David Lynch, creator of Twin Peaks, has managed to incorporate a heroic situations into his show. In Twin Peaks, there is a hero, a villain, and a hostage that need to be rescued. I am trying to argue that Twin Peaks show knights rescuing damsels in distress. The male characters are usually the knights and the women are the damsels in distress. In "A Feminist Reading of Twin Peaks," Diana George insisted that "the series is chock full of good guys" (114). George argues that men gets to play the good and bad guys while the women play the victims in Twin Peaks. In some of the episodes of Twin Peaks, there are situations where the good guys had to rescue the women that were in situations they could not get themselves out of.
The first rescue situation deals with Truman and Cooper rescuing Audrey. The knights were Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman, and Audrey was the princess that needed to be rescued. Audrey Horne was trying to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer. Her investigation led her to One Eye Jack where the situation got more complicated. Audrey did manage to get pieces of information but she was captured and she needed someone to rescue her. In that point she becomes the damsel in distress. Audrey called Agent Cooper for help and he complied. Cooper and Truman went to One Eye Jacks to perform a rescue operation. With minor complications, they managed to rescue Audrey. This rescue operation shows that the knights managed to rescue the princess.
The second situation occurs when James had to help Donna and Maddie. Like the previous situation the male character is the hero and the female characters were the ones in trouble. Donna and Maddie tried to snatch and grab Laura's diary that Harold was holding. However, things did not go as planned. Enraged by this betrayal, Harold trapped Donna and Maddie. Donna and Maddie had no idea how to get out of that sticky situation. James managed to get them out of the situation by tackling Harold to allow the women to escape. This rescue act is another example of how men become the women's knight and shining armor.
Despite of those situations, Twin Peaks is mostly a detective show. The show tries to focus on solving the case. In most of the episodes of Twin Peaks, the authorities are trying to solve Laura Palmer's murderer. However, there are times in the show where the male characters distract themselves to help others. They do these distractions to avoid consuming themselves in solving the Laura Palmer's case. When female characters get into trouble, the male characters will try to rescue them. Male characters will do anything to protect the female characters.
Twin Peaks shows an interesting way of how the men go out of their way to save the women. This TV show creates the typical image of heroes. The situation of men rescuing women confirms that the men are the ones that can get the job done. Those rescue situations and the men's willingness to protect women illustrate that the men are usually the heroes and women are the damsels in distress. David Lynch knows how to incorporate those parts into Twin Peaks.
Alexander C.
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First of all I have to suspect that you spend most of your free time cooped up in your room, on your computer playing Dungeons and Dragons. Secondly I have to assume you’re a shovanistic pig who probably has never been on a date with a girl before, and has no friends other than your Dungeons and Dragon junkies. You are crazy to think that the men play the good/ bad guys and that the Women are deemed to be the helpless damsels in distress. Sorry If I bust your bubble but Twin Peaks is not a Disney Movie. You have just given the prime example of how men in our society subordinate women. To this day men still rule Women. Women are born without contest into a society where Sexism is prevalent. This means that Women are discriminated against just because we have a vagina and breasts. And this idea of modern sexism in America is very prevalent in Twin Peaks. John P. Lovell states in his book, Insights from Film Into Violence and Oppression that “Twin Peaks is a place where women live with the constant threat of violence from men, the sexual terror on which patriarchal authority relies”(52). This constant state of fear is brought on by the idea of male superiority in society. When you say “The male characters will do anything to protect the female characters” I guess you forgot Laura and Maddie were killed by a male, Donna was almost raped by a male, Audrey was raped by males, Donna was drugged by males, Shelly was abused by a male, Lucy was knocked up and left by a male, Nadine got her eye shot out by a male… and the list goes on. If you were to catch my ridiculously obvious drift then you would understand that the women in Twin Peaks are not “damsels in distress” but are victims of violence brought upon them by males.
This statement makes me want to say FUCK YOU!!!! And I quote you, “The situation of men rescuing women confirms that men are the ones that can get the job done.” You are seriously twisted if you believe that men are the ones who get the job done. This is not the 1920’s anymore. I guess society can never grow out of its sexist demeanor when we still have young ignorant males like you infesting our population.
Chelsea S.
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