David Lynch and Our Perceptions

I believe that the most important point in Twin Peaks that David Lynch was making was not about an evil spirit or about the underlying darkness in the woods. Twin Peaks is about American society and the way viewers perceive women and families. In the article titled “The Knowing Spectator of Twin Peaks: Culture, Feminism, and Family Violence” by Randi Davenport, Hobart Smith, and William Smith, they point out that Twin Peaks differs from many other shows in that it talks about sexual abuse and adult male aggressors instead of ignoring what is going on in families in real life. Today, we are all so used to seeing a woman victimized and abused. No one really thinks twice about it as if we have been desensitized. Lynch takes a different approach and shows this victimization in a raw brutal way that most viewers are not so used to. The attacks on Laura and Maddy were hard to watch, even for a seasoned horror movie enthusiast. By presenting such horrifying entertainment on mainstream television, Lynch makes people think about women and the fact that they are placed in this helpless role more often than not. The attacks also bring up the perception of family. In Twin Peaks, families are not perfect (even though they may try to give off that façade). They are all dysfunctional and the most evil things come from the family. This is the society that Lynch knew we all needed to see because that is the real world. Families do horrible things to each other and to women, despite what many other television shows want viewers to see.

Vanessa Q.