The Black Dog

[Diane]

What is "the black dog" in FWWM? He barks when Mike speaks to Leland and Laura, and the song lyrics say that he "runs at night" when the grandson wearing the mask is hopping. I've seen the movie several times and just now noticed this.

[nemo]

Interesting comment about hopping, but I always thought, that the hoppings and other movements of Tremond and The Jumping Man are more similar to the movements of birds. Maybe these movements refer to some indian rituals, which Lynch used for his ideas. At least such types of sticks shown in the film were used by northern Indians. The image of the black dog from my opinion came from the world of subconscious and can't be explained strictly. I think, it points out as the sound track itself the sense of anxiety.

[forgiveness]

For me the black dog has always represented BOB/the devil. In the Faust legend, the devil assumed the form of a black dog. Faust was a Magician. I believe Pierre Tremond to represent Leland possessed. Mrs. Tremond stated that Pierre was studying magic. There is a tie to magic, BOB and his hosts.

The song Black Dog Runs at night plays because:

1. Something BOB does not like is happening, ie. the Tremonds giving the picture to Laura and trying to give away Leland's identitiy as the host to BOB and when BOB/Leland is running in fear from the motel where he has just discovered that Laura is one of Teresa's "friends". This often ties in with BOB's identity.

2. It is day and trying to say that BOB works better during the night when he has less chance of being discovered.

[nemo]

I agree, that the sudden appearence of Pierre Tremond behind Leland refers to person's possesion. Like in the scene where The Jumping Man appears.
But the track explanation is too schematic, I'm afraid. I think, the meaning is more abstract. Btw how about the scene with that track, where Laura sees the ring on her palm? Certainly one can always add another number

[forgiveness]

I agree, that the sudden appearence of Pierre Tremond behind Leland refers to person's possesion. Like in the scene where The Jumping Man appears.
But the track explanation is too schematic, I'm afraid. I think, the meaning is more abstract. Btw how about the scene with that track, where Laura sees the ring on her palm? Certainly one can always add another number

For me Lynch doesn't do weirdness for weirdness sake. If the song plays during certain scenes it means something.

Thanks for reminding me about that scene! I knew I was missing one!

Actually that scene supports the claim that the song plays when BOB does not like something. BOB does not want Laura to have the ring since it saves her from possession. When she has it it means he has to kill her which he doesn't want to do.

[nemo]

When I was a kid, I strived to get exhaustive explanations. But now I know, that strict definitions often don't really work. One shouldn't forget, that ideas can be born just for their own sake and that there is a danger to explain them for scheme's sake. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think, one sees a dog first or an owl and what else and then ascribes some meaning to them. BUT the beautiful problem is, that the image will be always wider than the meaning, cos it was born earlier. That's why I think, in this case we can deal only with speculations. Lynch even doesn't define the Red Room as The Black Lodge. I think, that's why he once told the people, who worked on Wrapped In Plastic, that they knew Twin Peaks much better, than him

[forgiveness]

When I was a kid, I strived to get exhaustive explanations. But now I know, that strict definitions often don't really work. One shouldn't forget, that ideas can be born just for their own sake and that there is a danger to explain them for scheme's sake. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think, one sees a dog first or an owl and what else and then ascribes some meaning to them. BUT the beautiful problem is, that the image will be always wider than the meaning, cos it was born earlier. That's why I think, in this case we can deal only with speculations. Lynch even doesn't define the Red Room as The Black Lodge. I think, that's why he once told the people, who worked on Wrapped In Plastic, that they knew Twin Peaks much better, than him

I think that David, in many cases, in Twin Peaks, and in most of his films, gives us pretty concrete answers. He seemed implicitly to connect BOB with the owls for instance or else he would not have superimposed an owl over BOB's face. If an image or thought occurs on a certain thread it must be connected.

The fact remains that Lynch has stated that weirdness for weirdness sake does not work. If this doesn't mean that there is an explanation behind what he does and a scheme to things I don't know what is. He has a reason for what he does. While watching rushes one day someone overhear him say something like "So that's what that means!" While the reason behind the images he makes may at first be a mystery to even himself, Lynch is a detective who seeks to find out their meaning also in his own time. If someone takes them as being just art, while I don't agree with that, they are welcome to do that. You can take them any way you want but I want to know what was in Lynch's mind because I respect and love him to death.

For me I believe the power is in the reason. For instance, to pop up a monkey saying "Judy" after a young girl has violently died would be highly silly without meaning something deeper. David loved Laura far too much for that.

[nemo]

By no means I'm against reasoning. Otherwise nothing would make sense being simply a flux of chaos. I'm just against the convinction in strict definitions.

[Snogster707]

Forgivness: thanx for the explanation. While I thought lynch just liked to pop lots of weird stuff into tp( which I very much enjoyed and howled with laughter at), it's good to know that there was a sensible reason for having done so.

[Shax]

For me it means that bad people do bad things mostly at night. Laura goes out at night and becomes this other person. She comes into contact with a lot of evil at night. Bob usually comes out during the night to rape or kill.