B3Guy
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From how I understand it (and I have now thrice watched the Directors cut, read Roberta Sparrow's "Philosophy of Time Travel", and navigated all corners of the official http://www.donniedarkofilm.com/ website) . . . there are 2 base theories on which all interpretations of this film are based. (That is, interpretations based only on the information in the film,) The two interpretations are:
1: Donnie is schizophrenic, and Frank is his alternate personality. The film is an altered or twisted reality created by Donnie's mind.
2: A second Tangent Universe occurs (according to the Time Travel book, there is no reason for these occurrences), in which Donnie is the "Manipulated Living" (basically, the deciding factor/main character in the alternate universe), and Frank (along with possibly others), is "Manipulated Dead", (someone who dies in the alternate universe), who is trying to convince Donnie that he must correct the alternate universe fluke (which involves Donnie dying, but others living).
These are not the only options as I see it, but all options are some combination of elements from these two. (for example, Donnie IS schizophrenic, and Frank makes him sleepwalk when he was fated to be killed. This causes the occurrence of the Tangent Universe. In this theory, donnie is both mentally ill AND in an alternate reality, hence the "mixture/combining" of the two interpretations.)
The acknowledgment of both options, and of the fact that either one or both could be correct, is in my mind the nearest to an explanation of this film as anyone will truly get. (which his to say that it is impossible to truly explain, much like a "Shutter Island", or an "Inception", where a pile of puzzle pieces can be assembled into either one image, or into a completely different image . . . with the same pieces)
Anyone claiming to have it all figured out is (in my OPINION), inevitably giving extra weight to certain pieces of the puzzle and ignoring others.
That being said, does anyone have any interesting ways to interpret this film?
I do have one interpretation that falls under neither of these categories or the continuum between them, (much like in the film, when Donnie points out that not all aspects of life can pe placed on a continuum between "Fear" and "Love" :icon_thumright
but I'll wait and see what others have to say first. :blob7:
1: Donnie is schizophrenic, and Frank is his alternate personality. The film is an altered or twisted reality created by Donnie's mind.
2: A second Tangent Universe occurs (according to the Time Travel book, there is no reason for these occurrences), in which Donnie is the "Manipulated Living" (basically, the deciding factor/main character in the alternate universe), and Frank (along with possibly others), is "Manipulated Dead", (someone who dies in the alternate universe), who is trying to convince Donnie that he must correct the alternate universe fluke (which involves Donnie dying, but others living).
These are not the only options as I see it, but all options are some combination of elements from these two. (for example, Donnie IS schizophrenic, and Frank makes him sleepwalk when he was fated to be killed. This causes the occurrence of the Tangent Universe. In this theory, donnie is both mentally ill AND in an alternate reality, hence the "mixture/combining" of the two interpretations.)
The acknowledgment of both options, and of the fact that either one or both could be correct, is in my mind the nearest to an explanation of this film as anyone will truly get. (which his to say that it is impossible to truly explain, much like a "Shutter Island", or an "Inception", where a pile of puzzle pieces can be assembled into either one image, or into a completely different image . . . with the same pieces)
Anyone claiming to have it all figured out is (in my OPINION), inevitably giving extra weight to certain pieces of the puzzle and ignoring others.
That being said, does anyone have any interesting ways to interpret this film?
I do have one interpretation that falls under neither of these categories or the continuum between them, (much like in the film, when Donnie points out that not all aspects of life can pe placed on a continuum between "Fear" and "Love" :icon_thumright
but I'll wait and see what others have to say first. :blob7:
