Why Are David Lynch Movies So Weird?

Summary

This video explores the enigmatic world of filmmaker David Lynch, delving into his creative process and the 'Lynchian' style that permeates his diverse works. From the surrealism of 'Eraserhead' to the genre-defying 'Twin Peaks,' the video examines Lynch's unique approach to storytelling, which often eschews concrete interpretations in favor of evoking moods and feelings. The discussion highlights the importance of the creative journey over the destination, suggesting that to truly appreciate Lynch's films, viewers should immerse themselves in the experience rather than seeking a singular meaning.

Takeaways

• 🎬 David Lynch's first feature film, 'Eraserhead,' is described as his most spiritual movie, reflecting his creative journey and the influence of a sentence from the Bible.
• 📚 In 'Catching the Big Fish,' Lynch discusses the development of 'Eraserhead,' revealing that he didn't initially understand its meaning but found clarity through reading the Bible.
• 🔍 The 'What is David Working on Today?' series on Lynch's YouTube channel offers insights into his creative process, including his design for a wooden phone stand, highlighting his hands-on approach to problem-solving.
• 🌲 The script provides context for Lynch's work, including his genre-breaking television series 'Twin Peaks' and its avant-garde third season, showcasing his diverse and influential contributions to television.
• 🎨 Lynch's body of work spans various mediums, from visual art and music to interior design and writing, demonstrating his multifaceted creativity and unique artistic vision.
• 🤔 The script ponders the question of what makes Lynch's work so intriguing and difficult to interpret, suggesting that his films often contain abstract and surreal elements that resist concrete interpretations.
• 🔮 Lynch's creative process is likened to plumbing the depths of his subconscious, using meditation and daydreaming to catch ideas and translate them into his work, contributing to the dreamlike quality of his films.
• 📖 The script mentions scholarly film papers and symptomatic interpretation, which attempts to understand films by examining their creators' subconscious and societal context, without relying on the filmmakers' conscious intent.
• 🧩 The search for a singular explanation of Lynch's work is compared to an armchair psychoanalysis, with critics often attempting to understand his films by understanding Lynch himself, though this approach has limitations.
• 🛠 The script emphasizes the importance of process over outcome in Lynch's work, suggesting that the meaning of his creations lies in the specific way they are crafted and the feelings they evoke, rather than a definitive interpretation.
• 🎵 The final takeaway is that to appreciate Lynch's work, viewers need to immerse themselves in the mood and atmosphere of his films, allowing the feelings and ideas to wash over them, rather than seeking a single, clear meaning.

Q & A

What is the significance of the sentence from the Bible that David Lynch found while working on 'Eraserhead'?

The sentence from the Bible provided Lynch with a holistic vision for 'Eraserhead', helping him understand how the individual sequences of the film came together as a whole, although he has chosen not to reveal the exact sentence.

What is the name of the series on David Lynch's YouTube channel where he shares his creative process?

The series is called 'What is David Working on Today', where Lynch shares his various projects, such as designing a wooden phone stand.

How does David Lynch describe his creative process in relation to his subconscious?

Lynch describes his creative process as plumbing the depths of his subconscious through meditation and daydreaming, catching ideas as they come and translating them as honestly as possible into his work.

What is the term used to describe the unique storytelling style associated with David Lynch's work?

The term used is 'Lynchian', which has become commonplace to describe both Lynch's own work and other stories told in a similar fashion.

What is the common approach critics take when trying to interpret Lynch's work, and why is it often unfruitful?

Critics often attempt symptomatic interpretation, looking for subconscious meanings or trying to understand Lynch's work by understanding his personal life. This approach is often unfruitful because Lynch's work is more about the feelings and moods evoked rather than concrete singular interpretations.

What is the name of the book by David Lynch that discusses his creative process and the influence of meditation?

The book is called 'Catching the Big Fish'.

What is the significance of the story about the worm in Lynch's garden as it relates to his perspective on storytelling?

