The Lynch Film

by Rebecca Paiva
1997

Content

I. Introduction
II. Technology
III. Iconography
o Smoke and Fire
o Electricity
o Red Drapes
o Dogs
o Trains
IV. Narrative
V. Stars
VI. Bibliography

I. Introduction
What is genre? Most people think of genre as a film type; "Horror", for example,
includes everything from The Birds to The Night of the Living Dead. However,
this type of classification is not the only denotation of the word; the term "genre"
encompasses much more than the sections of a video store. Hayward (160)
writes, "... genre does not refer just to film type but to spectator expectation and
hypothesis." True, these are both important components to genre, but they are
also not enough to define it. Audiences come to all films with expectations and
hypotheses; expecting a happy ending is not grounds for a "happy ending
genre." Moreover, audiences may expect a happy ending to certain kinds of
horror movies (Scream ) but not for others (Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)
Then, what factors must be fulfilled to classify a group of films as a genre?
Hayward (165) believes "[there are] four essential component parts to genre:
technology, narrative, iconography, and stars."

Keeping this in mind, it is easy to see how certain directors create films that fall
into their own genre. Hitchcock is an example of this phenomenon; his films
share similar aspects of the aforementioned essential parts to genre. If one
were to rent a Hitchcock film they had never seen before, they could still have a
somewhat accurate idea of what they would be getting.

A frequent misunderstanding of the director genre is the concept of "auteurism."

An auteur is a director who writes his own screenplays. While auteurism often
coincides with the director genre (as in the case of Stanley Kubrick and the
Kubrick film), the two terms are not interchangeable. A director who writes his
own screenplays might produce films that are too dissimilar to fit into one genre;
likewise, non-auteur directors like Hitchcock have certainly established their
own genre. Auteur and genre may be complementary, but not necessarily
simultaneous.

This brings us to David Lynch. David Lynch is an established auteur; in fact, not
only does he write his screenplays, but he has been involved with every level of
his films production at one point or another: sound design, editing, camera
work, lighting, casting, special effects, music, etc. His hands-on approach to
every aspect of his films has helped to tie them all together with a common
thread. Perhaps Lynch is an example of how extreme auteurism naturally leads
to the director genre.

It is still necessary, however, to dissect Lynch's films to ensure that there are
enough similarities of the four essential parts for his films to classify as a genre.

II. Technology
Perhaps the most obvious element of technology is cinematography. Bizarre
camera angles are a favorite of Lynch. He will position the camera in a far,
overhead corner of the room; shoot the scene from under a table; or even
through a crystal ball (as in Wild at Heart.) He is very concerned with creating
beautiful images. A painter before he was a filmmaker, Lynch prefers
nonsensical images that evoke feeling to words that describe. As a result, often
his cinematography is literally a "moving picture." (Buzz)

Fadeouts and slow motion are also prevalent; they both contribute to the
abstract, under-the-surface mood Lynch strives for. Some of the more
interesting sequences include the opening of The Elephant Man, a sex scene in
Blue Velvet, and a flashback sequence in Twin Peaks. In the Elephant Man's
opening scene, we witness the "making" of the Elephant Man: in slow motion, a
mad elephant strikes down and attacks a pregnant woman; her head rears from
side to side as she screams. He sound, as well as the visual, has been slowed
down, so the woman seems to be roaring in agony, while the elephant sounds
like a demon from the pit of hell. In Blue Velvet, Jeffrey gives in to Dorothy's
pleading "hit me" during sex, and finds his primitive instincts aroused. They
proceed to have sex in a slow motion sequence, their thrusting and sounds of
their groans not unlike that of wild animals. In Twin Peaks, the image of Mrs.
Palmer running down the stairs under a ceiling fan was repeated many times in
slow-motion; this contributed a dream-like quality to the event, especially
significant because it was right before she found out her daughter had been
killed. There are many more slow motion sequences, too numerous to mention,
that create similar moods of dreamlike confusion, horror, or primal drives.

Lighting techniques are also very similar in Lynch's films; he has an affinity for
dark vs. light settings. Sometimes, this can resemble film noir techniques (as in
Blue Velvet and Lost Highway), or it can suggest an unyielding world of
darkness and confusion (Eraserhead, Industrial Symphony #1, Wild at Heart),
or it can even hint at a dark underbelly of an idyllic setting (Twin Peaks, Fire
Walk With Me, Blue Velvet.) But whatever the metaphor behind the lights, a
Lynch buff quickly gets accustomed to oddly-shaped shadows, dark rooms,
slats of sunshine, and strobe lights.

