David Lynch Twin Peak Film Analysis
Initial Discussion Piece: David Lynch’s Twin Peaks stand-alone film version (1989)
Twin Peaks (1989) is a successful drama mystery television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. This postmodern text exemplifies Lynch’s unique cinematic style and plays with traditional crime fiction tropes and character archetypes. Several themes found in Lynch’s previous work, Blue Velvet (1986), are present in Twin Peaks (1989) and will be discussed throughout this film analysis. The Twin Peaks stand-alone film version was created and intended for international markets with a “closed” ending to the pilot episode that arguably solves the Laura Palmer murder mystery (Lynch, 1989).
Lynch leaves the audience questioning whether aspects of this postmodern text were made to be serious or humorous. David Lehman (2010, p. 1) describes Twin Peaks (1989) as, “An American television series combining the elements of murder mystery, a soap opera, a parody of a murder mystery, and a parody of a soap opera, in which the expected generic conventions occur but ironically, everything happening as if between invisible quotation marks.” Lynch succeeds in this by shedding light on serious situations and generic conventions. An example of this is when Special Agent Dean Cooper is inspecting Laura Palmer’s dead body and the light is …show more content…
The alternate ending introduces new characters, Mike and Bob, who are found to be involved with the murder of Laura Palmer. Bob explains that the letter found underneath her fingernail was a part of his full name, Robert, proving that he had killed before and intended to do so again. Bob is shot by Mike in the basement of the hospital who then mysteriously dies of what appears to be a heart attack or stroke. This scene is quick paced and may be seen as a rushed resolution to a well thought out
Twin Peaks (1989) is a successful drama mystery television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. This postmodern text exemplifies Lynch’s unique cinematic style and plays with traditional crime fiction tropes and character archetypes. Several themes found in Lynch’s previous work, Blue Velvet (1986), are present in Twin Peaks (1989) and will be discussed throughout this film analysis. The Twin Peaks stand-alone film version was created and intended for international markets with a “closed” ending to the pilot episode that arguably solves the Laura Palmer murder mystery (Lynch, 1989).
Lynch leaves the audience questioning whether aspects of this postmodern text were made to be serious or humorous. David Lehman (2010, p. 1) describes Twin Peaks (1989) as, “An American television series combining the elements of murder mystery, a soap opera, a parody of a murder mystery, and a parody of a soap opera, in which the expected generic conventions occur but ironically, everything happening as if between invisible quotation marks.” Lynch succeeds in this by shedding light on serious situations and generic conventions. An example of this is when Special Agent Dean Cooper is inspecting Laura Palmer’s dead body and the light is …show more content…
The alternate ending introduces new characters, Mike and Bob, who are found to be involved with the murder of Laura Palmer. Bob explains that the letter found underneath her fingernail was a part of his full name, Robert, proving that he had killed before and intended to do so again. Bob is shot by Mike in the basement of the hospital who then mysteriously dies of what appears to be a heart attack or stroke. This scene is quick paced and may be seen as a rushed resolution to a well thought out