One day I'm going to read a post of yours that I don't wholeheartedly agree with LITM..... one day.LostInTheMovies wrote:Interesting thoughts. The malevolence and/or goodwill of the little man/Chalfonts/even the one-armed man (who seems like a "good guy" - at least an ally of the good guys - on the show) have always perplexed me somewhat in the film. I think the biggest suggestion of the ring's danger is probably Cooper's statement, "Don't take the ring, Laura." Thorne sees this as advice not to take the ring IN THIS CONTEXT only, Martha Nochimson thinks he's simply wrong (after all hes been trapped in the Lodge due to his own inability to make it through the threshold), and I think I've even heard people suggest this is actually the "Bad Cooper" saying this which is the reading I disagree with most. (We know what Bad Cooper looks/acts like and this isn't him, as the Missing Pieces seem to confirm). Of course there's also the matter that Lynch was makin up much of this as he went along and didn't know where he was going. Personally, Teresa's relationship to the ring has never been totally clear to me either. I don't really see any evidence she's been "saved" in the sense of being given greater wisdom or anything. Her relationship to Bob, if she has one, and the Chalfonts - whom she did seen to know - also remains hazy. Her role in the narrative as far as facilitating Laura's knowledge, revealing Leland's evil, and making Leland more aware of what he's done to his daughter - i.e. the more "realistic" elements - are all clear enough. But her role in the mystical Black Lodge mythology of the story still perplexed me somewhat. I'd be interested to hear more ideas on that.james wrote:It is very difficult to know if the shots of Laura putting on the ring were filmed with Sheryl Lee or not, as there is a shot of her looking down which seems to be her looking down as she puts the ring on - it certainly looks very convincing.
Still, does this mean that the ring was simply thought of as something which 'dooms' its wearer, up until the decision to have Laura put the ring on at the end? I can't see any real suggestion that the ring is simply an evil symbol. The clear suggestion is that the Chalftont/ Tremonds gave it to Teresa Banks, just as they gave Laura the picture for her wall. So doesn't that seem more like the ring is something which saved Teresa? I see the Tremonds as being benevolent, rather than enticing anyone as suggested previously.
Teresa was someone who found out too much and it cost her life, just as it did Laura. But at the same time they were both strong-willed and were ultimately saved through the 'power' of the ring.
But for now I have always had the exact same puzzlement about Teresa's role in the Black Lodge mythology. Sometimes it feels like she doesn't belong in there at all and had a relationship with Leland (taking him for a moment as 'separate' from Bob) only. But evidence points to the contrary - she wore the ring, the investigation into her murder was shrouded in the supernatural, it wasn't a typical Columbo style investigation. And it's also undeniable that there IS a relationship with Bob ("Teresa was with a T....." - Bob put a letter underneath Teresa's fingernail). The water gets very murky for me here. Teresa's murder has a clear and almost banal motive. Her death feels utterly distinct from those of Laura and Maddy's. It's stark and brutal, not horrifying and grandiose, almost operatic.
I have to agree that some of it is Lynch making things up as he goes along (but doing it wonderfully). Doesn't Leland say when finally caught in the series, in response to the question of whether he killed Teresa (and it's obviously Bob at this point, not Leland), something like, "I guess I kind of sort of did, I have this thing for knives." Teresa was killed with an axe or a blunt instrument wasn't she? There are inconsistencies.
Sometimes I think that Lynch changed his mind between the series and the film. In the series he saw Leland as a victim but ascribed far more culpability to him in the film. But then even in the series Bob does say of Leland that he, 'Has a great big hole where his conscience used to be,' or words to that effect. In 'Between Two Worlds' Leland says that he wasn't the one doing the things but it sounds like he is trying to convince himself.
I really can't come to a firm view on this. Maybe the new episodes will reveal all (although I'm not saying I want them to, I've come to love the ambiguity).
Edit: Note to self - read all of the posts in a thread before posting. Everything I said above has already been covered. Weighing in on the whole Leland awareness issue, I find myself agreeing with LITM again, that to the extent Leland was involved in Laura's abuse (I used to think of it as being entirely Bob), that part of him was so effectively partioned off from the 'good' Leland as to constitute a separate personality, the two 'people' within Leland only dimly aware of the other. I know it's not the prevailing view but at times I see (or prefer to see at least) Laura's abuse as being 100% Bob, just because Leland is clearly at times so genuine about his love for Laura. I guess it's difficult to reconcile that kind of love with committing acts of incest but then I suspect that the twisted reality is that most fathers who abuse their daughters do genuinely love them on some level. Hard to even think about.