To see the movie Donnie Darko means constantly asking yourself an important question: "What if?" From the beginning, the audience is wondering, "what will happen if Donnie doesn't take his meds?" (Or maybe, right from the start, “what if a car ran over poor Donnie sleeping in the middle of the street?”). Faced with the inciting incident, we wonder "what if Frank hadn't called Donnie out of bed?" (Would we even have a movie?) At the beginning of Act II, the audience has to wonder, "what if the school hadn't closed?" (Would Donnie and Gretchen ever have a chance to fall in love?) Later we are invited to ask, “what if Dr. Monnitoff and Karen Pomeroy were actually given the freedom they need to help Donnie?” (What if Donnie had never burned down Jim Cunningham's house, exposing his child-porn dungeon? What if Sparkle Motion hadn't impressed the Star Search explorer? What if Jim's trial hadn't forced Kitty to give up her homework of chaperone to Rose? What if Elizabeth hadn't gotten into Harvard? What if Frank hadn't gone to drink beer? What if Karen Pomeroy had written something less poetic than "Cellar Door" on her blackboard And so on...) These Crucial moments represent the causal connections that form the film's narrative structure: the choices Donnie makes (or are made on his behalf) that push him toward his goal. If you were to represent the story on a flowchart, you would see how each crucial point moves the story from one clear direction to another. We would also see that at one of these crucial points, the decision tree develops a funny little branch that somehow finds its way back to the beginning of the diagram, essentially creating a whole new universe of possibilities. It's this "multiverse" concept that has blown more than a fair share of minds in... middle of paper... better for having experienced Donnie Darko, even if it never happened. Works Cited Campbell, Joseph and Bill Moyers. "Myths-Dreams-Symbols: Dreams and Myth." Myths-Dreams-Symbols- The psychology of dreams. Network. January 31, 2011.Cowgill, Linda J. The Secrets of Screenplay Structure: How to Recognize and Emulate the Structural Structures of Great Films. Los Angeles, CA: Lone Eagle Pub., 1999. Print.Donnie Darko. Director Richard Kelly. Perf. Jake Gyllenhaal. Newmarket Films, 2001. DVD.Huggins, Nik and Mark Salter. “Director Interview Spotlight: Richard Kelly, Writer and Director of Donnie Darko.” Future films. April 10, 2003. Web. January 30, 2011.McKee, Robert. Story: substance, structure, style and principles of screenwriting. New York: Regan, 1997. Print.Tobias, Scott. "The new cult canon: Donnie Darko." The AV Club. The Onion, February 21, 2008. Web. January 30. 2011.