The story about the worm illustrates how Lynch sees dramatic and atmospheric narratives in ordinary events, transforming mundane occurrences into something bizarre and engaging.

What is the central theme of 'Twin Peaks', and how did the creators initially approach the murder mystery?

The central theme of 'Twin Peaks' is mystery for its own sake. The creators, Mark Frost and David Lynch, initially did not intend to solve the murder mystery but eventually did so under network pressure.

How does Lynch view the process of making his wooden iPhone holder in relation to his filmmaking?

Lynch views the process of making his iPhone holder similarly to his filmmaking, focusing on the feeling and quality that arises from the process itself, rather than the utility of the final product.

What is the recommended approach for viewers to fully appreciate Lynch's work, according to the video?

The recommended approach is to let go of the need for a specific meaning and instead immerse oneself in the mood, setting, and feeling of the work, allowing the experience to wash over them.

What is the connection between the term 'Lynchian' and the way evil and darkness are portrayed in Lynch's films?

The term 'Lynchian' reflects the way evil and darkness are often lurking beneath the surface in seemingly beautiful and idyllic environments, revealing the perpetual containment of the macabre within the mundane.

Outlines

00:00

🎬 Introduction to David Lynch's Cinematic World

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on the enigmatic films of David Lynch, beginning with his first feature film 'Eraserhead'. It discusses Lynch's unique approach to filmmaking, where he doesn't always understand the full meaning of his work as it evolves. The video script also references Lynch's spiritual connection to his work, his DIY project featured on his YouTube channel, and the broader context of his diverse body of work, including television, visual art, and music. The paragraph sets the stage for an exploration of Lynch's 'bizarro' world and his genre-defying creations like 'Twin Peaks' and 'Mulholland Drive'.

05:01

🍲 The Lynchian Quality in Everyday Stories

This paragraph delves into the concept of 'Lynchian' storytelling, exemplified by a short film where David Lynch cooks quinoa and shares a bizarre, atmospheric anecdote from his past. The narrative highlights Lynch's distinctive style, which often involves surrealism, symbolism, and abstraction, leaving the audience with more questions than answers. It touches on the audience's tendency to seek concrete interpretations from Lynch's abstract work, and how his storytelling is akin to music, where the delivery is as important as the content. The paragraph also discusses the term 'Lynchian' and how it is used to describe both Lynch's work and a similar narrative style.

10:02

🧘‍♂️ Lynch's Creative Process and Resistance to Interpretation

The third paragraph examines David Lynch's creative process, which involves meditation and daydreaming to draw from his subconscious. It discusses how Lynch's ideas come to him like 'electrical sparks' and how he translates these into his work. The paragraph also addresses the difficulty of interpreting Lynch's films due to his reluctance to explain their meanings. It mentions the scholarly interest in his work and how critics often resort to psychoanalysis to understand the underlying themes. The narrative suggests that the focus on Lynch's personal life to explain his work may be misguided, emphasizing the importance of the creative process over the search for a singular meaning.

15:03

🏭 The Undercurrent of Evil in Lynch's Work

This paragraph explores the theme of evil and darkness in Lynch's films, which often lurk beneath the surface of seemingly idyllic settings. It contrasts the common search for large-scale trauma in Lynch's past to explain his work, suggesting that it is his perspective on the world that shapes his storytelling. The paragraph discusses how Lynch's work provokes a fascination with his life, but it is the process and the feelings evoked that define his art. It emphasizes that the meaning in Lynch's work is not in the utility of the outcome but in the process of creation, which is a key to understanding his films.

20:03

🎼 Embracing the Abstract in David Lynch's Cinema

The final paragraph discusses the challenge of interpreting David Lynch's films, which often convey feelings and ideas that are not easily expressed in words. It suggests that cinema is the perfect medium for Lynch to express these abstract concepts and that the meaning of his films lies in the feelings they evoke. The paragraph encourages viewers to immerse themselves in the mood and atmosphere of his work, rather than seeking a specific interpretation. It also touches on the validity of attempting to interpret Lynch's films but emphasizes the importance of the viewer's personal experience and the process of discovery. The paragraph concludes with a plug for Mubi, a streaming service that offers a curated selection of films, including those that embody the Lynchian quality.

