Hypnotism and NeuroLinguisticProgramming in Donnie Darko
From Barbelith
grant:
Here, I just got this email from a friend (well versed in hypnotism & NLP) who had just seen the movie for the second time:
Whether or not its writer/director knows it, the film uses hypnotic patterns more effectively than some of the hypnotherapists I've met. Unobtrusively, elegantly, comedy. At several points Donnie, and the audience with him, is given what amount to posthypnotic triggers. But it's always beautifully woven into what is an endlessly fascinating piece of art, rather than mindgames being played for the sake of it.
The cues in Donnie Darko are ones to open up new channels, and keep them receptive long after the film itself has finished. If it does finish. I'm still not sure about that. It resonates outside itself, rippling through worlds that already perplex me.
The film opens with an Echo and the Bunnymen song. The band were managed by Bill Drummond, who famously sent them on a tour of Scotland so that their erratic journey would make the shape of a rabbit. Drummond later went on to form the KLF. After a number of hit records influenced by Robert Anton Wilson's fact-and-fiction blending Illuminatus books (I saw Wilson speak in London in the week when the KLF reached Number One), the band faded from view. They re-emerged as the K Foundation, issuing proclamations in newspapers, became involved with the art world, and famously burned a million pounds.
(See: Rabbit Images in Donnie Darko)
In Graham Greene's short story "The Destructors," teenagers lay waste to a house, flood it by damaging the water mains, and set light to a mattress that they know to be stuffed full of cash.
Donnie Darko's English teacher sets the story to his class to read. Donnie describes the money burning as an ironic act. He shortly afterwards floods his school by damaging the water mains.
(See: Graham Greene in Donnie Darko.)
Donnie's English teacher is played by Drew Barrymore. I see her character almost as an angel in the film, quietly encouraging Donnie and by extension supporting his efforts to ultimately create a new world, one in which Donnie himself is dead, but which might just be a more loving place than the world we know thanks to the love that Donnie shares with girlfriend Gretchen. That relationship means that Donnie doesn't, as he feared, die alone. But he's prepared to sacrifice himself for us all, so that every one of us might just experience the love that he's known. Maybe the wave that Gretchen gives to Donnie's mum at the end of the film expresses just that kind of love: this Gretchen has never known Donnie, but she can still reach out to someone who has lost a son.
Drew Barrymore is all kinds of angel, including one of Charlie's. And she's the angel who supported an unknown writer-director, believing in his vision of a very special film, and becoming its executive producer, to allow his fiction to become part of our reality.
I'm going to have to see Donnie Darko again to really piece together all the elements that are 'hypnotic': a full breakdown will have to wait till I've got the DVD. And I'm not stating that the writer/director intended them to be so at all, though there's so much going on that I'd not be surprised if he's familiar with Ericksonian hypnosis and/or NLP. Those approaches emphasise that there's a whole continuum of communication, verbally and otherwise, that all of us utilise: anyone who's good at getting ideas across, or changing your state, can be said to be using hypnotic techniques. With that caveat in mind, here are some elements I did notice:
In the scene in the cinema, there's dialogue about being in a cinema, an experience which the characters share with the audience. You can call that metacommentary if you wish, and go that route. It's also a way of communicating to that unconscious aspect of you which knows that you're in the audience, and if you start to think about that grant yourself the recognition that there's an interesting shift in your own state as you continue to process these words.
So, that's one way to affect the consciousness of the audience. And, whether in that scene or another, there are specific instructions given to process the meaning of the film after sleeping. That's pretty much overt, though without having a copy of the film to hand I can't go into more detail.
Another element is the 'cellar door' phrase that Drew Barrymore has chalked onto the blackboard. It's possible that it functions as a post-hypnotic suggestion, given to Donnie. Certainly, when he sees the cellar door at a critical point, it reminds him of the incident in class, which arguably demonstrates the success of that intention. And is in turn an example of Drew's role as an angel within the film.
There's more. Lots more. But I'm aware of how tentative some of this is without me having the opportunity to examine the film at my leisure. The fact that Donnie Darko is layered so extraordinarily well -- in terms of writing, photography, performance, design, music and so on -- is another way of saying that it is an exquisite trance induction. ...
