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What are the Owls?

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:59 am
by TwinPeaksFanatic
Some thoughts on the owls, since they're not what they seem!

http://twinpeaksfanatic.blogspot.com/20 ... -seem.html

:D

What do you think they represent?

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:39 pm
by BOB1
I never thought of owls as actually representing something particular or serving as something (like vehicle for spirits). To me they have always been a symbolic connection to the supernatural world of Twin Peaks. An omen which indicates that some spooky stuff is hanging around. "The owls won't see us here" --> we will be free from the supernatural influence, which is too strong for man to control, which takes over if you let it come too near. I wouldn't connect Owls with the "evil spirits" alone. How about: "there are owls in the Roadhouse"? It was Giant who appeared there, not BOB.
What I think it means is: there is more than meets he eye in the Roadhouse.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:30 am
by TwinPeaksFanatic
Very interesting. I don't the owls are only evil. I think they are used by both good and evil spirits. So yes the Giant was an owl in the Roadhouse.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:18 pm
by Jasper
TwinPeaksFanatic wrote:Very interesting. I don't the owls are only evil. I think they are used by both good and evil spirits. So yes the Giant was an owl in the Roadhouse.
This is essentially my feeling. I see them as vessels or eyes for lodge spirits, good and bad, though perhaps mostly bad when we see them on the show. I suppose they could also be general omens or symbols of a sort, which is more in keeping with what BOB1 is saying.

Image

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:02 pm
by Ygdrasel
I always thought the owls were (mostly) Bob's "eyes" outside of the Lodge. I think the Lodge spirits can all use such animals though. I've similar ideas on the monkey in FWWM.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:48 am
by OK,Bob
Owls are traditionally thought to be messengers, observers, harbingers of fate or wisdom. They're often cited in alien abduction tales, where it's often suggested that they are screen memories ("The owls are NOT what they seem.") I recall - but don't remember where - seeing the acronym O.W.L. for Other-Worldly Lifeforms. In the same vein, note in one of the Access Guide maps of Twin Peaks the existence of Unguin [Packard]'s Field Observatory, or U.F.O. (Where Old Unguin's Field is the former Air Force base and present airfield just outside of town.)

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:17 am
by LostInTheMovies
Does anyone know if there originally WAS supposed to be an extraterrestrial element in Twin Peaks before it was ret-conned into being a "message from the woods"? I've heard speculation that Frost liked this direction and Lynch didn't, although that would be odd given tha it seems to be aliens in Lynch's episode and it is revealed to be "the woods" during the episodes Lynch (and Frost, for that matter) was not heavily involved with.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:40 pm
by Ygdrasel
LostInTheMovies wrote:Does anyone know if there originally WAS supposed to be an extraterrestrial element in Twin Peaks before it was ret-conned into being a "message from the woods"? I've heard speculation that Frost liked this direction and Lynch didn't, although that would be odd given tha it seems to be aliens in Lynch's episode and it is revealed to be "the woods" during the episodes Lynch (and Frost, for that matter) was not heavily involved with.

I read somewhere that a scrapped script idea for the movie had the Lodge spirits revealed as aliens from a creamed corn planet. Sounds like some nonsensical Rocky Horror garbage so I'm glad it got thrown out.

Also, it wasn't retconned.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:10 pm
by OK,Bob
Ygdrasel wrote:Also, it wasn't retconned.
Well, perhaps not technically, but let's not quibble. The origin of the messages was implied to be from "galaxies beyond our own" until clarified by Col. Riley 10 episodes later:

"You may know something but ... you’d best get your facts straight. Our monitors are pointed at deep space but the messages we intercepted, that Briggs showed you, were sent from right here in these woods."

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:10 pm
by Rami Airola
LostInTheMovies wrote:Does anyone know if there originally WAS supposed to be an extraterrestrial element in Twin Peaks before it was ret-conned into being a "message from the woods"? I've heard speculation that Frost liked this direction and Lynch didn't, although that would be odd given tha it seems to be aliens in Lynch's episode and it is revealed to be "the woods" during the episodes Lynch (and Frost, for that matter) was not heavily involved with.
I think Lynch sees the outer space as something very different than what people usually see it. People like to think that outer space is something that can be measured and studied with physics, mathematics, biology and chemistry. A rock is a rock. Air is air. Space is a place. Emptiness is emptiness. That if there are aliens, or any kind of alien intelligence, they are beings that have been evolved like animals on earth.

