Blue Velvet was such an interesting film, and I have to say I enjoyed it more than most films this semester. That’s not even a diss, I really liked all of these movies, but David Lynch is such a strange director. From the beginning of a David Lynch film, you can see him messing with you. The opening credits usually try to throw the viewer off and give them the wrong feel for the movie, so that when all the bad things start to happen, the viewer is forced to rethink that they previously thought about the film.
(I’m gonna ramble a bit about Lynch) The psycho-sexual cinematography and situations that he shows are always so weird, but I end up loving them. Well, not the situations in specific, but the way they are shown. When it comes to comfort, I think Lynch expects us to leave the film in a shaken manner. I mean, when Seth and I left, we jammed about how weird the movie was, but I couldn’t shake the fact that this is how David Lynch makes movies. He’s an auteur. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines auteur as, “an artist (as a musician or writer) whose style and practice are distinctive” and looking at Lynch’s work, he is most definitely a distinctive director.In one of my other classes, Film Theory and Criticism, we watched a David Lynch film by the name of Mulholland Drive, and that movie is even worse when it comes to the psycho-sexual and mind numbing images. This is Lynch’s style though, and this is what makes him an excellent film maker to apply the auteur label to.
I don’t even really think about the main character when I think of this movie. I don’t even remember his name, but I do remember that he was a strange and oddly American man, and this is what the reading talks about, or at least, what I’m getting from the reading. Jeffrey (Looked it up) finding the ear ruined his drive to become a regular citizen in America, and took him away from his school path. Do they even mention school again in the movie? Was he supposed to be on a slight break? Not sure, please explain when you comment. Maybe this is a post modern approach to the classic american dream. Lynch might be saying that no one can really follow this dream, because something will get in the way. Maybe, Frank was living the post modern american dream. Who knows?
I love your discussion about the definition of auteur and how Lynch fits that bill to a t. He is a weird dude, with a weird way of making films that include sexual and physical violence and just overlying oddities, but everyone just accepts that this is the way Lynch makes films. There is almost no greater example of an auteur than David Lynch. He wants to make people feel things they don't often feel in other people; he wants to make them squirm. But there is a method to all his madness-- deconstruction of popular ideas. In this film, he takes several steps to deconstruct the American Dream, typical character archetypes, and the images people are seeing vs. what they would expect to see. There is no set good and evil in this film and viewers are left with their minds reeling, but that's just Lynch. We squirm during the weird, ritualistic rape scene and the sexual abuse that plays an underlying character in Dorothy itself, but that's just Lynch. He forces audiences to think and to see things in a different light and I think you comment on that perfectly here.
ReplyDeleteYea, tell me about it... wasn't he supposed to be on break from school... And yea we did discuss about this in depth. Go read mine Quincy. I like this though, "an artist (as a musician or writer) whose style and practice are distinctive” and looking at Lynch’s work, he is most definitely a distinctive director." I spoke about the beginning and end images. But I believe Lynch knows that if you show people some taboo and fetish material they will be interested. Good Post!
ReplyDeleteJeffrey wasn't on a 'slight break.' He came home because his dad had a heart attack. That was his dad watering the yard at the beginning of the film. The film is strange, but the plot really isn't. A bit more discussion of auteur theory, and a lot more discussion of the reading, would have been good here. Do you think the ear sidetracked him from becoming a regular citizen, or forced him to realize that there's really no such thing? Some good thoughts here. I'd have liked to have seen them developed.
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