Subject: Re: Frost/Lynch completely wimped out this time
From: dd@sei.cmu.edu (Dennis Doubleday)
Date: 1990-12-03, 07:19
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,alt.recovery

jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) writes:
> >They had the *perfect* chance to examine the horrible world of
> >child abuse.  It seemed to me that here we were going to have an
> >indepth (if not Lynchian-quirky) examination of the sort of thing
> >that goes on with families of abuse -- Leland/Maddie, Ben/Audrie,
> >etc etc. Here was the sort of thing that never happens to "good
> >people" -- child molestation, murder, drug abuse...
> >The last two episodes have led me to believe that L/F have absolutely
> >no courage whatsoever.  "Nice" men like Leland and Ben would *never*
> >hurt children, no..  But an *evil spirt*, yeah, that's the ticket!
> >If they were *possesed*, of course they'd do such things, but they'd
> >never be capable of doing them on their own.

I don't agree with this at all.  I think TWIN PEAKS addresses the
issues you speak of, not at the literal level, but at a richer,
symbolic level.  The history of literature and film is replete with
examples of supernatural beings or events that act as symbols for
disturbing characteristics of humanity (for example, the works of
Edgar Allan Poe or Jacques Tourneur's classic film, CURSE OF THE
DEMON).  For the characters in the story, the supernatural events are
quite real; nevertheless, they represent real-world concerns.

Another poster mentioned disappointment with the final, explanatory
scene.  I admit it was a letdown after the beauty of Leland's death
scene (the sprinkler system idea was inspired--a symbolic cleansing of
Leland's psyche, the extinguishing of the fire with which he has
walked for 40 years).  But there was one exchange in that scene that
chillingly makes the connection between the literal and the symbolic
level:

TRUMAN:  I don't know, I've been in these woods for a long time, but
I've never seen anything like this.  I'm having a hard time believing
this. (Not verbatim, but words to that effect).

COOPER: Harry, is it easier to believe that a man would rape and
murder his daughter?

In the real world, the unspoken answer to the question is "Yes".  And
that is the horror of it.

TWIN PEAKS aspires to artistry--sometimes too self-conciously, no
doubt.  But there are moments when it achieves it.  That's why I
keep watching.

-- Dennis Doubleday (dd@sei.cmu.edu) _ /| Software Engineering Institute \'o.O' Carnegie Mellon University ACK! PTHFT! =(___)= Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412)268-5873 U