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“Deus ex machina…”
This quote from the title character in Richard Kelly’s 2001 film, Donnie Darko, has meaning that extends back thousands of years to the stage of Greek theater. ...
Deus ex machina, in Latin, means “god from the machine. ... When the plot seemed irresolvable, or the protagonist was seemingly doomed, the divine intervention of the deus ex machina was a simple way of allowing the author to end the play however he wanted without a necessarily logical tie to the story.
In order for the audiences to accept these inexplicable outcomes, they would have to take the notion of suspension of disbelief, for example, the willingness of a modern audience to ignore cheesy props or plot holes in a B-movie in order to fully enjoy the story, to great heights. The disregarding of logic surrounding deus ex machina causes it to be a fairly uncommon technique. In Aristotle’s Poetics, he criticizes the use of deus ex machina, saying it demonstrates a lack of talent in plot-writing. According to Aristotle, a plot should be able to be resolved without needing a god to descend upon stage to conveniently fix or explain everything. In modern cinema, deus ex machina has come to describe that lucky clue that comes out of nowhere, the mysterious stranger who appears when all hope is lost to shed light on everything, or any other unsupported plot occurrences that help to resolve the story.
Today, audiences have grown more and more reluctant to accept deus ex machina-plot resolutions. ... Similarly, deus ex machina now carries with it the connotation of campiness and phoniness, as audiences expect an ending that is approached reasonably.
Donnie Darko achieves success despite this connotation. As writer and director, Kelly uses deus ex machina, not as a random way of explaining away an ending, but as a purposeful part of the plot. His influences allow him to craft, stylistically and thematically, a story that ends with a deus ex machina that is deliberate and satisfying. In doing so, he effectively legitimizes the use of deus ex machina as a cinematic technique.
Donnie Darko is not a film that leaves the viewer with all the answers. ...
In the beginning of the film, Donnie is mysteriously drawn in a sleepwalking haze out to the local golf course by an ominous voice. ... Donnie has been given life and death all at once.
Donnie spends the next 28 days of his life trying to discover what is going on while dealing with his own emotional problems. ...
Ominous hints from Frank lead Donnie to thoughts of time travel. ... But after Donnie begins seeing wormholes extending out of people’s chests, like in Sparrow’s book, he asks Monitoff if one of these wormholes could just appear anywhere. Monitoff replies, “highly unlikely,” and that what Donnie was referring to would be more like some kind of “act of God. ... Roberta Sparrow has told Donnie that “every living creature on this earth dies alone. ...
Meanwhile, Frank shows Donnie that he has the capability to do anything he wants. Seemingly, Frank is leading Donnie down a certain, deliberate path. Only after Frank tells Donnie to flood the school, and school is cancelled, does Donnie first meet Gretchen. At one point, Frank reveals the location of local motivational speaker Jim Cunningham’s house to Donnie. ... ” Donnie does so, and firefighters discover a kiddy-porn dungeon in the basement of Cunningham’s home. Frank shows Donnie that he had the power to expose the phony Cunningham for what he truly was, and reiterates that he has the power to do anything he wants. ... Donnie knows the world will soon end. ... Gretchen is knocked down, and Donnie finds himself with a knife to his throat.
Approximate Word count = 3060
Approximate Pages = 12.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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