Keywords

💡Eraserhead

Eraserhead is David Lynch's first feature film, characterized by its bizarre and atmospheric industrial landscape. It represents the theme of exploring the unknown and the subconscious, which is central to the video's discussion of Lynch's work. The film's narrative is intentionally abstract, reflecting Lynch's belief in the importance of mood and feeling over concrete meaning.

💡Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks is a television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, known for its genre-breaking approach and mixture of esoterica and camp. The series is mentioned in the script as an example of Lynch's ability to create influential and critically acclaimed work that challenges traditional narrative structures.

💡Lynchian

The term 'Lynchian' is used to describe a style or quality that is characteristic of David Lynch's work. It encompasses the surreal, dreamlike, and often unsettling elements that permeate his films and stories. The script discusses how this term has become commonplace and how it relates to the specific mood and atmosphere that Lynch's work evokes.

💡Abstraction

Abstraction in the context of the video refers to the non-representational or non-literal elements in Lynch's work. It is a key aspect of his storytelling, where meanings are often left open to interpretation and are not immediately clear. The script mentions that Lynch's films provoke a kind of armchair psychoanalysis, inviting viewers to find their own interpretations.

💡Surrealism

Surrealism is an artistic movement that Lynch's work is often associated with. It involves the use of irrational, dreamlike, and unexpected elements in art and literature. The script describes how Lynch's films are filled with surreal imagery and events that contribute to their unique and often enigmatic nature.

💡Meditation

Meditation is a practice that David Lynch discusses in relation to his creative process. He believes that through meditation, one can access the subconscious and generate ideas for creative work. The script mentions Lynch's book 'Catching the Big Fish,' where he explains how meditation helped him understand the vision of 'Eraserhead.'

💡Mood

Mood in the context of the video refers to the emotional atmosphere or tone that Lynch's work creates. It is an essential aspect of his storytelling, with the script highlighting how Lynch prioritizes mood and feeling over a concrete narrative. The video suggests that the mood is as important as the story itself in Lynch's films.

💡Interpretation

Interpretation is the act of assigning meaning to something, such as a work of art or a film. The script discusses how Lynch's work invites multiple interpretations and how he resists providing a singular, definitive explanation for his films. Instead, he encourages viewers to engage with the work and find their own meanings.

💡Subconscious

The subconscious is the part of the mind that contains thoughts, urges, and memories that are not in immediate awareness but can influence behavior and feelings. The video describes how Lynch's creative process involves tapping into the subconscious through meditation and daydreaming to generate ideas for his films.

💡Process

Process in the video refers to the act of creating or making something, with a focus on the journey rather than the end result. The script uses the example of Lynch building a wooden phone stand to illustrate his emphasis on the process of creation and the feelings and qualities that emerge from it, which are central to understanding his work.

💡Cinema

Cinema, as discussed in the video, is the medium through which Lynch conveys his ideas and feelings. It is described as being similar to music in its ability to be abstract and to evoke emotions without the need for concrete narrative. The script suggests that to understand Lynch's films, one must engage with them on a sensory and emotional level, rather than seeking a literal interpretation.

Highlights

David Lynch's first feature film, 'Eraserhead', is described as his most spiritual movie.

Lynch's creative process involves reading the Bible for inspiration, although he won't reveal the specific sentence that inspired 'Eraserhead'.

Lynch's YouTube series 'What Is David Working On Today?' showcases his design for a wooden phone stand.

The video suggests that Lynch's work is characterized by a unique 'Lynchian' style that is difficult to define.

Lynch's work includes genre-breaking television like 'Twin Peaks' and avant-garde projects.