III. Iconography
Lynch's films are replete with symbols. As I said before, he is preoccupied with
images, so he often uses them as representative icons of other, hidden
meanings. A basic example of this can be noticed at the start of Blue Velvet.
Jeffrey Beaumont's father has a stroke while watering the lawn. Before it
happens, the hose gets wrapped around a metal extension of the faucet and
tightens. The water pressure builds and builds; all of a sudden, Mr. Beaumont
reaches for the base of his skull and collapses. In this way, Lynch paralleled the
water pressure in the hose to the blood pressure that collapsed a vessel in Mr.
Beaumont's brain. Lynch uses this symbolic technique constantly; some of his
frequent icons include smoke, fire, electricity, red drapes, dogs, and trains.

Smoke and Fire:

Smoke comes before fire, and Lynch acknowledges that fact. He used smoke in
most of his early films as a symbol for obscurity, darkness, and confusion.
Henry Spencer practically gets lost in the smoke cloud which envelops him in
Eraserhead; dirty, foul smoke follows John Merrick in his misfortune during
Elephant Man. In these examples, Lynch uses the connotations of smoke quite
simply. Later, in Wild at Heart, the protagonists emphasize the act of smoking
as an important habit, regardless of the fact that their parents died of smoking
related diseases. Seen in this light, smoke relates to self-destruction, the inner
darkness of a person.

Lynch began using fire as a symbol, starting with Elephant Man and maintaining
its presence in all subsequent works. In some films, it's a symbol for anger and
hostility. In this case, fire is associated with abusive or evil characters, such as
Bytes in Elephant Man, Frank in Blue Velvet, and Marietta in Wild at Heart. In
other works, fire is connected with the supernatural. The spirits in the woods of
Twin Peaks were prone to saying "Through the darkness of future's past, the
magician longs to see. One chants out between two worlds, Fire, walk with me."
Here, fire seems to create a doorway between spirit worlds. In the final episode
of the series, BOB (an evil spirit) removed Windom Earls soul; it escaped from
the base of his skull in a stream of fire. In the film Fire Walk With Me, the letters
"IS 432" appear on a license plate; this is a reference to Isaiah 43:2, which
reads:

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;
And through the rivers,
They shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire,
You shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
Also, the "Mystery Man" character in Lost Highway dwells in a flaming shack on
an old forgotten highway. This character indeed appears to be a spirit, demon,
or a similar entity (although his origin is unclear.)

Electricity:
Electricity, in the world of David Lynch, appears to represent life and/or the
presence of it. At the end of Eraserhead, a sperm-like being pulls the plug in
Henry's apartment, causing Henry to die and go to Heaven. After Jeffrey kills
Frank in Blue Velvet, the camera focuses on a pair of blue lightbulbs which
immediately burn out. Leland Palmer smashes a TV, causing electric sparks to
fly, just before he kills Teresa Banks in Fire Walk With Me. Also in that film,
Laura is haunted by mysterious blue lights in the days before her death; they
appear in her bedroom, dancing across the ceiling. Also, entities from the Black
Lodge travel across electric wires from their world to ours, creating a vibrating
sound.

Red Drapes:
Red drapes appear in almost all of Lynch's films: in the radiator in Eraserhead;
at the carnivals in Elephant Man; in Dorothy's apartment and at the "Slow Club"
in Blue Velvet; in Jacques' Cabin, the Black Lodge, the Roadhouse, and One-
Eyed Jack's brothel in Twin Peaks; in Fred and Renee's house in Lost Highway.
In all of these instances, the drapes appear in a location of darkness and
mystery. The drapes indicate that something might be "hidden" there.

Dogs:
Lynch's depiction of dogs is very interesting. In most films, the dog is pictured
as an ally, as "man's best friend." However, Lynch's dogs are rather dark and
twisted. A wonderful example is given by the Log Lady, in an introduction to an
episode of Twin Peaks: "Is a dog man's best friend? I had a dog. The dog was
large. It ate my garden, all the plants, and much earth. The dog ate so much it
died." This is hardly an image of an ideal pet. Neither are other examples he
presents to us: a disgusting assembly of pups sucking on their mother in the
middle of the X's living room floor in Eraserhead; also from that film, dogs
running after Henry Spencer on the street; a vicious black dog barking in Fire
Walk With Me; a catatonic dog on the sidewalk in Blue Velvet; a dog running off
with a dismembered hand in Wild at Heart.

