How the mis-en-scene and sound create meaning in the ‘What Happened to Your Eye?’ scene of ‘Donnie Darko’

How the mis-en-scene and sound create meaning in the ‘What Happened to Your Eye?’ scene of ‘Donnie Darko’

In this essay I am going to analyse two micro features of a film, mis-en-scene and sound, and how they create meaning for an audience. I will be looking at scene 10 ‘What Happened to your Eye?’ which is near the end of the film, from the 2001 Richard Kelly film ‘Donnie Darko’.

The opening shot shows a fluorescent light with the word ‘Aero’ on it, this relates to the idea of the sky and things being aerial in the film such as the plane and the engine that falls from it. Eerie non-diegetic music is being played which follows on from the previous scene, the music has an almost innocent choir sound to it but with a dark underscore which connects to the scene because of the innocence being the children and the dark underscore being Jim, the paedophile judging them. As the camera moves down the words ‘Halloween Frightmare Double Feature’ are shown, this relates to the use of doubles in the film through Donnie’s schizophrenia and there being two planes of existence, the future that should be and the present that shouldn’t be.

The scene cuts to the darkened inside of a cinema where Gretchen and Donnie sit alone. Two lights are shining on the wall that appear as if they are eyes looking down on Donnie, this links to Frank’s eyes which are a motif within the film and also that Donnie is being watched and controlled, the future is monitoring his actions to make sure he does the right thing. All that can be seen is their faces as the lighting is very dim. Tense music in the background begins quietly and becomes louder as the camera zooms towards Donnie for a close up, this builds the atmosphere that something is about to happen. The sound of increasing banging can be heard coming from the cinema screen adding to the feeling that something is about to happen and building the anticipation of the audience. The cinema screen shows a sequence from Evil Dead with a car pulling up to an old house with a broken fence.

Choir music begins as the camera zooms in on Donnie then pulls out to a long shot showing Donnie, Gretchen and Frank with the dark music in the background. Frank is dressed in a very ominous bunny suit that is dark and metallic looking, very similar to the look of the engine at some points. Donnie asks Frank, “Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?” to which Frank replies “Why do you wear that stupid man suit?” This shows that Donnie is something more than a man at this point he is the living receiver, the one who is chosen to guide the artefact (the engine) back to the primary universe. The background music is still playing with very dark and haunting melodies and the deep sound of a woman’s voice which adds to the ominous and macabre feel of the scene and the situation.

When Frank removes his head piece Donnie instantly looks saddened and confused, this is because he, as the living receiver, still has memories of what he has done in the tangent universe he is stuck in so knows that somehow he is responsible for Frank not having an eye anymore. The look of Frank’s eye in the dark is very similar to the way the lights on the wall look which carries as a motif through the film that the eyes are the windows to the soul and Frank’s are black and lifeless showing he is not really a person but a hallucination of Donnie’s sent to keep him on the right path so he can fulfil his duty and correct the wrong of him not dying.

As Donnie and Frank talk only half of their faces are shown in the light the other is hidden from view. This further explains the ‘double’ situation. There are two universes, the tangent one they are in now and the primary universe which is the restored universe when it is in balance. There are two different Donnie’s, the one who dies when the engine falls on him and the one who lives and changes everybody’s lives in the process. Also there are two Frank’s, one who is Elizabeth’s boyfriend and the other who is the manipulated dead sent from the primary universe to make sure the living receiver does his task in the tangent universe.

The camera cuts to the movie screen as a bright portal begins to open in the centre of it, it looks almost heavenly like the bright light to be seen before death. As the portal opens in the screen the music continues but the sound of a clock ticking can be heard, Donnie is running out of time to correct the situation he is in and make things normal again. The clock begins to chime signalling Donnie has action to do, he needs to move now that the time is right. The portal appears between three images on the screen, a clock, eyes and the moon. This shows that Donnie is running out of time and he has to see and understand what is happening with the engine that is falling from the sky. The screen burns away like paper and the image of Jim Cunningham’s house is shown. Frank whispers ‘Burn it to the ground.’ and has seemingly disappeared from the next shot.

