motif of the bird spirit guide. Where, you may ask? Roberta Sparrow, of course! Birds are often symbols of higher guidance: we only have to think of the Spirit descending onto Christ in the form of a dove, or the animistic shaman associated with his eagle guide. Roberta Sparrow acts as Donnie’s spirit guide, through her first words (‘all living things die alone’) and through her book.
There are plenty of other references in the film, and they are described in many other websites. I will finish with a few of them.
- Cherita is a guardian angel. In all her scenes she is near to Donnie (often behind), except when she explicitly plays an angel in the school play.
- Donnie wears a skeleton T-shirt at his party, referring to his own (imminent) mortality. This is a very obvious one.
- Seth = Satan.
- The school in the film is a religious one (Robert Sparrow, a former teacher, was also a former nun), so there is a link to religious and spiritual belief in several ways.
- There is a recurrent use of the number 8 throughout the movie (you will find where if you look!), which is a reference to ‘on the Eighth day’ – a Christian motif – and to Freemasonry. Also take a look at Wisdom 8:8.
- The are lots of little clever references to other films: ET, Back to the Future, Lolita, Dark City, Blade Runner, Bonanza, Stephen King’s It.
- Cellar Door is an anagram of Celar Dolor, Spanish for ‘watch for suffering’.
- Only the characters watching the Evil Dead eventually die.
- The opening song is by Echo and the Bunnymen (ha ha!).
- Donnie is of course the Apprentice, and Jesus. He does of course watch ‘Last Temptation of Christ’.
- Animus and anima figures abound in the film.
- 28, 06, 42, 12 are used in many contexts.
- The film is not actually about time travel.
Just one more thought: 24 hours in a day, 24 cans in a crate of beer. Coincidence? You decide…
thought i’d bring the book On A Hill They Call Capital to your attention, lots of hidden code in the book according to militarytimes.com and other blogs, it’s a book about 8 guys who start a revolution in october of 2008 – love this donnie darko piece you did, glad you pointed out the number 8 appearance, it shows up all over the book On A Hill They Call Capital, figured you can do a lot on this and would enjoy hearing your take on it…
ps – fyi, the verification image isn’t showing up on your contact page…
Interesting, I have just recently saw the film also. Lots of people were buzzing about it at its height point on its DVD realease but I passed it by because so many people were talking about it. But once everything cooled down I finally watched it and it was absolutley amazing, thats really the only way I can describe it. Films like these are a rare golden nugget in the pile of crap that is shoved out of Hollywood on a daily bases…….
you spelled basis incorrectly.
Nice analysis of the film. I just finished watching it, and this gives it a lot more depth.
although i find your views interesting, i in no way believe this to be a biblical piece. although elaborate, i think you could find any reference if you dug deep enough. “searching for the answers in all the wrong places.”
Actually, in my opinion Donnie Darko is not a biblical piece at all, but links into the same general human symbology that Christianity does, apart from a few minor bits, like ‘Last Temptation of Christ’. Most of the symbolic motifs are pre-Christian. Jung’s ‘Man and His Symbols’ is a great book on this.
Just to further the religious theme, Jim Cunningham (initials same as Jesus Christ) serves as the antichrist. Donnie actually calls him the antichrist in the auditorium. His house his huge (greed) with a huge picture of him in the foyer (vanity) and he digs on kitty porn (lust) Also, he’s a preacher but also a brainwasher, thus, the antichrist.
Also, the two teachers serve as angels. During one scene they are talking to eachother saying, “Donnie Darko” and laughing sheepishly at the idea, this implies a, “who would have thought?” expression- also implying that they know he will save the world. They also aid him in his time travel studies, etc.
Cellar Door is no anagram, i’m surprised you didnt know that it was actually J.R.R. Tolkein who is the famous linguist who said that it is the most beautiful phrase. Tolkein worked on the Oxford dictionary thus making him a famous linguist.
INXS and Echo and the Bunnymen both appear on the soundtrack for “The Lost Boys”.
I’ve seen “Donnie Darko” over 20 times, but every time I watch it I feel like I’m over analyizing it and I’m getting further away from what’s really happening in the film.
Yeah, I’m aware that attention spans are shorter these days! You could always watch Hollyoaks or ‘The Simple Life’ with the sound turned down to prevent too much content entering your head…
Donnie Darko is another Jacob’s Ladder. Just before he dies he ‘projects’ his imagination into the possible path without his immediate death, and has to work out for himself that he must die to make others happy. Here’s the Christ motif. So I believe most of this film is very similar to Jacob’s Ladder in the ‘working it all out’ sense for the protagonist, and the angelic & demonic influences within the film are perhaps guides using existing peoples’ personas around Donnie as puppets to help him on his way, and realise that EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT! This moment of self- and cosmic- realisation is the reason why he laughs so much in the face of death. Wouldn’t you?
Strange that I’ve not seen this notion elsewhere on the web. Watch Jacob’s Ladder and you’ll see.
Fred, saw this movie for the first time last night- I really liked it and immediately made connection to “jacob’s ladder”- surfed the web-analyzers and no one was connecting these two stories– I agree completely — loved Donny’s laugh at the realization– made the movie.