Trains:
In all Lynch's films, trains are something to be wary of. Mean dogs lurk near the
train tracks in Eraserhead, and whenever the train goes by, it rocks the X's
house, sometimes causing them to lose electricity (life). The train in Elephant
Man belches putrid black smoke, and John Merrick is pursued by an angry mob
in the train station. Frank Booth, an unsavory character in Blue Velvet, lives next
to the train tracks. Laura Palmer is killed in an abandoned train car in Fire Walk
With Me.
IV. Narrative
The narrative aspects of Lynch's works, including themes, characters, and
situations, are all very similar. For instance, Lynch is very taken with the theme
of light/dark or good/evil. A prime example of this is the divided heart necklace
Laura Palmer wears in Twin Peaks. Laura herself is a divided heart; she is a
good person, was homecoming queen, and seems pure on the surface -- but
she is also into deviant sexual practices, is addicted to cocaine, likes being a
prostitute, has slept with half the town (male and female). A further light/dark
view of Laura Palmer can been seen when comparing Laura to her cousin
Madeleine (Maddy) Ferguson. Maddy is innocent and pure, while Laura is not.
Both characters were played by the same actress (Sheryl Lee), except that
Laura was blonde and Maddy was a brunette. They may be seen as two sides
to the same person.

Lynch liked that method of establishing duality so much that he used it again in
Lost Highway. Patricia Arquette plays two roles: Renee, the raven-haired,
bored, unfaithful wife of Fred Madison; and also Alice, the platinum blonde
porno star who begins a lurid affair with Fred's alter-ego, Pete. Each version of
Arquette has strengths and flaws that the other character lacks; the two are
polar opposites, yet nearly identical.

In Twin Peaks, Lynch created the notion of the white and black lodges, the
former a spiritual place of love, peace and harmony, the latter a place of evil
and corruption. In addition, when humans entered the Black Lodge, they met up
with their own "doppleganger", or "shadow-self." If people were unable to face
their evil twin with perfect courage, the doppleganger annihilated their soul.

Lynch widened the dark/light motif beyond the scope of individuals and applied
it to locations. The town of Twin Peaks has a "shadow-self" in Fire Walk With
Me -- the town of Deer Meadow. Twin Peaks was a beautiful, placid setting --
people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the air was clean. Deer
Meadow, however, was not so idyllic. The police were belligerent and rude (we
later find that the deputy is a cocaine dealer), the diner food is rotten, and all the
characters we meet live in a dumpy trailer park.

Another theme that Lynch is taken with is the loss of innocence. Jeffrey
Beaumont, in Blue Velvet, began the movie as an innocent boy who begins
investigating the case of an amputated ear he finds in a field. As the film
develops, and he gets involved with shady characters, he finds that he has a
darker side: he enjoys voyeurism and rough sex. His loss of innocence
culminates in a scene where he reflects upon events of the previous night, and
he weeps brokenly at his own actions.

John Merrick, in The Elephant Man, is a sweet, gentle man despite his many
hardships. However, he loses part of his innocence one night when a hospital
guard brings in a group of drunks to jeer at him. In an emotionally wrenching
scene, the marauders pour alcohol into John's mouth, dance him around the
room, and hold a mirror to his face. John, for the first time, sees his hideous
exterior and screams in self-realization, a knowledge that alters him.
Another theme that Lynch focuses on is abuse and violation, and specifically,
the idea that the victims enjoy it. As Laura Palmer is being raped by BOB in Fire
Walk With Me, she moans in pleasure. In an audiotape, she later confesses "I
think he tried to kill me ... but as you know, I really got off on it." In Wild at Heart,
Bobby Peru grabs and fondles Lula while her lover is away, promising to let her
go if she whispers "Fuck me." His hand runs over her breast and down to her
vagina; as he probes her, her mouth opens in silent ecstasy and her hand
slowly opens. In Blue Velvet, Frank brutally slaps Dorothy to the floor. As her
head reels, a euphoric smile spreads across her face.

Lynch also has certain character types that appear in many films. "Physically
different" characters: the disabled, freaks, physical oddities, etc. appear in all
his works. The baby in Eraserhead looks like a cross between a fetus and a
lizard. Besides the severely deformed John Merrick in Elephant Man, there are
numerous other carnival freaks who help him escape from Bytes. In this film, in
fact, Lynch gives the freaks a nobility that many "normal" characters lack. Other
"physically different" characters include Grace Zabriskie in Wild at Heart, the
one-armed man in Twin Peaks, Double-Ed in Blue Velvet, etc.

The "mysterious" character is also frequently spotted. The lady in the radiator,
from Eraserhead, was definitely strange. She appeared to Henry with dreams of
heaven -- she was an ideal that he strove for. In Twin Peaks, both the giant and
the dwarf appeared from a spiritual realm to give Agent Cooper advice; in
addition, the clairvoyant Log Lady lived right in town. And in Lost Highway, the
"Mystery Man" appeared to Fred Madison -- it wasn't even clear whether he was
trying to help or hinder.

