Subject: Re: Penn 6-5000
From: tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET (Tom Neff)
Date: 1990-04-25, 02:32
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <1990Apr25.010412.29450@chinet.chi.il.us> dawn@chinet.chi.il.us (Dawn Hendricks) writes:
> >Sometimes, the best stuff in film is stuff that means
> >ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Sometimes, there is NO meaning.  The artist's
> >intention is to laugh hysterically while knowing that millions of
> >folks are straining and losing sleep at night to "find the meaning",
> >insisting that there MUST be some meaning to everything, when
> >there really isn't.  Dada?

I think that's unfair to Lynch.  In numerous interviews he has said that
what he wants is for us to get interested in what's happening and feel
suspense.  For a thriller series this equals wanting us to ENJOY it.
Professionals don't "laugh hysterically" at their audience.  Indeed in
this case there's every evidence Lynch respects his audience greatly.

> >Lynch fans usually sit back and enjoy his work, catching the very
> >silly things that Lynch includes in his "art".  Lynch likes to
> >play with emotions.  He'll offend you and horrify you.  Seconds
> >later, he'll make you laugh.  

I agree with this.  Lynch is a mood master, like a number of great
directors.  What makes him unique is the range of *strange* moods he's
not averse to evoking... including those trademark elusive nightmares.
He's like Lovecraft on Ecstasy.

> >                               Then you feel guilty for laughing
> >because you saw something that horrified you only minutes before.

Um, s/you/I/.

> >Of course, it IS kind of fun trying to figure out the "meaning"
> >to all of this stuff in Twin Peaks, but let's not get carried away?

If posting to the net is all we do, it doesn't qualify as getting
"carried away."  Where else can you have so much fun dissecting a
show in real time, and what else are the recreational alt groups for?

-- "NASA Announces New Deck Chair Arrangement For \_/ Tom Neff Space Station Titanic" -- press release 89-7654 \_/ tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET