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Today's deep thoughts from a new toy I was exploring. A friend got me into Donnie Darko last year. This dialogue from the extended version is a conversation between Donnie and his English teacher Mrs. Pommeroy. Mrs. Pommeroy is later fired, though I think she resigns first. As I recall the American flag is prominent in the classroom. The scene is not critical of primary/secondary education systems and, I suppose, to increase the believability of a high school student-teacher relationship, was cut. The dialogue did add to the movie, however, since it builds Donnie's outsider status and plants the seeds for the destruction of the school (and other things). And, of course, who are the rabbits?
Tagged: Donnie Darko, wikiquote, film
[Discussing Watership Down]
Karen Pommeroy: This could be the death of an entire way of life, the end of an era...
Donnie: Why should we care?
Karen Pommeroy: Because the rabbits are us, Donnie.
Donnie: Why should I mourn for a rabbit like he was human?
Karen Pommeroy: Are you saying that the death of one species is less tragic than another?
Donnie: Of course. The rabbit's not like us. It has no... keen look at something in the mirror, it has no history books, no photographs, no knowledge of sorrow or regret... I mean, I'm sorry, Miss Pommeroy, don't get me wrong; y'know, I like rabbits and all. They're cute and they're horny. And if you're cute and you're horny, then you're probably happy, in that you don't know who you are and why you're even alive. And you just wanna' have sex, as many times as possible, before you die... I mean, I just don't see the point in crying over a dead rabbit! Y'know, who... who never even feared death to begin with.
Tagged: Donnie Darko, wikiquote, film
Posted 17 March 2006 at 11:21.
A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.
Comments:
Sounds like Donnie didn't know *#&@! about rabbits. We, of course, know better.
3:50 PM, March 17, 2006
It could be taken that way. In the film he learns more about them, though it's hard to say for sure what. It appears at the end that everyone - except Donnie - will be able to try things over again, but it's hard to escape the suspicion that they won't act better. The difference the second time will be that Donnie isn't there to point out the other characters' hypocrisies.
The rabbits seem to be allegorical here. In this case, without knowing more about the rabbits, I couldn't really pretend to know better. One never has enough information to know for sure.
8:40 PM, March 17, 2006
Not having seen the movie, I suppose I shouldn't comment, except that in this scene Donnie makes extreme assumptions about another species based on media/cultural stereotypes about it. It's unlikely a scriptwriter would have him say something similar about cats or dogs. Sure, rabbits like sex, but their reproductive systems are set up so the female is almost certain to get pregnant after mating, which means their sexuality has a different result than human or other carnivore/omnivore sexuality (a large population to make up for losses to predation). This doesn't make them lack feelings (affection, fear, etc.). They seem to be highly emotional creatures in general, and in a largely positive way.
But you know that. As for their use in the film, who knows.
6:33 PM, March 19, 2006
I have only saw the original version and not the extended. I really think that given the overall context of the movie, this seen would have actually helped/made sense. I like the original version, but I have heard that watching the "Director's Cut" helps to understand what the hell is going on much better.
2:40 AM, March 20, 2006
Yes to both. I only saw the Director's Cut so can't say how I would have felt about the movie if I hadn't seen this scene. It is certainly hard to imagine the movie without it. And, there are certainly stereotypes about rabbits here, which the scene does not make clear to be stereotypes and not realities. There are no real rabbits at all, and it seems clear (unless you weren't watching very closely) that, whatever might be happening, Donnie is talking about people here and not rabbits.
In any case, Donnie is a somewhat maladjusted high school student who is more aware than most of his classmates, which makes him feel out of place, but I wonder if he would have made that statements had he actually known any rabbits. I suppose he deserves some benefit of the doubt.
1:02 PM, March 21, 2006
A mildly maladjusted high school student with a rabbit (as opposed to a severely maladjusted one, which is another matter) would probably conclude that rabbits are better company than humans. Maybe Donnie needed a good rabbit.
7:43 PM, March 22, 2006
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