All these odd characters appear to the protagonists; this is typical of Lynch's
"bizarre" aspects in his films. This is a further extension of Lynch's dependence
and affinity for images; he doesn't care so much whether things make sense, so
long as they are beautiful and/or intriguing. As he says:

In Hollywood ... they're making ... stories that are understood by people ... and
they become worried if even for one small moment something happens that is
not understood by everyone. But what's so fantastic is to get down into areas
where things are abstract and where things are felt, or understood in an intuitive
way, that you can't put a microphone to somebody at the theatre and say "Did
you understand that?" but they come out with a strange fantastic feeling ...
(Lynch)

In accordance with this purpose, Lynch often creates situations which are
seemingly nonsensical, but evoke powerful feeling. This type of scenario
appears in most of his films: in Eraserhead, Henry Spencer enters his radiator,
his head falls off, and it falls to the street below where a young boy picks it up.
The boy takes Henry's head to a factory where they make erasers out of it. In
the next scene, Henry has his head back; it had been a dream, perhaps? Who
knows? In Twin Peaks, Agent Cooper has a dream where he enters a red room
with a black and white zigzag floor; he meets a dwarf who tells him things like
"I've got good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style." Events
appear disjointed, yet the scene has a wonderful creepiness to it. Lynch doesn't
want the audience to necessarily figure out what it means. As he says, "It
makes me uncomfortable to talk about meanings and things. It's better not to
know so much about what things mean." (Lynch)

Lynch also has some fun with self-portrayal. The character of Henry Spencer in
Eraserhead is Lynch himself. At the time he was creating the film, he was living
in Philadelphia and hated it. He also had accidentally fathered a child and got
married. In Eraserhead, Henry lives in a dirty, trash filled city; he is forced into
marriage when his girlfriend gives birth to a malformed baby. There was even
speculation about whether Lynch made Henry's baby a freak because his own
daughter (Jennifer Lynch) was born with clubbed feet.

Jeffrey Beaumont, in Blue Velvet, is another depiction of Lynch. Lynch grew up

in a logging town in Montana, much like "Lumberton, USA." Jeffrey, like Lynch,
is a kind, thoughtful person who discovers that he has one hell of a dark streak.

Perhaps the best (and funniest) self-reference was the character of FBI Agent
Gordon Cole, whom Lynch portrayed himself. Cole has an exaggerated version
of Lynch's hairstyle, shouts constantly because he's nearly deaf (Lynch is
considered a very loud-spoken person); and has a "code." In Fire Walk With
Me, Cole delivers an agent's assignment through a woman named Lil, who
performs a complicated little dance. The agent must dissect the meaning of
Cole's code, just as viewers often have to dissect the meaning of Lynch's
symbolism.

V. Stars
The last factor of genre is the stars, or the actors that appear in the films. For
instance, Arnold Schwartzenegger appears in many action/adventure films,
while Jimmy Stewart appears in many suspense films. Similarly, David Lynch
has his band of actors who appear in many of his films. Jack Nance, who
portrayed Henry Spencer in Eraserhead, also appeared in every single one of
Lynchs works with the exception of Elephant Man -- he later regretted missing
out on that one. Kyle McLachlan, also known as Agent Dale Cooper, also
appeared as Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet, and also starred in Dune. Other
frequent actors (too many to list all roles) include Laura Dern, Frances Bay,
Catherine Coulson, Sheryl Lee, Harry Dean Stanton, Grace Zabriskie, Michael
J. Anderson, Julee Cruise, Sherilyn Fenn, Isabella Rosselini, and Charlotte
Stewart.

Apparently, Lynch has satisfied all four requirements to satisfy the distinction of
"The Lynch Film" as a genre. But I did leave out one similarity between all of his
films - the happy ending. However sick and polluted the plot might become,
however hopeless the characters might appear, the ending is always peaceful,
hopeful, and uplifting. However, it is not a Hollywood ending in the strictest
sense. Lynch simply believes that there is more light in the world than darkness;
and goodness will triumph in the end. As he puts it, "I like darkness and
confusion and absurdity, but I like to know that there could be a little door that
you could go out into a safe life area of happiness." (Hartmann)
VI. Bibliography
Bowe, Kirk. "The Elephant Man." (28 March 1996)

Buzz. "Talking Art - Wild at Art." (1993)

Corliss, Richard. "Czar of Bizarre." Time Magazine. 1 Oct 1990.

Fraser, David. "The Owls are Not What They Seem: David Lynch, The Madonna
Question and Critical Legal Studies." Queens Law Journal. Vol 18: Spring,
1993.

Gilmore, Mikal. "Lost Highway - Lynch Interview." Rolling Stone. 6 Mar 1997.

Francis, Lee. "Ray Wolfes Online Guide to Eraserhead." (1997)

Frankonis, Christopher. "Beyond the Fire: The Mysteries of Twin Peaks."

Hartmann, Mike. "Wild at Heart." City of Absurdity, Main City: David Lynchs
Page. (1990)

Hayward, Susan. Key Concepts in Cinema Studies. London: Routledge, 1996.

Lynch, David. "Lynch on Lynch." (1997)