Subject: Links with Eraserhead? (Definate FWWM spoilers)
From: 2609cowend@vms.csd.mu.edu
Date: 1992-08-30, 17:30
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

Marquette's VAX doesn't have one of those nifty "Go to next page
for spoilers" commands, so, that explains the blank space.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After just seeing Fire Walk With Me, and noticing the way the plot
was working, I started linking in my mind the different elements
of Lynch's works, and where this movie stands in those relations.
 
Two possible links to Eraserhead: One is, the arms.  The One Armed
Man, Theresa Bank's numb arm.  Now, while this is obviously due
to the presence of BOB, one must wonder about Mary X's father in
Eraserhead -- and his arm -- "All numb!".  While there may not
be a thematic link, the question is, why is there this constant?
 
The other link is, of course, Laura's ascent to Heaven.  Now,
before the choir comes in, one can -- just slightly, but I was 
listening -- hear a sound similar to that of the sound at the end 
of Eraserhead, when Henry is taken into Heaven.  Plus, the screen
turns the same misty color that Heaven was, in Eraserhead.  
 
Taking it too far?  Perhaps.  
 
But, the obvious thematic structure of David Lynch's films is the
battle between Good (the White Lodge in TP, the Lady in the Radiator
in Eraserhead) and Evil (the Black Lodge in TP, possibly the man
inside the planet in Eraserhead, though he seemed to be a blind
evil.)  In each of his films, Lynch has taken a character who was
_essentially good_, and thrust them into a situation where they
must triumph over evil forces.  Henry does this by destroying the
baby, jamming The Man inside the Planet's mechanisms.  However,
Coop could not destroy BOB like this, because BOB, seemingly,
has no material essence, and took Leland as his material essence.
 
The problem with TP right now, is that with Cooper being inhabited
by BOB's essence, how could he possibly triumph?  I knew that the
movie would not hold that answer.
 
Instead, the movie delighted in showing the evil side of Twin Peaks.
Fast paced, and _without any sort of spiritual feeling_, as the 
best Twin Peaks episodes had, by drowning one in their slow 
eeriness, leaves only titilattion to be had for the crowds who do
not understand, and only anger for those who do.  Laura's 
redemption into Heaven was not enough -- it was barely justified,
unlike Henry's passage into Heaven, or the Robins triumphing over
the Beetles in BV.  
 
What scares me is that Wild At Heart and FWWM have taken this turn 
at only showing the evil in the situations -- which at best is only
mildly titilatting, and at worst is angering.  
 
"In a town like Twin Peaks, no one is innocent."  Wrong.  The first
season of the show delighted in innocents -- Pete Martell, Deputy
Andy, and biggest of all, Audrey Horne, who despite her sexuality
was truly innocent, and strived towards good.  And of course, Cooper
is Lynch's Ideal Man.  In a _movie_ like _Fire Walk With Me_, no one
is innocent.  Twin Peak's true draw was seeing the balance of goodness
and evil, and the ultimate payoff of Cooper's triumph -- not in seeing
Laura Palmer's breasts.  
 
In Eraserhead, it was clear that Lynch's Ultimate Fantasy was not the
kind of perversions he shows us today, but in seeing a true Goodness
lead to Happiness.  So, why Wild At Heart and FWWM?  There is no 
beauty in these films, while there was plenty of beauty in Twin Peaks.
 
So, flame me, call me a nut, but respond.  Am I even close?
 
------------------------------------------------------
David Eschatfische -- 2609COWEND@VMS.CSD.MU.EDU

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