by Mentalgongfu » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:59 pm
Hugh, you make some good points, but I do think you tend to see orchestrated conspiracies where it appears to me to simply be artistic expression. A friend of mine is writing a comic book about a group of superheroes and supervillians created by the government in a secret military program - viewed through your lense, when it comes out, you might see some pro-military "agitprop" due to the storyline and the illustrations in the first issue. However, knowing the author as I do, and knowing where the story goes, it becomes quite clear that is not the case. <br><br>But you and thoughtographer have covered that line of discussion enough. <br><br>Someone earlier in this thread questioned the young age of the writer/director of Donnie Darko. Being 24 myself, I don't find this quite so odd. There's obviously quite a bit of talent there - but there are numerous examples of blazing talent in people much younger.<br>If I were to write and direct a movie, it would lean much more toward Darko-style themes than, say, a family comedy. <br><br>The use of repetitive numbers and associations with animals, colors, water, etc. is intriguing, but does not necessarily lead to a deep hidden meaning. Such techniques are very common in film making. 13s are in almost every horror movie. I've dabbled in amateur film making (VERY amateur) and even I knew enough to work in things like that. A film tells the story in images and will make sense even without the sound, which is what it seems the director was trying to do. Plus, a lot of film makers do things like that just for fun, to get people like us looking for them and wondering about them. <br><br>That said, I do find some of the connections noteworthy. What's up with the deer and Frank's link to water?<br>Keep in mind, (except when someone screws up) everything you see in a film is there for some reason, even if the reason is the director is just screwing with you.<br><br>The fact the director was able to get financing for the film and get some big names like Drew Barryomore involved is a little more curious. But if he came from a wealthy, well-connected family, it's less surprising. <br><br>I don't think I'd want to try to count all the 8s and 88s in the film, but I find the connection to time travel a lot more plausible than a neo-nazi them. The "88 reasons . . ." link posted earlier in this thread mentions several time and time travel references involving 88. <br><br>Does 8 have any significance in Christian mythology? (i.e. 5 is the number man, 7 is the number of God)<br><br>Cherita Chen is an angel-type figure. She says almost nothing in the movie, except for reading the card in the JC Lifeline exercise and responding "shut up," even when Donnie trys to comfort her near the end of the movie. She's painted as a goody-goody and is connected with a swan. She's sitting behind Donnie in the classroom scenes. <br><br>When the police make all the English students write "they made me do it" on the chalk board, the scene starts with them calling a "Sam Bylan" or some such. The camera pans to Donnie. They call Donnie's name, and he goes up to write next to line #8. Afterwards, there is a shot of the officer's clipboard. In between Bylan and Darko's names is Cherita Chen. The name is crossed off, but she was never called to the board. <br><br>There's a lot of religous subtext, such as talk of 'traveling in god's path," Donnie calling Cunningham the Antichrist, and the bully Seth Devlin. <br><br>The connections and references in this movie are endless. That's what makes it a great work of film, in my opinion. I doubt there's any single overarching message one can draw from Donnie Darko- I see it more as a spiderweb leading to a lot of intriguing subjects. <br><br>I think it's at least premature at this point to draw conclusions about NASA influence and propaganda. I don't exclude such possibilities, but so far it's just conjecture. Just being related to a NASA employee doesn't do it for me. <br> <p></p><i></i>
