8 Small Details You Only Notice Rewatching Donnie Darko

A brief image that slips by most viewers is a peculiar guest at the Halloween party, who is wearing a Ronald Reagan mask and a white cape while jumping on a trampoline.

The background inclusion of the Reagan-masked person is perfectly apt for a late-80s Halloween party. All over head masks of presidents were first popularised during the end of Richard Nixon's time in office and throughout the Watergate scandal (1972-1974). While it had the hallmarks of a fad, presidential masks have become an iconic pop culture reference. However, like most aspects of the movie, there is more than a surface meaning.

The whole set-piece is a reference to a famous shot of gonzo author Hunter S. Thompson that shows him performing a similar antic in a Nixon mask. The character in the movie wears a Reagan-likeness over the original to make the reference time appropriate for 1988.

Thompson wore the Nixon mask to mock and express hatred towards the 37th President of the United States. In paying homage to the photograph, Richard Kelly draws parallels between both authoritarian presidents, transferring distain through the decades.