Everything has a price

The main similarity I see between Donnie Darko and the themes of existentialism is the power and importance of choice. Basically the movie takes us through a series of choices that determine Donnie's safety and sanity more or less. By the choices he makes, to listen to Frank, and to do what he says, Donnie is determining his future; he is applying meaning to his life. Both the movie and ext. basically defy the concept of fate. This is shown with ext.'s believing that there is no purpose or point to existence beyond what each individual assigns to their own life with the choices they make. Basically, nothing is predetermined except that we will die. This theme is pretty evident in Darko, with the whole premise of the movie being that Donnie can go back in time, to choose to let himself die, rather than those he loves. The choice to die, after he learns about his situation, is where the entire anxiety and schizo-ness of the movie come from. The choice is what makes the difference.

Donnie Danko

As far as this film goes, I don't think it follows the existentialism belief that existence precedes essence, in fact I think this film displays the opposite. I find it difficult to really relate Donnie Darko to The Plague because the story lines are so dramatically different. The Plague deals with a mass extermination of people, which involves a strong will to do what the people can to survive(which demonstrates the existential beliefs); whereas Donnie Darko displays more of an out-of-body intertwining of time. Donnie Darko completely contradicts the existential belief, what I mean by this is that the theme of this film is more essence precedes existence. Donnie's existence almost means nothing but his essence is caught in a weird time warp that I found to be slightly confusing. This movie concludes by showing us how meaningless Donnie's existence is by showing what would have happend if he had never left his bed that night and died in the plane accident. I don't know exactly where I am going with this, other than the fact that I am trying to say I couldn't really find the connection between the three pieces: Donnie Darko, The Plague and Existentialism.

Freedom

Albert Camus' novel The Plague has a real overlaying theme of freedom and how it can be removed. When the plague strikes Oran, it's citizens become cut off from the rest of the world, stuck within the cities walls. However, you also realize that the citizens are never really free being stuck within their same old lives. It's not until a calamity happens that the people realize that they are really confined into one place. This idea of "freedom" throughout the novel is actually quite ironic. When free, the people really are not free. And when their freedom is actually taken away, people start to complain even though their lives before the epidemic were plagued with the rituals of every day life repeating endlessly. Now for Donnie Darko, freedom could be an idea applied to it. Donald may be totally insane with creepy and imaginary friend, but Frank is the main source of Donald's freedom. By telling him to do these things, Don is free to do whatever he wants. It's this freedom that shapes the entire movie and it's events. His mental freedom allows him to interact with the thoughts in his head and even travel in time. In the end of the film, Donnie goes back to when this freedom didn't exist. Avast! Instead of following his free mind away to safety, he dies just like that. I feel that these two freedoms, mental and physical, totally relate between the novel and the film. Donnie's mental freedom is like the citizens freedom before the plague. In both situations, their lives were being lived the ways they wanted. The people of Oran's lives may have been lame and dull, but they still had this freedom to do whatever they want. Donnie works in the same way. No one stops him (not like they could), and the events that unfold are almost like routine for him. Now when that freedom is taken away, things get bad. Donnie dies, the people of Oran go crazy and sad. Or I'm full of shit, either or.

D.D.

I thought this movie was very interesting, but the fact that we watched it in a three day duration made it a little bit more difficult to understand. I thought that it was interesting that Grandma death had so much to do with everything that went on in the book. At first I didn't understand what was going on in the movie. I thought it was kind of frustrating how he went back in time by himself but I think it would have been cool if his girlfriend went back in time with him so he could experience all of his madness with someone else. I didn't really understand the whole bubble coming out of his chest thing, I wouldn't really know what to do with myself if that happened to me but I think that Donnie's situation was frightening and I wouldn't really know how to deal with myself if that happened to me.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko should not be under a existentialist because it does not follow those rules. In Existentialism, the person is his own ruler. They chose their fate through their actions. The only time Donnie Darko chooses his fate is the ultimate one, when he chooses his friends' lives over his own. This is the part that makes me extremely mad because I believe that he chooses the wrong choice. If I knew what was going to happen, I would choose to help the people I love, not decide to kill myself. He believes that he has to make that choice because of Frank, but Frank is only existent because he kill shim at the end, but if he chooses to not Kill Frank, then ultimately he will not have Frank in his life at all. This movie does not agree that Donnie has a choice, he is restricted by his future actions.

