"Death Illusion": Do you feel lonely now?

Donnie Darko is the representative of the young people of that era: confused, rebellious, full of curiosity and suspicion about everything. The director used this character to express the thoughts of young people and his own nostalgia. At the same time, he is also pleased with Jake Gyllenhaal's performance, which makes this character more real and full of connotation!

The seemingly harmonious family in the 1980s actually hides endless emptiness. The first time the film sees the Downey family is at a family reunion dinner, where the dinner is pizza. Donny's mother: You have to know that a middle-class American family eating pizza for dinner can be said to be an incompetent stay-at-home mother. Then look at the dispute over politics and Donny's sister talking about Donny's neurological drugs at dinner, and then look at Donny and The mother's cordial "communication" shows that Downey's family has not communicated for a long time. This can be seen from the family's reaction to this happening at the dinner table, as well as the questions and answers between mother and Downey:

"Did you leave toilet paper everywhere in front of Johnson's house?"

"I haven't been to other people's homes since sixth grade!" Downey's father: Will be there? The children laugh at each other when they use "SEX" words at the dinner table; they get up in the middle of the night to watch football games; they forget the name of their son's psychiatrist on the way to the psychological clinic; they admit that they are bad when communicating with their sons A communicative person; chewing food with glassy eyes during dinner with his wife. . . . . He often travels for business and talks eloquently about politicians' tax policies. This shows that he is a man who is busy with work and alienated from his family, but fortunately he is an optimist.

Downey’s sister: There is not much space about Downey’s sister in the film, but most of them are on the phone, watching TV, or working, taking exams, studying, and waiting at other times that we can’t see. Harvard admissions notice. My sister’s ideal is to study hard and work hard to save enough money to go to Harvard with her boyfriend, and not to have children before the age of 30! To put it simply, my sister also lacks communication with her family and is rebellious and wants to leave the house as soon as possible!