Before leaving Donnie pulls his hood up, this is to hide himself and shield himself from what he is about to do. By cutting himself off from everything then it’s okay for him to commit these crimes as long as he feels it is right, the hood closes away everybody else’s opinions and leaves him alone. As he turns to face Gretchen the side of his face that has been hidden is revealed, he has two sides and he is showing a different one to Gretchen. It allows the audience to understand how Donnie feels about Gretchen as he seems to have a completely different persona for her compared to the way he treats his family and people at school. The scene cuts to Donnie leaving the cinema with the music still playing in the background, the camera pans upwards towards the cinema listing showing ‘The Evil Dead’ which connects to Jim being evil and Frank being dead, and ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ which when taken literally is what Donnie is doing, before laying down his life to restore peace and make others happy, like Christ did, he is doing one last thing that he feels he should which is burning down Jim’s house.

The music changes as the scene cuts to the high school talent show. A very floating and more innocent melody is being played as Cherita dances dressed completely in white showing her purity as a person. The scene then cuts to backstage showing ‘Sparkle Motion’ dressed in silver metallic outfits, which references to the look of the engine as well. Out of the darkness in the corner Jim appears giving him an almost horror villain entrance. He is the unknown bad guy and the irony of him being around children is shown through his sudden appearance from the dark.

The light music is still playing as the scene cross cuts from Donnie stood outside of Jim’s house and Cherita still dancing, the juxtaposition of the two is shown by the light and open clothing Cerita is wearing as she dances under a bright light while Donnie is hidden and wrapped in dark clothing stood with no light in the night so depicts a much darker figure. Cherita’s song ends as she runs off the stage to applause. Jim arrives on stage after her and introduces the new act of young children. The stage is in darkness with flashing photographic lights, this is a subtle hint at Jim’s fixation with children and taking pictures of them. The lights come up but there is still a lot of silhouette showing them in a dimmer light than Cherita, showing them as Jim’s dark thoughts towards them. The song being played is ‘Notorious’ which is what Jim will be, he will become tarnished when he is found out for being a paedophile. Some of the lines also coincide with this, ‘Lay your seedy judgements’ as Jim is about to be judged by Donnie and the by the world when the truth is revealed.

The scene then cross cuts to Donnie’s hooded silhouette as he walks towards a picture of Jim which is bathed in a godly light and looks disturbing against the darkness. The line ‘That’s why I’ve done it again’ is sang just before Donnie is shown, this is Donnie’s second offence, the first was flooding the school. The music slowly fades back to the choir music that has a disturbing feel and is more fitting to Donnie’s character. Donnie begins pouring a flammable liquid around the house making almost graceful dance like movements with his arms, this is his performance while the girls are doing there’s. The scene cross cuts between Donnie and Sparkle Motion showing the difference in the cold look of sparkle motion and the hot colours and fire of Jim’s house. The contrast between the joy and happiness of Sparkle motion where cheering can be heard over the music, and the destruction that Donnie is doing is shown in how Donnie is shadowed while the others are in full light. The scene continues cross cutting between the enjoyment at the school and the wreckage at the house. The painting of Jim is shown curling and burning away giving him the appearance of the devil himself, as if hells fire is judging him as well.

As the scene cross cuts once more to Cherita sat alone it is the contrast between the three that is shown, while Sparkle motion are only young girls there look is tarnished by the eyes of Jim making that scene colder and feel wrong because of the way the children are dancing when a paedophile is hidden watching them. Donnie’s scene is full of flames and anger as he takes his judgement and punishes Jim for what he has done. While Cherita is still dressed all in white and is sat alone, she is a single figure of virtue as she is the only one not touched or effected by these things, she remains innocent but lonely because of it.