Blog #7, The Films of David Lynch

  I will never forget the opening sequence of film director David Lynch's 1986 critically acclaimed masterpiece, Blue Velvet. The movie opens with a series of images that display a seemingly perfect suburban paradise; blue sky's, green lawns, white picket fences, smiles and waves from friendly neighbors. This montage is followed by a  scene in which mans garden hose tangles around a shrub, snapping and propelling itself at his spine leaving him paralyzed from the neck down as the water sprays over the lawn and the camera pans underground uncovering a nest of disgusting insects. The silence is overtaken by a dissonant buzzing as the camera continues to zoom in on the nest more and more until the insects cover the entire frame. This scene is representative of Lynch's catalog as a whole (as sprawling and diverse as his catalog is), because it clearly depicts the major themes that permeate through his work; nothing is truly perfect anywhere, no matter how much people try to cover up the darkness that is inevitably there. Lynch uses suburban America as a backdrop for several of his works, including his short lived but extremely beloved television show Twin Peaks and his mind-bending surrealist noir film Mulholland Drive, because it perfectly juxtaposes with the nightmares he is so great at creating, making them even more terrifying staying with you for weeks after you see them, while proving his point about the purposeful obliviousness of so many people to the horrors that exist right under their noses. Lynch's works have a knowing campyness to them, reminiscent of television shows like Andy of Mayberry, or Leave It to Beaver, creating an exaggerated version of suburbia that works in contrast with very disturbing surreal material, giving the films a very distinct aesthetic. The hyper-stylized atmosphere surprisingly doesn't get in the way of emotional connections with the characters, the plot, or a sense of humor. His movies are challenging and experimental without being pretentious. In my opinion David Lynch is an artist who exists on the level of Picasso because while many of his influences can be traced to specific things, the finished product is indescribable and seems to come from nowhere, and like Picasso his works only increase in value after repeated viewings, and somehow make you feel like you are viewing the work on multiple planes at the same time.