| Teen pic as horror-science fiction: Donnie Darko’s parallel universes |
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Donnie Darko (USA, 2001) is an excellent film to use in the classroom. Not many students are likely to be familiar with it; the film offers a demanding narrative in an engaging way; it sweetens the ‘pill’ of science fiction (SF) with the teen pic; it will give students experience of independent cinema. It lends itself to a fruitful application of all the key concepts, though it is certainly not recommended that students should be subjected to an in-depth examination of all the concepts through one text. Genre Teen pics: ‘coming of age’; conflict with authority; often occurs in a short period of time Horror: vampire; possession; creation of monster; slasher; rape-revenge Science fiction: first contact; exploration of space; the uncontrolled machine; after a nuclear holocaust; time travel; alternative worlds; doppelganger Iconography Teen pics: fashion; pop-rock soundtrack Horror: blood; monsters; religious relics (including crucifixes); kitchen knives in a wooden block; creaking doors; screams; skulls; thunder and lightening Science fiction: ray guns; synthesiser music; futuristic clothing; spaceships (i.e. not actual spaceships); aliens; high-tech gloss; computer generated special effects Characters Teen pics: cliques; bitches; jocks; figures of authority (teachers - ha!), parents; the ‘law’); outsiders; new girl/guy Horror: monsters; ghosts; vampires; werewolves; mad scientists; ignorant villagers; ‘maidens in distress’; zombies; experts in ‘supernatural science’ Science fiction: man of action; engineer; mad scientist Settings Teen pics: high school; ‘street’; home/bedroom; club/diner Horror: castles; old dark houses; suburbia; Transylvania; cellars Science fiction: time: past/present/future; space: inner/outer Whilst the repertoire of elements is good for identifying genre, analysis is more fruitfully conducted into how a film uses genre(s) to create meaning. Genres can also be defined by associated themes and oppositions, such as adult v. child in the teen pic (hence the ‘coming of age’ narrative); human v. non human (monster/alien) in both horror and SF. As a horror SF-teen pic, Donnie Darko is a ‘hyphenate’ as it combines three genres without creating something new, unlike a ‘hybrid’ such as teen horror. The SF element is most evident in its use of the idea of parallel (director Richard Kelly talks of ‘tangent’) universes and time travel. In relation to the confused world of teens the film might be suggesting that the world is a confusing place and doesn’t just appear to be so to the bewildered adolescent. The film also draws upon horror, particularly in Donnie’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) encounters with Frank in the events leading up to Halloween. The influence of Expressionist cinema is also evident, a form that attempts to externalise the disturbed mind (in this case Donnie’s schizophrenia.) Narrative As in all time travel stories, the narrative of Donnie Darko is potentially confusing and, possibly, incoherent. In Todorov’s structural terms: Situation: Donnie living a typical middle class teen life (apart from his schizophrenia) Disruption: aircraft engine lands on his house but he survives (having been lured away by Frank) Resolution: Donnie dies, thus repairing the break in the space-time continuum. It is unusual to have a narrative end with the death of the protagonist, though this is necessary because his elusion of death causes the narrative problem. In Proppian terms Donnie is the hero as he resolves the narrative; the villain is Frank as he, ironically, saves Donnie. Donnie, like an action hero, shoots the villain but then saves him by remaining in bed to die. Donnie’s selflessness makes him an appropriate hero; however his laughter, just before he is annihilated, is ambiguous - is he accepting death or thinking he’s got away with it? The narrative works to hook the audience through the mystery (Barthes’ enigma code) as to where the engine came from and what are Frank’s intentions? Donnie’s - and to a lesser extent Karen Pomeroy’s - conflict with the school’s ‘new age’ lunacy creates obstacles to be overcome in his life. Another narrative layer is Donnie’s pyromania, revealed to his psychiatrist, and enacted through Frank’s prompting on Jim Cunningham (revealing Cunningham’s, and by extension Beth Farmer’s hypocrisy). In terms of the ‘story’ (to use Shklovsky’s structuralist terms), the plot ends at the beginning. The 28 days that form the bulk of the narrative are ‘lost’ when Donnie, through unspecified comic book (yet another genre!) superhuman powers, plucks the engine out of the sky and sends it into the past. In saving the world, the engine has to kill him