What is the symbolism of the trampoline in Donnie Darko?!
Question: I have been analyzing Donnie Darko forever and there are some questions i have unanswered. My soul will not rest in peace until I have fulfilled my understanding of this movie entirely, for it is what I live by.
Answers: I have been analyzing Donnie Darko forever and there are some questions i have unanswered. My soul will not rest in peace until I have fulfilled my understanding of this movie entirely, for it is what I live by.
The trampoline represent the character leaving one plane (level surface) and reaching another, just like the airplane engine leaving the alternate existence, and reaching the one that is in the movie.
A deep movie, which completely transformed my adolescency.
The scene with the Ronald Reagan mask is taken from a photo of legendary gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson, doing just the same thing. I'd imagine director Richard Kelly is a big fan, and he was simply paying homage to a great man. Saying that, Hunter may have passed away around the time of Donnie Darko being filmed, although perhaps not.
That's a fact by the way, not interpretation.
I love this movie and here's my take on it:
Donnie essentially went back in time to save his girlfriend because he knew what was coming and he sacrificed his own life to save Gretchen, and ultimately the tangent universe.
Future Frank (apparently a past friend of a friend) told Donnie all that would happen and it all hinged on the jet engine crash, (so since he was warned that time was looping back around to that event), either Donnie stays in bed, dies, and his girlfriend lives (he wouldn't have met her had he been in bed in the first place AND she wouldn't have died if she hadn't met HIM), OR he stays out of the house and lives but Gretchen dies.
Really, it's a love story where the protagonist sacrifices himself for his woman.
As for WHERE future Frank came from, there's no clear answer to that other than the fact that he might have discovered time travel like Donnie did OR it was Donnie who accidentally discovered time travel and hence had these (apparently) uncontrolled visitations with future Frank who apparently was trying to right his wrong by giving Donnie the warning about staying in bed when the jet engine crashes into the house.
Apparently, Donnie was meant to die as far as I can tell and meant to meet Gretchen. But, he couldn't live WITH Gretchen. Pretty weird huh?
I'm not aware of any symbolism with the trampoline but there is recurrent unicorn imagery that (to me) is a repetition of the spiral image since unicorns have a single spiral horn. If I had to guess, I'd say the trampoline business was a visual mirror of the whole "time jumping" scenario that was going on.