Donnie Darko + The Plague

The movie Donnie Darko and the book The Plague are related by all of the destruction that goes down. In Donnie Darko, the plane jet comes crashing down onto the house. Also Donnie’s life just comes crashing down throughout the whole movie. In the book the Plague, the entire population of the town Oran goes through the disease and then has to deal with all the deaths that happen; almost about half of the population if this town dies off because of the plague. The difference between the movie and the book is that only Donnie goes through such destruction and then in the book the whole town has to deal with all the massive destruction.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day, written by David Sedaris, is a delightful, outrageously funny, and enjoyable memoir about the everyday stories that make up Sedaris’ life. While this is a work of non-fiction, it reads much more like a novel; something in which I greatly appreciated, not being a huge non-fiction fan myself. Sedaris’ memoir is a semi-chronological, disjointed story of his life, broken up into separate vignettes depicting specific instances, events, or periods within his life. There are several “over-arching” themes that one could pick out and justify, however, for the most part, each vignette should be taken independently, as its own story, with its own mini-message.
Sedaris tells stories ranging from tales of his childhood speech therapist, his quest to become an artist, his family’s bad luck with pets, to large turds he’s encountered in random toilets and his run-in with a couple of ignorant and clueless tourists. Each story he tells, no matter the subject matter, whether already funny in nature, or of a more serious subject matter, is absolutely uproariously funny. Sedaris could document the day in the life of an ant, and I would die of laughter; side-splitting, laugh-out-loud laughter. He has a true gift for not just storytelling, but telling a story in a really clever and unique way, a way you may never have thought to tell a story. He uses plays on words and rearranges meanings to turn things on their head and explore them in a very cool and entertaining way. One passage in the book discusses his amusing antics with his grade-school speech therapist, Sedaris writes, the sign on the door read, “Speech Therapy Lab, though a more appropriate marker would have read Future Homosexuals of America. We knocked ourselves out trying to fit in but were ultimately betrayed by our tongues…were they also able to spot the future drunks and depressives.” As depicted in the former passage, David Sedaris is homosexual, and that topic is one that often comes up within his “story” in many interesting, subtle, and again, very humorous ways. “’You need to believe you’re playing an actual woman,’ he’d say. ‘Just grab her, [guitar] by the neck and make her holler.’ Mr. Mancini had a singular talent for making me uncomfortable. He forced me to consider things I’d rather not think about—the sex of my guitar, for instance. If I actually wanted to put my hands on a woman, would that automatically mean I could play? On the off chance that sexual desire was all it took, I steered clear of Lisa’s instrument [flute], fearing I might be labeled a prodigy.” Above are just a couple of the endless passages that have left me reeling on the floor with glee.
I most definitely, without a doubt would recommend this book. David Sedaris not only wrote a fabulous work or art, but the fact that it is all true, makes it that much more impressive. I normally think of the non-fiction genre as somewhat dry and non-engaging. However, this book combated that opinion of mine on every level. He truly put everything out there and on the line for this book, revealing every little detail of his life and thought within his psyche. Sedaris has lived a clearly very entertaining and roller-coaster-like life providing him with much subject matter on which to dish. His attitude is so refreshing, a kind of hit-and-miss approach to life and to his work. We all need his attitude, along with a, “Fuck-It Bucket—a plastic pail filled with jawbreakers and bite-sized candy bars (‘when shit brings you down, just say ‘fuck it,’ and eat yourself some motherfucking candy’).” Ah, David Sedaris, you simply kill me.