His creative process involves plumbing the depths of his subconscious through meditation and daydreaming.

Lynch is known for his reluctance to explain or define the meaning of his work, believing it should stand on its own.

Critics often attempt to understand Lynch's work by analyzing his life and upbringing.

Lynch's films often portray evil and darkness lurking beneath the surface of seemingly idyllic environments.

The 'Lynchian' term is used to describe a particular kind of irony where the macabre and mundane combine.

Lynch's storytelling is atmospheric and moody, often involving elements that don't make immediate sense.

Lynch's creative process is about the journey rather than the destination, focusing on the process of creation.

Engaging with Lynch's films requires immersing oneself in the mood and atmosphere rather than seeking a concrete interpretation.

Lynch believes that cinema is like music and that the feeling it evokes is its meaning.

The documentary 'Leviathan' is cited as an example of a non-narrative work that embodies the 'Lynchian' quality.

Mubi, the sponsor of the video, is a streaming service for international, independent, and art house films.

The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of the process in Lynch's work and the viewer's experience.

Transcripts

this video is sponsored by mubi

this is david lynch's first feature film

eraserhead

it follows henry as he navigates a

bizarre atmospheric

and industrial landscape

in his book catching the big fish

director david lynch calls it his most

spiritual movie he explains how as the

film was growing he didn't know exactly

what it meant

he didn't understand how all the

individual sequences came together as a

whole

so he started reading his bible and one

day i read a sentence

and that was it i saw the thing as a

whole

somewhere in the bible is a sentence

that for david lynch fulfills the vision

of eraserhead

and he said he'll probably never reveal

what that is

well what i'm working on today

i'll share with you i'm working on this

thing

that it will hold a telephone the phone

camera on david lynch's youtube channel

he has an ongoing series called what is

david working on today

in this episode he describes his design

for a wooden phone stand

the iphone has these buttons protruding

gotta make a slot so when you slide the

phone in it doesn't activate those

buttons

i think this video gives us some

important clues to understanding the

bizarro world of the films of david

lynch

but we'll come back to it entering the

town of twin peaks first

we need some more context 12 miles west

of the state line

never seen so many trees in my life it

doesn't matter if you've just had a

brief encounter with some of lynch's

work or done a deep dive into everything

this weirdo renaissance man has ever

done

you're probably asking yourself the

question

what is up with david lynch what does it

mean

why is it like this lynch has created

genre-breaking

influential television first with the

original run of twin peaks in the 90s

which broke

open the murder investigation genre of

television with its bizarre mood

and mixture of esoterica and camp my log

saw something that night

really what did it see

ask it and then again with the return

a third season of twin peaks made 25

years later which

is one of the true pieces of genuine

avant-garde television to ever

air

he has a unique body of work across many

mediums

visual art mixed media painting

photography

music interior design as well as books

and a comic strip his work as a

filmmaker is diverse and varied

you'll find a critically panned

self-hailed personal failure

the film adaptation of dune as you

instructed me

i have enlightened your nephews

concerning my

plan my plan the plan

an incredible mess that still radiates a

unique

quality that i've never seen anywhere

else and somehow achieved a cult status

that made back

its budget eventually despite being a

box office failure you'll find a black

and white atmospheric

nightmarish first feature film

his more critically acclaimed dream

noirs like mulholland drive or blue

velvet

[Music]

his fever dream experiment with

self-referential

digital video filmmaking inland empire

[Music]

i can't say this not out loud

this road movie starring nicholas cage

that won him a palm dior at can

[Music]

or his other road movie made for disney

lynch's most linear normal seeming film

but what he calls

his most experimental

from the same mind that brought us this

the good witch

sailor ripley luna loves you

and this

we get this a policeman's dream

yep attempting to understand and

interpret any one of lynch's individual

works

is a feat in and of itself but the task

becomes

almost insurmountable when his work as a

whole is taken into consideration

[Music]

