After seeing all of these Twin Peaks episodes, we learn that there are many different things going on in this small logging town. Because of the numerous circumstances that are happening around the time of Laura Palmer's death, I think her murder was not just a mystery but also a plot device for David Lynch to progress the story into more of a drama than for it to be a mystery. Most of these occurances happen after the beginning of Laura Palmer's investigation. It is almost as if we would never known that Josie Packard made a deal with Hank Jennings or that Ben Horne was helping with the cocaine passage from Canada, unless Laura died.
Believe it or not, Laura's murder was never intended to be solved. Creators David Lynch and Mark Frost only gave identity to the murderer because of insistence from critics and the audience itself. The intent of an unresolved murder was to show the darker, more realistic version of the world. Isn't it true that some murders just aren't solved? This concept is also more of a plot device because you learn of the people who are connected with Laura's murder, and you also learn the scandals that they hide in their lives. For example, Laura knew Ben Horne, not just as a lover, but she also mentored his son, Johnny. With the (innocent) connection of Laura and Ben Horne through Johnny Horne, we learn of Ben's true motives: to collect the money from a burnt down sawmill, and using the property to create a suburban neighborhood.
Believe it or not, Laura's murder was never intended to be solved. Creators David Lynch and Mark Frost only gave identity to the murderer because of insistence from critics and the audience itself. The intent of an unresolved murder was to show the darker, more realistic version of the world. Isn't it true that some murders just aren't solved? This concept is also more of a plot device because you learn of the people who are connected with Laura's murder, and you also learn the scandals that they hide in their lives. For example, Laura knew Ben Horne, not just as a lover, but she also mentored his son, Johnny. With the (innocent) connection of Laura and Ben Horne through Johnny Horne, we learn of Ben's true motives: to collect the money from a burnt down sawmill, and using the property to create a suburban neighborhood.
An author by the name of Jeff Lester of LazyBastard.com (yes, that's the website's name), reinforces this idea saying that, "From the time that I first read about Twin Peaks, I always suspected that Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost, had no interest in revealing who actually killed Laura Palmer. The mystery was a plot device that would allow Cooper to investigate the secret life of the town itself, and a device that would allow Lynch to linger over the mystery of objects". To hang over the mystery of objects can also include the mystery of objectives as well. What does Josie want to accomplish by dealing with Hank Jennings? Why does Catherine Martell withold evidence of Ben Horne's innocence for Laura's murder? We are left only to ponder each character's motives, and Laura's murder simply seems to have been the reason we wonder. --- Amanda F.
1 comment:
Response to Amanda F.’s blog entry:
Although its narrative contains a multitude of interwoven plotlines, to consider Twin Peaks as primarily a drama rather than a mystery is highly inaccurate. Twin Peaks contains all the characteristics necessary to have a narrative that is primarily mystery in type; however the literary techniques that David Lynch and Mark Frost use in creating this narrative may contribute to its classification mistake. I believe that Lynch and Frost use the poststructural element of indeterminacy to transform the Twin Peaks narrative from the classical mystery narrative, what the average viewer is accustomed to seeing, into one that is more contemporary in form; that is, one that contains a sense of openness and an absence of finality.
Now let us examine what indeterminacy is and how it is used in Twin Peaks. In short, indeterminacy describes the principle that denies the existence of a determinate meaning and inhibits the creation of finality within a narrative. In her essay “Infinite Games: The Derationalization of Detection in Twin Peaks,” Angela Hague illustrates this principle by incorporating the theories of the infinite and finite games introduced by philosopher Robert Carse. She contends that by eliminating the boundaries typically found in finite, classical mystery narratives (such as Sherlock Holmes), Twin Peaks, an infinite game, emerges as a narrative that seems absent of a definite conclusion. Along with the absence of a conclusion, indeterminacy influences the detective character, Agent Cooper, in a similar fashion. He is portrayed as being not constricted to boundaries and open to using unconventional investigative methods.
In response to your claim that Twin Peaks is more of a drama rather than a mystery; it contains all necessary elements to classify it as predominantly a mystery…a plot that centers around a murder and a detective main character using investigative methods to solve the crime. Although Twin Peaks may not have a definite conclusion and Cooper uses unconventional investigative methods, it is still predominantly a mystery, not a drama.
I also disagree with your stance that it was Laura Palmer’s murder that was used as the plot device and that it drives the narrative into being a drama, not a mystery. I went onto the same essay that you referenced, “This is a Formica Table-Thoughts on Twin Peaks” at www.lazybastard.com/TwinPeaks.html, and feel that you grossly misinterpreted the author’s position on the subject. After you quoted him, you clearly overlooked his message within that quote and inserted your opinion “that the mystery of objects can also include the mystery of objectives.” It is a bit of stretch to consider “objectives” to be the same as “objects”, as intended by this author. This author argues that the “mystery was [the] plot device,” not Laura’s murder as you stated. He also contends that this device allows Lynch to “linger over the mystery of objects” which leaves viewers “to wonder [if those objects are] also part of the mystery.” Some of those objects include Laura’s dairy, the broken-heart necklace and the letters that BOB placed under the fingernails of his victims. These objects are part of Twin Peaks’ mystery, the same mystery that Lynch uses as a plot device to advance the narrative to be more of the mystery type, not a drama type.
While it is true that Twin Peaks does not follow the classical mystery narrative, Lynch uses poststructural indeterminacy to transform it into more of a contemporary version. He also uses the mystery itself as the intended plot device to ensure the narrative maintains its mystery structure.
- Diane S.
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