Subject: Re: "How's Annie? How's Annie?! How's ANNie?!?"
From: ingria@bbn.com (Bob Ingria)
Date: 1991-06-11, 14:13
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
Reply-to: ingria@BBN.COM

In article <131360@puff.encore.com> ereynold@encore.com (Elizabeth Reynolds) writes:
   From article <5529@autodesk.COM>, by robertj@unreal.uucp (Young Rob Jellinghaus):

   > You all know Lynch doesn't believe in happy endings.  You all KNOW that.

   Eh?  We do? 

   I always thought happy endings were something you could count on
   seeing in Lynch's work (right up there with flames, prom dresses,
   and open head injuries) -- although he'll put you through hell
   to get there.  Sheesh, in _The Elephant Man_, the guy DIES and
   it's still a happy ending.

This is absolutely correct.  Look at the endings:

[Warning: Spoilers for Lynch feature films.]

Elephant Man - The Elephant Man refuses to sleep upright, as he
usually does, but will sleep on pillow, like an ordinary man.  This
will asphyxiate him, but is presented as a triumph of his humanity.

Dune - Muadib kills the bad guys, gets the girl, and saves the planet
(to coin a phrase).  Hell, it rains on the desert planet for the first
time in millenia, contrary to all reason.

Blue Velvet - Jeffrey and Isabella Rossellini's characters go through
hell, but, in the end, Jeffrey is reunited with his loved ones and
Isabella is reunited with her child.

Wild at Heart - Sailor and Lula and Child happy together at last.
This is a clear example of Lynch going out of his way to create a
happy ending.  Most of the movie (except for the Wizard of Oz imagery)
is taken directly from the novel.  But the novel ends at the point
where Sailor tells Lula: ``You don't need any more trouble in your
life.''  Sailor's change of heart is original to Lynch, and he invokes
Glynda the Good to bring it about.

In most of his other works, Lynch sends his protagonist(s) through
Chapel Perilous, only to have them return, wounded, perhaps, but
unbowed and victorious at the end.  The outcome of Cooper's expedition
to Chapel Perilous is unique (at least in his post-Eraserhead work.)

-30-
Bob

``You make us all look like primates.''