we're cooking quinoa included on the

blu-ray for

inland empire there's a short film

titled david lynch on cooking quinoa

quinoa is something that i like to have

for dinner in this short film david

lynch walks us through his process of

cooking quinoa and this

pan is unbelievable it's super heavy and

lined with

copper it's such a good pan once the

quinoa is on to cook he takes a break

and sits outside to smoke a cigarette

thinking of all those little quinoas

bubbling away and while we wait lynch

tells us a story

back in time 1965

this story framed as if it was just

something that happened to him while he

was traveling once has a bizarre quality

to it

i mean a moonless night

barren landscape where we were in

yugoslavia at that point

and suddenly the train slows

and stops lynch in telling the story

describes things in an atmospheric

and moody detail and he kept filling

filling and filling my hands and the

second i looked up at him

he stopped and i had

trouble getting these coins into my

pockets

and the events of the story take on an

almost magical quality

and then it ends absolutely loved you

know the coca-cola

what time is it

okay and the quinoa is ready

man that is so

good david lynch's style of storytelling

has such a specific quality that the

term

lynchian has become commonplace used to

describe both

lynch's own work and other stories told

in a similar fashion

moths were flipping and flying and like

frogs

frog moths were pulling themselves out

of the earth and

flying up in front of the stand

but what is lynchian

baby my parole was broke 200 miles back

when we burned portage county

are you asking me this question i have a

very good reason

[Music]