Oh, and then there's the Infant Memory Generator, which is Donnie and Gretchen's proposed technological version of a well-established hypnotic procedure...Milton Erickson introduced someone called 'the February man' into a client's memories to give her resources that she never experienced in her actual upbringing, for instance...
Reality Is Psychosomatic:
Interesting point on Milton Erickson's "February Man" -- remind anyone of Keifer Sutherland (literally) injecting himself into Rufus Sewell's memories at the end of Dark City? Sutherland's character is named Dr. Schreber, echoing the German "schreibt," to write. He writes and re-writes memories.
(See: Cinema References in Donnie Darko)
mane:
Forgive me if i missed it but no-one seems to have pointed out the obvious reference to 'dirty dancing' sparkle motion and swayse's character. it's as if swayse's character has been transported from that film into 'donnie darko', hence his transformation into a kiddie fiddler. (See: Cinema References in Donnie Darko). also we have the sister laughing at donnie's terrible curse dialogue, barrymore and er guy smiling with awe in the staff room referring to the title of the film, barrymore/e.t /cellar door, the use of words 'Frank' cartoon on board of cunninghams presentation, that imbue images without dialogue with meaning in hindsight like a delayed reaction, donnie piercing the screen with his knife...the list goes on.
remorse:
Major synchronicity. I have been trying to rent this at my local video store, but the last couple of weeks it has been out. I finally get it on Tuesday and bring it over to my friend’s house who I know would enjoy such a film. About halfway through I start to pay attention to the transition panels that state the date and how many days were left. I was pondering that same days date for a quick second and thought we should pause the film for a moment, but decided not to speak up. Just then, my friend paused the movie and looked over with a quizzical expression. "What are you thinking?" I asked. We were both thinking the same exact thing: The scenes in the film were counting down to the actual day’s date we were watching it. We started watching at 10:15pm on the 29th of October (finishing around midnight) and the movie was counting down to October 30th. Now it wasn't to the exact 28:14:23:13(?) time that Frank stated the world would end, but it was definitely brought to our attention.
888
It's interesting to me that so many people have had sort of relexive or synchronous experiences with this movie; thought I'd share mine. I had been anticipating this movie for a year or so before it got "released", having read about it on Knowles' site and so forth. I was perplexed when I heard it had dropped but nothing about it showing in my (the Detroit) area. So, anyway, I had sort of forgotten all about it one night when, desperate to see SOMETHING, I went to the 8 theatre in Birmingham, Michigan to see (um) Sidewalks of New York. And -- damnedest thing -- listed on the ticketbooth sign (but NOT on the Marquee and NOT in the newspaper and NOT online) was Donnie Darko. It was showing at this theatre, but it wasn't advertised anywhere except on the ticketbooth sign.
Strange enough. I vowed to come back a couple nights later with my girlfriend (I wanted her to see it more than my friend, otherwise I'd have bought a ticket right then and there. So, one or two nights later we came back to see it. Bought tickets. I asked the ticket clerk why it wasn't advertised anywhere in the paper or on the phone machine and got a placid "I dunno."
We were directed to Theatre One.
Theatre One was showing K-Pax.
We didn't want to see K-Pax so we went and got one of the kids working at the theatre.
"Our tickets are for Donnie Darko and it says Theatre One on the ticket but the sign over Theatre One says K-Pax."
The usher didn't know what was going on, so they went to get someone else, who didn't know what was going on, who got someone else, who told us, no, theatre one isn't showing K-Pax, Theatre One is showing Donnie Darko.
So we went into Theatre One and after all this rigamarole the movie was already underway and Donnie was riding his bike down from the top of the mountain.
What was even weirder was that they were showing this weirdly-unadvertised film in the huge, central theatre room of an 8-room film complex.
What was weirder beyond that was that besides an older couple up in the back rows, we were the only people in the whole goddamn theatre. So when Donnie and Gretchen go to see ED, we just kind of looked at the screen, then looked at eachother like, WTF?, and then looked back at the screen.
I'm pleased to report that no rabbits showed up in our row, but what a weird night that was.... and for all the movies I've seen over the years, it marks the first and only time I've ever seen a movie show at a theatre but not be advertised on any of the theatre's advertising materials. It was there for another week or so after I saw it, but never got listed on the marquee. Weird. But I guess it was the perfect way to see this movie for the first time.
What a great, great movie.
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