Tony Bowling: Response to Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is the story of a young man in Middlesex, Virginia. But more than that its a story of cause and effect. Not really cause and effect, more action and reaction. One theme of this film that I want to follow is action and reaction. The theme of action and reaction is present everywhere and in all films but to me it really stood out in this film. Also I feel all other themes of this movie have been analyzed to death so i felt like taking a slightly different look at Donnie Darko.Is mentioned earlier in the film while at the dinner table that Donnie has quit taking his medication. That is the action or absence of action and this small choice puts a ripple in time that ultimately leads to the death of Donnie's girlfriend, Gretchen and also possibly to his own mother and little sister. I'll explain how I mean that.Because Donnie quit taking his medication he met a new friend “Frank” his imaginary friend. Frank told Donnie to get out of bed, which is the action, and because he listened his life was spared when (later reveled) the engine from his mothers and sisters plane was torn off from 28 days in the future and landing right into his own bedroom which would have killed him. That is perfect example of the type of reaction we see in this film.Next Frank tells Donnie to flood the school which he did and that led to a conversation between him and Gretchen. Donnie even remarks that hes glad the school was flooded because it led to their conversation and in that conversation he asks her to go with him. Action and reaction.Flooding the school caused one immediate reaction of talking to Gretchen and helped lead to another reaction. When the school was flooded of course the school was looking for who did it, and the school bully Seth pulled a knife because he believed that Donnie told the officials or the authorities that Seth did it.On the night Gretchen dies Seth and his friend attack Donnie and Gretchen and that causes Gretchen to be laying on the ground where she could be hit by a car also Seth was holding down Donnie so he couldn't help her up off the ground. Seth didn't really need a reason to attack them other than hes a bully but the fact that he suspected Donnie was more reason to attack and also without that extra motivation he would have fled when he thought the cops were coming instead of holding him down.If Seth had left Donnie earlier he could have helped Gretchen up or where he was standing up the driver of the vehicle, Frank would have seen him and could have missed him and Gretchen and neither Frank nor Gretchen would have died. That is one action ultimately causing two reactions.Frank introduces him to time travel, which causes Donnie to engage in a conversation with his science teacher about time travel. His teacher then gives him a book written by Roberta Sparrow which causes aroused interest in “Grandma Death” as she is nicknamed to the school boys.It is that aroused interest that leads Donnie to Roberta's house on the night where he is attacked by Seth and where Frank runs over Gretchen. If not for that book Donnie would have probably just stayed home that night. Even if he had gone out he had no reason for going to Roberta Sparrow's house.When Donnie sees a sphere like bubble coming from his chest and he follows it, it leads to his parents bedroom and into the closet where he finds a gun. The same gun he uses to shoot Frank with in the eye, when he runs over Gretchen.Action and reaction is present in big events and even small ones. His English teacher Karen wrote “Cellar Door” on the blackboard and because of that tiny action when Donnie was at Roberta's house he went into the cellar. Inside the cellar Donnie was attacked by Seth and his friend. Small action and a big reaction.Donnie and Gretchen goes to see a double feature and while the movie is playing Donnie sneaks off and burns down Jim Cunningham's house just like Frank had asked him too. This action, just like the others, sets of a domino effect causing many reactions that lead to a much bigger reaction.Once Jim is outed as a pedophile the coach and original chaperon, Beth, of “Sparkle Motion” decides to stay and help out Jim in anyway she can. This leads Donnie's mother, Rose, to have to go with the team. That got the mother out of the house when the father already was gone. So when Donnie's sister was accepted into Harvard this led to having a party. Because of the party Frank had to go out for a beer run, and was on his way back to the house when he ran over Gretchen.When Donnie sees Gretchen dead and kills Frank he goes back home and gets in the car and drives back to the point he first woke up at in the beginning of the movie. In a car which his teacher said would make a fine craft for space travel. He goes back in time and instead of getting out of bed he stays in bed and this causes him to die. His death means that Gretchen won't die by the hands of Frank. Frank won't be shot in the eye by Donnie. Jim Cunningham wont be outed as a pedophile in the near future. And since there will be a funeral that needs attending to its doubtful that his mother nor his little sister will be on the plain when the engine is torn off therefor by Donnie dying he is saving at least two lives, and possibly two other. But allowing Jim to continue his life of pedophilia.Action and reaction is a theme that can clearly be followed through out this entire film a lot easier than it can be followed in most other films and I believe its relevance has been more than displayed here.