A few questions.....

[smurfette]

Okay, so I've seen Donnie Darko, hmm....5 times now and I'm just as confused as ever. I've read a lot of the stuff on here and I kind of have it figured out....but just when I think I've got it I realize I don't. Haha, I'm sure we've ALL felt that about this film.

Anyway, I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find a clear answer for.
The first one is...okay, if Frank is the Manipulated Dead he would have already had to have died, so then if when he comes to Donnie in his dreams he's already died....but he can't have died yet because Donnie hasn't shot him yet because that comes later. Does that make any sense? It's hard to explain why I'm trying to say. Any explanations?

Also, where exactly did the first jet engine come from? It has to have come from the future right, because that's the only possible explanation. But then again doesn't the POTT say that no one knows where artifacts come from, so then no one really knows I guess.

And the stuff happening in the film--from the first jet engine crash to the end when the tangent universe ends and it's back to October 2 (which is my birthday, by the way, I turned one in 1988, I always thought that was cool --that's all the tangent universe, yes or no? Then what caused it? It had to have been caused for a reason, right, because if not none of the other stuff would have ever happened so Donnie would never have needed to go back and fix it and sacrifice himself. But then in my opinion part of the reason was so that Donnie would know love and wouldn't have to die alone.


Sorry if none of that makes sense. It's just the stuff at the beginning basically that confuses me the most. Like where did this come from, why did this happen, etc. Oh well, hopefully someone can help me out.

[reignman]

as far as Frank goes, it's can be a paradox, but it can still exist anyway. I recommend reading the other threads of the forum, and you're questions will be answered.

[smurfette]

I've read most of the other threads but I didn't feel like they cleared it up enough for me.
I still don't understand how Frank exists as a MD if he hasn't died yet.....

[GARGAMELandabagofchips]

Well smurfladyperson I'm thinking frank (like donnie) is a time traveler and he is "comming to donnie" orginating from a point shortly after his death in the tangant universe. I hope I'm saying that well enough
Do you see what I'm trying to get at?

[smurfette]

So then....Frank would be time-traveling within the tangent universe? That makes more sense I guess, if that's how you meant it....

[cherrybombbaby]

Somebody else put it really well when they said that everything from the moment Donnie was woken by Frank until the moment just before the engine hit him at the end happened in the tangent universe within a nanosecond of real primary universe time. And the POTT says something like the MD can travel freely within the time of the tangent universe, so that explains how MD Frank appeared before Donnie shot ML Frank.
As for where the jet engine came from, it was sent by Donnie in the TU (because everything that happened in the TU happened in the split second before the engine hit Donnie in the PU.
And why did it all happen? The POTT says that tears in the fabric of time happen for no explicable reason...
And I think the purpose of Gretchen's death was just as motivation for Donnie as the living receiver to end the TU and save the PU.

[gretchen]

cherry...
that was a fucking excellent answer.
it's pretty much the most supported theory and you stated it very well.

sometimes people will argue that the engine he returned was from the tangent universe and therefore cannot act as the artifact as it is not from the primary universe.
however, as soon as the engine was ripped off the plane in the beginning of the movie it fell into the TU. the TU FAA guys had to take it away, but it still needed to be returned to the PU to set everything right...
if you have been to the website you will know that the PU FAA guys DID link the engine they found at the end to an airplane. an airplane carrying the exact replica engine that donnie pulled through the tangent and back into the primary.
in the end you see the vortex pull the engine off the plane, and that is donnie returning it from the TU to the PU. in the moment it passes into the PU, everything is how it was and how it HAS BEEN in the PU for just a split second. the artifact is returned, and as you know, kills donnie.
i think...
i think i just confused myself. ah.