what is that indelible quality that ties

together a network police procedural

an avant-garde short film i'm going to

find out one day

a disney movie about a man traveling

across the country on a lawn mower

and a strange story told while some

quinoa cooks it's like a

mysterious strange wind

sound

there is something within all of these

you could call it a tone a mood

a style that connects them despite their

seeming contradictions

it's very much like music the voice is a

musical instrument and what they say is

also very important but how they say it

it's what you say and how you say it

there's a vast network right

an ocean of possibilities and it's a

feel

and and everybody has their own feel so

i use

you know uh my feel we'll return to this

lynchian quality and its importance in a

moment

but let's first take a step deeper into

trying to understand the work itself in

lynch's films and stories there are

often

elements that don't really make sense

abstractions surrealism

and symbolism the meaning of which is

almost never immediately clear

and which on further examination rarely

suggests

on their own concrete singular

interpretations

most people when they encounter this

kind of story do one of two things

discard it as frustrating rubbish or

compelled in some way by the work

go looking for answers to make sense of

it when confronted with material

as abstract and bizarre as lynches it's

an understandable first

impulse to go to the man himself for

answers

you've described it as a film about a

woman in trouble a woman in trouble yeah

you know

i always say this a film is

sort of like a book and books get

written

and the author maybe passes away so you

can't go

talk to them and say what did you mean

you know

that approach by and large in this

situation ends up being a dead end

lynch is notoriously cagey about

explaining

defining or elaborating on the meaning

of his work

and people have a right to

analyze the thing and say what it is for

them and

to criticize it one way or another it's

beautiful

but um i really believe the film

should stand on its own and there should

be nothing added

nothing subtracted that's sort of

the way it is but that's okay looking to

the author's own intent as the

definitive interpretation of a work is a

dubious practice to begin with

but i think for lynch there's more than

just a resistance against explaining

things from his films

often lynch appears to be telling the

honest truth about where

an idea came from yeah you know it's

it's it's strange because

uh the idea is not there and

then suddenly the idea

comes into your conscious mind and it

comes in uh

like an electrical spark and it's known

in an instant that essentially he

doesn't know

this is a book by david lynch about his

creative process and meditation

lynch's creative process seems to be

from his own description basically

plumbing the depths of his subconscious

through meditation and daydreaming to

catch ideas and then

attempting to translate those ideas as

honestly as possible

to whatever medium he's working in i

think the dreamlike

quality to much of his work comes not

from a deliberate attempt to craft

dreamlike images and stories

but from his own creative process faced

with this seemingly

impenetrable dreamlike body of work and

an author who provides

more questions than answers about that

work curious viewers and critics alike

often step into the role of a kind of

armchair psychoanalyst attempting to

understand lynch's work by trying to

understand lynch himself digital

modernism and the

unfinished performance in david lynch's

inland empire

rough beasts slouched towards bethlehem

to be born

eraserhead in the grotesque infant whose

hour has come round at last

desire under the douglas firs entering

the body of reality twin peaks

blue velvet post-modern parody and the

subversion of conservative frameworks

this is just a sampling of the kind of

scholarly film papers that lynch's work

tends to provoke there's an approach to

film interpretation called

symptomatic interpretation to put it

simply symptomatic interpretation

attempts to look at what a film is

saying

about its creators its subject matter or

the societal context in which it was

made

without the conscious intent of the

filmmakers

symptomatic interpretation in film and

literature comes in part out of a

tradition

a freudian dream analysis and

psychoanalysis in general

and so it's not hard to see why lynch's

films with their dreamlike

quality and director who's mute about

his intentions

provokes a kind of armchair

psychoanalysis and

an attempt to understand the work of

lynch by attempting to understand his

subconscious

perhaps this explains the fascination

and obsession

critics seem to have with lynch's

childhood and upbringing

perhaps more than any other director

i've encountered to put it crassly it

seems like people want to know

what kind of childhood trauma lynch must

have endured to produce

such a bizarre and often disturbing body

of work

there are certainly some thematic

connections to be made between lynch's

life

and his work eraserhead's industrial

landscape is so evocative

of the area of philadelphia he lived in

that it's been nicknamed

eraserhood by some residents and lynch

himself refers to the film as the real

philadelphia story

but other attempts at connection like

the attempt to

tie the idyllic oversaturated opening of

blue velvet to his childhood

come up empty blue velvet was inspired

i believe by your childhood in in like

you were born in montana but you you

spent some of your childhood in

no i wasn't inspired by that at all okay

and of course looking to lynch's own

account of his childhood as an

explanation

for his films gets messy because these

stories have their own

lynchian spin to them and in the 50s

where i was

there was an optimism in the air a

feeling of

a bright and shiny future

and there were cars that were very very

beautiful with lots of chrome

there are certainly some shadowy

elements of lynch's life but they're the

kinds of things that happen to plenty of

people who don't go

on to make bizarre dark art house films

instead i think what's more telling are

the stories he tells of finding

oozing black spots on trees crawling

with ants

and that's why i say huge worlds

are in you know those two blocks huge

everything's there everything i think

looking for some large-scale trauma in

lynch's past to explain his brand of

unsettling horror in the present

misunderstands the vision of evil he

portrays in his films

