LostInTheMovies wrote:I've noticed lately that there are two "camps" when it comes to FWWM: those who emphasize the psychological, and those who emphasize the supernatural.
LITM: you talked about “psychological” versus “mythological” interpretations among viewers. I tend to find in Fire Walk With Me (moreso than in the series) the psychological interpretation more rewarding, at least as a foundation. If we interpret what we’re shown onscreen the way we would typically analyze a story – attributing specific actions to certain characters and especially ascribing them motive/s – we make some headway but ultimately we seem to reach a dead end. For example here http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2836 it may make sense (at least within a fantastical/mythological framework) to posit that the Little Man is attempting to impart the ring to Laura, perhaps as a means of resistance to Bob, using the apparition of Annie as a vessel. But then is it also the Little Man who imparts the ring via Annie to the nurse in the hospital scene (if so, what’s his motive, or if not, why the similarity) ? And why is “good Coop” (rather than bad/”Bob” Coop) warning Laura not to take the ring ? And so on. It all never really adds up, at least not in a way which we would imagine resonates with David Lynch’s original intentions.
However if we allow for a psychological interpretation – if the “Lodge” and its manifestations are psychic ones – to me these inconsistencies seem less important and the work as a whole feels more unified and meaningful. On a more fundamental level then, the unconscious (lodge) is simply bestowing awareness (ring) to the conscious world in a disjointed manner through visions and dreams. I don’t mean to oversimplify or to dispense with all the fascinating mythological tie-ins by any means but if we at least start on that basis, the whole thing seems less convoluted to me.
To add/emphasize I’m not suggesting the two interpretations are mutually exclusive, far from it. I mean if you just look at Jungian psychology in particular, mythologies can be treated both as manifestations of the collective unconscious and vice-versa. So from that point of view the inquiries into Native American mythology for example are especially useful.
p-air wrote:However if we allow for a psychological interpretation – if the “Lodge” and its manifestations are psychic ones – to me these inconsistencies seem less important and the work as a whole feels more unified and meaningful. On a more fundamental level then, the unconscious (lodge) is simply bestowing awareness (ring) to the conscious world in a disjointed manner through visions and dreams. I don’t mean to oversimplify or to dispense with all the fascinating mythological tie-ins by any means but if we at least start on that basis, the whole thing seems less convoluted to me.
Yes, I agree. And for me at that point what seem like loose ends must be examined from a character-motivation/psychological-resonance point of view. That's why in this and other threads whenever someone goes the "here's the reason they're doing this which doesn't relate in anyway to Laura's, Leland's, Cooper's, the town's, etc" struggle it just doesn't work for me. Which is not at all to say pursuing mythological motifs isn't worthwhile, of course (I've done my fair share on this thread and others), just that ultimately my goal is to tie it back in to the story he's telling and themes he's pursuing. He's an avant-garde artist but he is also a storyteller and his work combines narrative and non-narrative impulses in a fashion unlike any other filmmaker that comes to mind.
It seems like Lynch's base for everything is emotional response. If it resonates he uses it. Not to be clever, certainly not for the sake of being random, but because it moves him (which could mean anything from makes him laugh to makes him cry to gives him a shiver). And - here's where it gets even more interesting - not just moves him in the moment, but as part of a larger framework he himself may not yet understand but seeks ("the unified field"). The hunt for meaning in Twin Peaks and Lynch's work in general, for me anyway, is all about a quest to connect with whatever it is that moved him, because I believe ultimately it's there for anyone to access (back to the collective unconscious, I guess).
Jasper wrote:I think the two peaks on each side are the...twin peaks.
Well, there's more that one peak on each side, an a bit less than two full peaks on each side. I feel it - along with so much else - remains open to interpretation barring any clarity that may come in "The Secret Lives..." or the 2016 season. I doubt we'll get as much clarification as we might hope for regarding many of these finer details...
Well, I finally got around to digging up these images, and I think it's clear there are two primary peaks, and I'm pretty sure they represent the twin peaks of Twin Peaks. It doesn't seem all that ambiguous.
