How do we win at things? I realised that my views on this subject may be different to others after watching the movie Donnie Darko the other night (which did not blow my mind as advertised). Shortly before the end of the movie I said that he won. This was greeted with confusion by the other people who were watching with me, primarily because in the process of doing this, he lost. But in this losing for himself he won in general. This I called a victory for Donnie. Why? I'll try to explain. (NB. Watch it and then judge for yourself, it is a brilliant movie)
The following contains spoilers.
In the action of his loss, he made the choice to lose, thus countermanding anything else that was going to happen later (which due to a temporal anomaly has already happened). In doing so, he died rather than living through all that was going to follow - crime (perpetrated by him), the loss of his sanity (so far as he and others could see) and the death of his girlfriend (who at the time he hadn't met). He decided that the loss of his own life was a price that he was willing to pay for this outcome. He cheated the destiny that he had foreseen for himself. He made the choice to avoid his destiny in an act of freewill that was beyond belief. As he himself discussed, the future is predetermined - he made the choice in the present to stop that from happening.
As for him winning, in the moment shortly before his death, he comes to the realisation that this is the only way to not let everything happen; his victory comes about through the loss of the other party - the destiny. For a victory to occur, you do not need to win, you merely need to not lose when your opposition has. This is the victory that he achieves.
The following contains spoilers.
In the action of his loss, he made the choice to lose, thus countermanding anything else that was going to happen later (which due to a temporal anomaly has already happened). In doing so, he died rather than living through all that was going to follow - crime (perpetrated by him), the loss of his sanity (so far as he and others could see) and the death of his girlfriend (who at the time he hadn't met). He decided that the loss of his own life was a price that he was willing to pay for this outcome. He cheated the destiny that he had foreseen for himself. He made the choice to avoid his destiny in an act of freewill that was beyond belief. As he himself discussed, the future is predetermined - he made the choice in the present to stop that from happening.
As for him winning, in the moment shortly before his death, he comes to the realisation that this is the only way to not let everything happen; his victory comes about through the loss of the other party - the destiny. For a victory to occur, you do not need to win, you merely need to not lose when your opposition has. This is the victory that he achieves.
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