evil horror and darkness in lynch's work

is

always lurking always underneath the

surface

it's often less about an invasive

monster or traumatic event and more

about evil's presence

in the seemingly beautiful idyllic

environments

if you know where to look author david

foster wallace describes

lynchian as a particular kind of irony

where the very macabre

and the very mundane combine in such a

way as to reveal the former's perpetual

containment within the ladder

it's lynch's own perspective on the

world around him

not the specific environments he was in

or the events that happened to him

that shapes the stories he tells and the

way

he tells them and we see our world

and we feel it and we feel there's

things going on

and then sometimes these ideas come

and they string themselves together and

out comes

something like blue velvet

one of my favorites of his youtube

videos is one where he shows some

footage of a worm

in his garden what is to most people

a bug crawling around in the dirt

through lynch's eyes becomes a bizarre

dramatic atmospheric epic

and it came to this sheer rock cliff and

then it would fall down again

and start crawling back up it was

desperately trying to get home and so

looking to events or environments in

lynch's life for explanations of his

work even when you do find connections

doesn't really actually help explain

things it might tell you why eraserhead

is set

in an industrial landscape philadelphia

is maybe my biggest influence or why

coffee and cherry pie and diners are

such a

central theme of twin peaks cherry pie

best in the tri-counties but it won't

actually tell you what those things mean

in the context of the stories or why

lynch chooses to portray them

in the specific way that he does what i

saw

i i've you know carried with me what hit

you

uh the wide range of human behavior

so what do they mean and it holds their

phone in there just

beautifully we're back at the youtube

video i opened with

if you're like me when you saw this you

wondered

why is david lynch building himself a

wooden iphone holder can't he just

buy one you can get one at the store

that works

it's like perfect and then you find out

a few moments later that he

already has one why is lynch building

things he already has

isn't crafting and designing another

version of something that you already

have

fairly pointless meaningless even i

think the answer

is important to understanding his work

as a whole

and how to get the most out of his films

as a viewer but it's so much fun to

build

our own things and um

solve the problems and figure out a way

to do it on our own

it's about the process the meaning

itself is not in the utility

of the outcome but in the specific way

you

do something if you turn the camera a

little bit to the left it would be wrong

you'd see something that broke that but

broke the mood and and made it incorrect

but you turn it right there it's it's

talking to

it's saying it's it's exactly feels

right when mark frost and david lynch

set out to make twin peaks a tv show

about a murder mystery they never

actually

intended to solve the mystery they only

eventually did so under pressure from

the network but

from the start the goal was always

mystery

for its own sake there's a line in twin

peaks fire

walk with me we live inside a dream we

live inside a dream yeah that's a very

lynchian

no it's sort of the truth it's not about

what the stand

does once it's finished but about the

feeling and quality

it possesses as a result of the process

of crafting it

those feelings and qualities that lynch

is looking for

and bringing to light along the way are

what define lynchian

to fully appreciate a piece of lynch's

work i think you need to largely let go

of the idea that it's building towards

some

specific meaning like the iphone stand

it's not about where you are at the end

but about the process of getting there

it's about immersing yourself in a mood

a setting

a feeling and letting that wash over you

if that sounds ridiculous or pretentious

to you consider that you've already

experienced engaging with art in this

way

in other mediums songs with very

abstract lyrics or no lyrics at all

paintings with no discernible plot

setting or even

objects architecture that can evoke a

very strong feeling but that doesn't

have a clearly interpretable symbolism

we engage with all kinds of art without

requiring

a clear single interpretation and

meaning

but for some reason that's the way most

people like to engage with film

i i really would like to um

be able to explain but the film

ends up being the explanation

process of attempting to interpret or

understand a film

usually involves uncovering hidden

meaning and expressing that and to do

that it requires

an interpretation of that meaning into

words

but lynch is trying to convey feelings

and ideas that

aren't easily expressed via words that's

why

cinema for him is the perfect medium for

those ideas

the feeling is the meaning to understand

his films

you have to feel them

of course attempting to interpret or

find a meaning in his films is

completely valid

but i'll let lynch himself explain to

you why you don't need my help

understanding his work cinema is a lot

like music

it can be very abstract but people have

a yearning to make intellectual sense of

it to

put it right into words and when they

can't do that it feels frustrating

but they can come up with an explanation

from within if they

just allow it as they start talking to

their friends

soon they would see things what

something is and what something isn't

and they might agree with their friends

or argue with their friends but how

could they agree

or argue if they don't already know the

interesting thing is

they really do know more than they think

and by voicing what they know it becomes

clear

and when they see something they could

try to clarify that a little more and

again

go back and forth with a friend and they

would come to some conclusion

and that would be valid lynchian is a

term we generally think about in

relationship to narrative work but i've

definitely seen

documentaries that qualify as lynchian

one of those documentaries is the

documentary

leviathan which visually documents a

fishing boat but it does so with such a

specific mood and atmosphere that the

documentary takes on

a really interesting quality it's really

more about the way the thing is

presented than what

exactly is being presented and you can

watch it right now on

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