To me, that's boring.

Lynch probably sees the universe either as a mind that's become physical or that there is a mind or a mind-like ultimate reality that has given thoughts a form. This is in essence what monotheistic religions are all about. That before the first physical thing appeared, there was a timeless and spaceless mind.

At least for me, things about the outer space get infinitely more interesting with this type of thinking. Regular "UFO" things are boring.

I believe that when Lynch thinks of something about a planet made of corn, he doesn't think of it as a purely physical planet, measurable by science, but as part of an intelligent cosmic mind. Something that can be both physical and metaphysical at the same time.

While some would see it fascinating to think that the "COOPER, COOPER, COOPER" message was sent by an alien life form with some sort of alien technology, I think Lynch thought it's more like a case of minds and thoughts existing in a reality we can't see and comprehend, but that with some equipment they were able to catch those thoughts and ideas into words on paper.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:47 am
by BOB1
While I find the actual space stuff inspiring, too, I agree that it's unlike Lynch and that the metaphysical way of seeing "another planet" is much more like him.
Ygdrasel wrote:Lodge spirits revealed as aliens from a creamed corn planet.
However, that's hilarious! :D

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:13 pm
by Ygdrasel
Rami Airola wrote:
LostInTheMovies wrote:Does anyone know if there originally WAS supposed to be an extraterrestrial element in Twin Peaks before it was ret-conned into being a "message from the woods"? I've heard speculation that Frost liked this direction and Lynch didn't, although that would be odd given tha it seems to be aliens in Lynch's episode and it is revealed to be "the woods" during the episodes Lynch (and Frost, for that matter) was not heavily involved with.
I think Lynch sees the outer space as something very different than what people usually see it. People like to think that outer space is something that can be measured and studied with physics, mathematics, biology and chemistry. A rock is a rock. Air is air. Space is a place. Emptiness is emptiness. That if there are aliens, or any kind of alien intelligence, they are beings that have been evolved like animals on earth.

To me, that's boring.

Lynch probably sees the universe either as a mind that's become physical or that there is a mind or a mind-like ultimate reality that has given thoughts a form. This is in essence what monotheistic religions are all about. That before the first physical thing appeared, there was a timeless and spaceless mind.

At least for me, things about the outer space get infinitely more interesting with this type of thinking. Regular "UFO" things are boring.

I believe that when Lynch thinks of something about a planet made of corn, he doesn't think of it as a purely physical planet, measurable by science, but as part of an intelligent cosmic mind. Something that can be both physical and metaphysical at the same time.

While some would see it fascinating to think that the "COOPER, COOPER, COOPER" message was sent by an alien life form with some sort of alien technology, I think Lynch thought it's more like a case of minds and thoughts existing in a reality we can't see and comprehend, but that with some equipment they were able to catch those thoughts and ideas into words on paper.
I'd always figured what people interpreted as alien activity was just Lodge stuff anyway. Though did we ever get a concrete answer on who sent that message?

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:11 pm
by Manwith
I agree with Rami. Laura Palmer talks hypothetically about space in FWWM- a place where you fly forever cause the Angels have left. It doesn't seem like things beyond human understanding in the woods would necessarily be different than things beyond human understanding in space in the dream like setting of Lynch's worlds.

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:53 pm
by tews
Since you are talking about birds: In TSHOTP the Raven is mentioned as the nickname of the leader of a secret intelligence group or the illuminati or something, and there is a close up of a raven in the series somewhere. Maybe in the video that James shot of Donna and Laura in the series. Maybe there is a connection?

Re: What are the Owls?

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:08 pm
by Mr. Jackpots
LostInTheMovies wrote:Does anyone know if there originally WAS supposed to be an extraterrestrial element in Twin Peaks before it was ret-conned into being a "message from the woods"? I've heard speculation that Frost liked this direction and Lynch didn't, although that would be odd given tha it seems to be aliens in Lynch's episode and it is revealed to be "the woods" during the episodes Lynch (and Frost, for that matter) was not heavily involved with.
I always thought the lodge had a connection to outer space. Inside the red room we see the silloutte of what looks like a planet move across the red drapes. And we see a lamp/object that looks like the planet Saturn sitting on the table.

I also feel the owls represent the denizens of the lodges. After BOB departs Leland when we see the image of the owl. I feel like it is BOB watching over the town of Twin Peaks. Waiting for his next opportunity to enter our world through a human host.