Donnie Darko Review

In the movie Donnie Darko, there are clear references to psychology. The main character, Donnie Darko is a schizophrenic teen that has potent hallucinations. In the movie Donnie has a psychiatrist, Dr. Thurman, who psychoanalyzes him and provides him with therapy and medication. The entire movie essentially revolves around Donnie Darko’s psychological disorder, schizophrenia. It is his hallucinations of a man in a rabbit costume that keep the movie going. In one point in the movie, Dr. Thurman uses the famous psychological therapy approach called hypnosis on Donnie which helped to reveal some of Donnie’s inner desires, or manifest content.
The movie Donnie Darko can leave many impressions. One controversial issue with this movie is that its true meaning (which I found out after watching the movie online) is impossible to decipher unless you have read the novel that the movie was built around, The Philosophy of Time Travel. When I first watched the movie with no background information I was confused at the overall concept but the most apparent theme that I got is that although people are greatly similar in many physical aspects, the mind differs immensely among people. After watching the director’s vivid portrayal of the schizophrenic, fictional character, Donnie Darko, I have a deeper understanding of how other people, more notably psychologically affected people, execute bottom-up processing and act to different stimuli. The explicit visions of Donnie Darko in the movie are perfect examples; the way the Donnie Darko perceives his world is very different from what you might typically expect a ‘normal’ person to perceive their world. The relevance of this lies in the realization that everybody thinks differently. Donnie Darko’s hallucinations were induced by an excess of dopamine in his brain he is still of an example of how people, schizophrenic or not posses unique mental sets. I think that the movie is very powerful. After watching the movie I had to really sit