are manipulated by...........whom?

god

the "manipulated dead" are those that dies "grechen. frank" that wouldnt have died is donnie had died

They are manipulated (and this appears to be a hugely GOOD thing, to be manipulated here) by Donnie Darko, because when they (Gretchen, Frank) die that's the end of their fate. But when Donnie turns back the time and dies himself, he manipulates those two dead people by "giving them" another life.

THE MANIPULATED DEAD The Manipulated Dead are more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Universe, they are able to contact the Living Receiver through the Fourth Dimensional Construct. The Fourth Dimensional Construct is made of Water. The Manipulated Dead will manipulate the Living Receiver using the Fourth Dimensional Construct (see Appendix A and B). The Manipulated Dead will often set an Ensurance Trap for the Living Receiver to ensure that the Artifact is returned safely to the Primary Universe.

‘The Manipulated Dead are more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Universe, they are able to contact the Living Receiver through the Fourth Dimensional Construct’. **Frank is able to travel through time to help Donnie, Gretchen helps him less obviously by being responsible for a series of coincidences that leads up to the scene at Grandma Death’s and inevidebly the restoration of the Primary Universe**. ‘The Fourth Dimensional Construct is made of Water’. **The time-spear things and the mirror/portal Donnie sees Frank in in his bedroom** ‘The Manipulated Dead will often set an Ensurance Trap for the Living Receiver to ensure that the Artifact is returned safely to the Primary Universe’ . *********************************************************************** Frank’s whole reason for appearing to Donnie; he is setting up the restoration of the Primary Universe. The chain of events leading up to the restoration of the PU is a series of these ‘ensurance traps’ (not in perfect order, I’m trying to get this finished quickly): 1. Donnie floods school and starts going out with Gretchen (“I’m glad school was cancelled… or we would never have had this conversation”). 2. Donnie finds wallet (“Now you know where he lives”) and burns down house. 3. Cunnigham’s child-porn is exposed, which later keeps Karen at home for campaign, thus Donnie’s Mum has to go away with the girls. 4. Frank shows D the “water spears” which he follows to the gun he later shoots him in the eye with. 5. Monitoff gives Donnie “Philosophy of Time Travel”. 6. Sparkle Motion win contest and go away. 7. Gretchen’s Mum leaves so that Gretchen will go to Donnie’s house, and then to her death. 8. Donnie sends a letter to Roberta Sparrow, she is reading it when the red car comes speeding up the road, causing it to swerve to miss her, and to run Gretchen over. These are just some of the coincidences that Frank, Gretchen and others set in motion to restore the Primary Universe. ************************************************************************ ‘If the Ensurance Trap is successful, the Living Receiver is left with no choice but to use his Fourth Dimensional Power to send the Artifact back in time into the Primary Universe before the Black Hole collapses upon itself.’

I like Csilla's explanation. That makes sense.

here is a great interpretation of the film, a little more detail on what serbia and csilla's have said.
http://www.werkkrew.com/2009/08/11/donnie-darko-an-interpretation/

okay, so, i kind of think that it doesn't make much sense that gretchen is considered among the "manipulated dead". her dead body was never manifested to manipulate... and really, think of how many people die every minute? many, many people must have died and been born within this tangent universe. frank manipulated donnie's life because donnie killed him. that's just me, though.

and i think that everyone, living and dead, were manipulated by the force in this movie, whether it is to be seen as god or fate or whatnot, whose sole purpose was to ensure the safety of the universe. everything was manipulated obviously to ensure that safety, hence the ensurance trap. but it also explains the whole freak out... "sometimes i doubt your commitment to sparkle motion". why was it really such a big deal? i think that was the manipulation speaking. and the therapist... very possibly, hypnotism would have never come to mind in the primary universe.

everyone would've been like what the fuck just happened after watching the movie if kelly didn't explain the main points of the movie. but glad he did and glad that everyone can give a simpler explanation of the events

yea sarah, the hypnotism is really really smart. she said she wanted to try something different out.. meaning after already being in the tangent universe once already and remember some details she herself thought of a bigger way to tell donnie he has to save the world.

@ Sarah

Gretchen is Manipulated Dead and plays as an important role as as Frank does. She doesn't appear to him in the same way as Frank because it would be too weird for Donnie. She only enters Donnie's life within the Tangent universe and is the pivotal charachter in the Ensurance Trap. Just because we only see her in living form doesn't mean she isn't fulfilling her role as Manipulated Dead

Only people who die that are connected to the Living Receiver become Manipulated Dead.