IndexThemes and motifs in contrast with the characters of the filmWhen the subconscious takes over the consciousnessConclusionsWorks CitedRichard Kelly's 2001 drama/fantasy film entitled Donnie Darko implies realism with the story revolving around the main character, Donnie who lives in the suburbs of Middlesex, Virginia. During the time of the 1988 presidential election, one evening, a sleepwalking Donnie encounters a huge demonic rabbit who tells him that the world will end in "28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds." When Donnie wakes up on a golf course and returns home the next morning, he finds that a jet engine has crashed in his bedroom. Throughout the film, the director uses mise en scene to help establish characters like Donnie and furthermore uses cinematography to draw the audience towards him. In the film titled Donnie Darko, character and mood are both revealed through the use of sound and editing which go hand in hand through connecting shots and scenes and thus draw the audience into the world of the characters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayA couple of scenes from the first half of the film offer a great example of how the film's theme and motifs are tied to the contrast between the protagonist, Donnie, and the antagonist, Frank. These scenes juxtapose with each other and thus emphasize a parallel. These two scenes create an atmosphere of emotions such as panic and restlessness and in this they complement each other to create a demonstration of struggle to shake off all this. Themes and motifs contrast with the film's characters In the second scene of the film, where the demonic rabbit, Frank tells Donnie to "wake up". The scene begins with a ghostly yet menacing high-pitched voice encouraging Donnie to wake up, get out of bed, and follow the voice; the sounds of this voice completely suggest that Frank is an otherworldly entity, perhaps from another realm of the universe. The voice of Frank that Donnie hears is subjective, as he is the only one who can hear this entity's voice. In the first shot of this scene, the lighting is minimal being almost pitch black, giving the effect that Donnie is barely visible, this makes him appear menacing as he sleepwalks out of his room and follows Frank's voice. The sound and musical choices in the background of this scene are non-diegetic, intimidating but boring at the same time, the climax then created more tension and left the viewer not knowing what was going to happen, as well as a feeling of apprehension. When audiences first see Frank, he is essentially a life-sized, demonic-looking rabbit figure. His purpose as the "manipulated dead man" is to guide Donnie in an attempt to correct the "primary universe" timeline by restoring the jet engine to its original universe. Although Frank has honorable goals, he corrupts and torments Donnie into committing crimes so as to save the universe; forces Donnie to commit crimes such as arson at Jim Cunningham's house during his sister's dance group's performance at his school's talent show. When Donnie and Frank first see each other, the camera switches between characters using the dissolve technique; the camera foreshadows that Donnie and Frank will have a deep bond, it's as if Frank is a part of Donnie and his soul. The recurring theme and motifs of the supernatural continue and make the audience believe in the inhuman qualities that the demonic being of the rabbit possesses. Both Donnie and Frank represent the imagery of Donnie's mental instability, sincehe is schizophrenic, takes drugs and often goes to therapy; Frank is a metaphor for Donnie's peculiarity. When Frank tells Donnie when the world will end, the close-up shows Donnie smiling, showing amusement that the world will end rather than shock and fear that anyone else would have. He sleepwalks as Frank reveals that the world will end, yet this reaction appears genuine and abnormal, as he is in an unstable state of mind. After the interaction between Donnie and Frank, the jet engine suddenly crashes into Donnie's room, causing the house to shake and shake. scare the Darko family, for some this can be considered a "scary dive", as this event happens out of nowhere. The way the event is portrayed causes the audience to be pessimistic, believing that the worst of the worst has happened. The slow motion shots in this scene emphasize the sheer destruction and horror caused by the plane's engine, we can see this when Donnie's father runs to check if his family is safe and unharmed; time seems to slow down, as the unthinkable potentially could have happened. The sound of the jet engine crashing into Donnie's room and the shaking of the house caused by it is exactly the same noise heard during the opening scene of the film. This tells the audience that the events in the film follow no particular order, establishing the idea of ​​time travel, representing the parallel world Donnie finds himself in as he becomes increasingly unstable and increasingly dependent on Frank. This is the first time an audience member realizes that Frank is not a figment of their imagination, he is actually real. He essentially stopped Donnie's death from happening and Donnie begins to establish trust in him, as he isn't necessarily one hundred percent evil despite his creepy introduction and life-sized, menacing-looking rabbit costume. The fading camera work may be the symbolism of the inevitable end of life, Donnie's sister's heavy breathing is the only audible sound that is heard by the audience in the endless darkness that occurs due to the chaos around the Darko family . Once the chaos ends, the darkness remains for only a second, suggesting death, which happens to some characters later towards the end of the film. When the subconscious takes over the consciousness Something that people take for granted in life is the minds they think they possess, people forget how different each individual is from each other. A psychological diagnosis would describe Donnie as incredibly intelligent and paranoid schizophrenic, a disorder in which one has disconcerting and disjointed thoughts, emotions, and general perception of life. There are some scenes in the film that support Donnie's diagnosis, such as him being able to see Frank and seeing the world's wormholes that are seen in the sky later in the film. Donnie claims he can see other people's paths; when he and his sister threw a party at their house, he began to see these transparent paths that tracked people's movements through time, which he considered an aspect of time travel. Donnie only shows his aggressive side when Frank manipulates him to commit crimes, such as arson on a motivational speaker called Jim Cunningham's Home, the audience is shown Donnie's dislike for Cunningham and his philosophies in values ​​and meaning of life. Frank also had Donnie vandalize his school by breaking a water pipe which causes the school to flood, throwing the ax into the school mascot and essentially destroying his school, he also wrote in spray paint "Me the they had done" around the statue, 29(3), 365-379.