Donnie Is Jesus

The movie does have strong relations to the characters in the Bible. Let's start with the most obvious of characters; Donnie is a Christ figure. At the climax of the film, Donnie, having seen through a portal to the future (the 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds in which most of the movie takes place), decides to stay in bed even though he knows the jet engine is headed straight for him. Donnie embraces certain death, knowing that he is saving the lives of people, even Jim Cunningham. Other characters receive "salvation", namely his future girlfriend Gretchen. He makes this self-sacrifice just as Jesus did, when he did not have to.

Gretchen, then, symbolizes all people who came after Jesus' time because of the notion that Jesus died for us even before he knew us. To strengthen Donnie's Christ-like character, Gretchen, who has “a relationship with Jesus Christ”, asks him near the beginning of the movie, "Donnie Darko... what kind of name is that? Sound's like a superhero...," to which Donnie replies, "What makes you think I'm not?" Also, at one point in the movie, Donnie goes up to Charita and puts his hands on her, saying "I promise that one day everything's going to be better for you," in essence healing her. Another notable moment occurs in the movie theater; Donnie asks Frank why he wears “that stupid bunny suit”, to which he rhetorically retorts, asking, “Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?” implying Donnie’s superhuman nature.

So if Donnie is Christ and Gretchen is everyone else, then who is Grandma Death? Brace yourself... Grandma Death is God. First of all, she is the oldest one in the film by far, she also writes a book which enables Donnie to "save the world". What does she do all day? She walks back and forth... to and from her mailbox. What is she checking for? Prayers. She tells Donnie that "Every living thing on Earth dies alone." So how could she be God if she apparently doesn't believe in God? Well, that is not why she says that to Donnie. She tells him that because "Jesus" hasn't saved the world. Remember, these 28 days of the future are the world full of pain, suffering, and death which would occur if Donnie does not choose to sacrifice himself. Grandma Death (G.D. ... resembles the word God, doesn't it?) used to be a nun before she quit and began to teach science. As strange as it seems, Richard Kelly wrote about this development to manifest his belief that God and science can coexist with a healthy relationship - God created science.

So now that we've established Roberta Sparrow as God, there must be a Satan. At first, I did not believe Frank was Satan, for he did, in a way, try to save Donnie at his introduction. By this same ticket, however, this is exactly what Satan would want to do. By “saving” Donnie, there would be no holy sacrifice. We see the world (through the portal which Donnie views the future of