I think donnie darko shows signs of the apocolypse (jim cunnghnham)
and i think the basic idea of the movie is time travel
i think frank is biblical or somesort of god liek creature
i think donie dies so he dosent have to go though so much paon
=)
Currently doing a school essay on analysing this film; found this MEGA helpful. Reading through this and then comparing the ideas written to my own has really helped.. No one seems to have mentioned the issue of teen angst?
I think that this is a big part of the film as Donnie’s Psychiatrist wrongly daignoses him as schizophrenic and assumes that Frank is an imaginary friend made up to aid loneliness and inadequacy; this is important as it also shows how Donnie feels out of place with many people, yet still manages to see good in bad and get a lot out of his ‘time tangent’ experience.
This was really helpful to me, one of the best analysis’ I’ve read.
wow if this is really all the “Symbolism” people can find in Donnie Darko its even less deep then I thought. For some reason people seem to think just because a movie is confusing that it just has to be piece of art.
“Seth=Satan”
Seth is like the Greek God, Anubis(Set, or even sometimes Seth). He is the leader in the weighing of the heart to the underworld. Underworld –> cellar door is the way I see it.
I do not disagree with the evil connotations to the character, BUT his last name is Devlin which is much more of a parallel than Seth is to Satan.
I’m surprised no one mentioned anything about the scenes with the gym teacher speaking about “fear”.
I’m currently writing an essay on this myself for Uni.
The main problem with a potentially symbolically ambiguous film like this is that there are many correct interpretations, however there are many incorrect ones as well.
When looking for the correct ones that were actually part of the design of the film, you have to try to find repeated themes, not just one off parallels. For example, the Evil dead theory.
An interesting thing to note, however, is that the death symbolism doesn’t come into play until the predestined paradox does.
Along with the theme of mortality and the undead, the film suddenly starts using techniques and themes typical to film noir, such as parallel lighting, ambiguous moral dilemnas, dutch angle shots, etc.
However, I not convinced that there was ever any truly religious connotations intended in this piece.
Donnie is not particully Christ-like, and by imposing that upon his character you restrict any other interpretations.
Think about it; he gets drunk, struggles with the concept of God, smokes, has sex, vandalises a school, makes dirty jokes, swears, commits arson, murders and let’s not forget that hynotism scene…
You call this a christ-like figure?
The only true parallel between Donnie and Christ is the dying thing, and apparently according to one of the scriptwriters, I think it was, Donnie didn’t have to die he just did.
Donnie Darko is a film that is for once, not about good and evil, and I feel if you try and force it into that role you miss some of the deepest meanings in it.
@Emily The psychiatrist doesn’t actually misdiagnose him. In the end of the movie (at least in the Director’s cut) she reveals that the “medication” she’s been prescribing him are actually sugar pills, or placebos.
As the Doctor is one of the “Manipulated Living” it would make sense that she doesn’t do much to stop the “hallucinations” of Frank as that would steer Donnie away from his path as the “Living Receiver.”
I think the whole point of the movie is the thought about time travel, and choosing something other than our original set path that people supposedly have in the moive.
For instance, Frank showed Donnie the tubes of fluid light extending out of his and his family’s chests. One appears out of his chest and it tells him to follow. He follows it to his parents room where he finds a gun, giving him the choice to take it or to leave it. Frank shows him the gun even though he knows Donnie will shoot him. Why would Frank show Donnie the gun? If he didnt show him, then Donnie would have never killed Frank.
I too loved this movie. But it makes you stop and think: did Richard Kelly actually think of all these things or did he just put out a generally quite messed up movie and everyone else made all these ties and call it ‘pure genius’?
I’m wondering about this part-
?Cellar Door is an anagram of Celar Dolor, Spanish for ‘watch for suffering’.
dolor in spanish/latin is pain
but im not so sure about celar…. where did you find that?
why would you put that last sentence in there. its stupid and has nothing to do with the movie. youre a tool.
The character of Frank is none other than the Antichrist, Molech, and the Muslim deity, Al Dajaal, or the one-eyed Messiah as revealed when Frank takes off his mask and is shown to have but one eye. In opening of the movie, Donnie’s bedroom has a pencil sketched drawing of a single eye next to his bed on the wall, also symbolic of Horas, the Egyptian god, or perhaps the Al Dajaal/Frank character as an early sort of demonic foreshadowing. The character of Jim Cunningham is none other than an example of a living receiver of Molech himself, since he used the knowledge of evil to make himself rich through lucrative self-help speaking tours…and all satanists are pedophiles indeed as well.
Wow you people are crazy. Your reading way to far into this the movie is not as deep as you think lol, if you want to know what the movie is about, listen to the commentary on the DVD, watch the deleted scenes, and/or just go to the Amazon link below and read:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/NEL6Z9WW3BXR
Its a sci-fi piece about a temporary alternate universe. Thats it. Its not “coded…” The only reason its so confusing is because it was edited poorly, too many scenes were left out, and the Director admits this in the commentary which I implore you to listen to before posting any more psycho dribble on this blog lol