or time will forever remain ‘out of joint’, Donnie also saves Gretchen; indeed she appears as an ‘innocent’ ‘little’ girl in the end as she’s cycling and wearing dungarees. These dungarees were seen being worn earlier, presumably by Gretchen, on a trampoline, presumably with Donnie; but it isn’t clear in what timeline this occurs. This seems to suggest that the world in which the engine actually lands is not the one at the start of the narrative; Gretchen’s not a young woman here traumatised by her stepfather; if it were meant to be the ‘original’ world then I think the narrative becomes incoherent at this point. However as Gretchen doesn’t appear until after the engine has landed on the house then we can assume her life is very different in the original world. If we were back in the ‘original’ world, at the end, then the hypocrites will continue to prosper and so the world is a worse place for the loss of Donnie. On the other hand, Gretchen and Frank would survive and Donnie doesn’t bring shame upon his family by killing his sister’s boyfriend. Most Hollywood narratives conclude with the world being a better place; I don’t think Donnie Darko does. Representation Clearly, as a teen pic, the film draws upon generic types. These can be investigated as part of representation by questioning what messages and values are being offered; for example, why are jocks vilified? Donnie Darko departs, somewhat, from generic representations of the parents and teachers. Donnie’s parents are sympathetic and although we are introduced to the Darko family with a typical argument over dinner, the parents are shown to be neither the cause of the conflict nor repressive in their behaviour, despite dad’s traditional gender views. Similarly, teachers are more than figures of hate and/or fun. Monittoff and Pomeroy, representing science and the arts, both oppose the repressive atmosphere of the private school (co-producer Barrymore’s casting draws upon her rebellious persona). These characters are counterpointed with Beth Farmer and Jim Cunningham who represent the hypocritical forces of reaction. The casting of the ‘overweight’ Chinese-American Jolene Purdy as the outsider, Cherita, adds a racial edge to the film (she does appear in an extraordinary number of shots) and is used to emphasise the hypocrisy of the Cunningham-Farmer axis through their reaction to her performance just before Sparklemotion. What is striking about Donnie Darko is its attempt to represent the ideas informing Einsteins’ theory of relativity. A colleague (Jason Drewett-Gray, Benton Park’s head of physics) informs me that the film is accurate in its use of theory but the energy required to create the Einstein-Rosen bridge, that allows the engine to time travel, is so vast that, in the context of the film, it would not be possible. Audience Donnie Darko’s release, to coincide with Halloween in 2001, suffered from its proximity to September 11’s aircraft ‘falling’ from the sky (the ‘Arabic’ font used for the titles had to be removed before it was shown). It was given a platform release in an attempt to build the audience that wasn’t actually found (in the US) until the appearance of the DVD. Cult movies rarely thrive in the cinema (there needs to be an exclusivity associated with appreciating the film) and often have a narrative open to numerous readings; Blade Runner (1982) being a prime example. The film also offers an alternative to the more formulaic products of Hollywood and so appeals to an audience seeking intellectual stimulation as well as entertainment. In terms of ‘uses and gratifications’: the teen pic is particularly good at offering personal identity for its target audience (one of the few genres that can be defined by who it’s aimed at); it may stimulate a search for information about relativity and time travel (Stephen Hawking’s A Short History of the Universe is give a ‘name check’). The Year 10 students I showed the film to were entertained (and puzzled) by the film and a number were stimulated to socially interact about the film after the lessons. Institution Many students’ experience of cinema is limited to contemporary major studio Hollywood product. The fact that Donnie Darko is independently produced does not guarantee a film outside or even on the fringes of the mainstream. However the film offers enough of the familiar, via the teen pic genre, to engage its audience and, for those with an enquiring mind, gives the opportunity to engage intellectually, as well as emotionally, with the film. Production companies: Pandora Cinema (US) Flower Films (US) Adam Fields Productions Gaylord Films (US) Indie example: Flower Films (from: drewfan.com/info/flowerfilms.php, accessed May 2005)
Biographies © Nick Lacey |
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