David Lynch

Twin Peaks, especially the third season, is Lynch’s magnum opus. It is certainly the best television show ever made, and arguably the greatest cinematic work ever made in general.

There is some thematic overlap between Lynch’s work, and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. Stylistically, they are very different of course. As for what they have in common, there is not exactly a word for it, or I don’t know what it is. Perhaps simply “evil”, but that’s too vague. They share themes, sometimes implicitly and sometimes explicitly, of American colonialism and genocide, and of sexual violence in the form of rape and murder, and they cover these themes somewhat obliquely but in a way that recognizes the American nightmare as the nexus of its manifestation. “It” is primarily a supernatural phenomenon, which is then secondarily realized in the psychic layer by way of substituted dreams, and in the political layer as liberalism or fascism, and ultimately as sadistic, psychopathic violence, or even (arguably the worst manifestation) as apathy or nihilism.¹ The spiritual aspect is less explicit in 2666 than in Twin Peaks, but it can be found, especially the role of dreams.

I consider Lynch’s films (as well as, and perhaps especially, Twin Peaks) to be realistic, in the sense that they richly depict what reality is actually like. This is an entirely different thing from being naturalistic, which would mean to reduce reality to mere physics—and since there are many non-physical things, naturalism necessarily must be incompatible with realism.

Sofia Isella’s music reminds me of Lynch’s work, and especially, it is nearby to the intersection of Twin Peaks and 2666. By the way, Lynch’ own music is also well worth listening to.

David Lynch

See also