Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Reality of Twin Peaks

For the majority of this semester we have been debating the intentions of David Lynch in creating the television series Twin Peaks. I think Twin Peaks is a reflection of the increasing use of drugs throughout mid-town America. The town of Twin Peaks was conveniently located near the Canadian border making obtaining illegal drugs seemingly effortless. Leo Johnson and Jacques Renault are the main sources for bringing the drugs into the town. There is not conclusive evidence to prove who all was involved in using drugs but it becomes evident that a large majority of the population of Twin Peaks was using some type of drugs by their hallucinations, mainly of Bob, and erratic behavior.


Dmitri G.

3 comments:

CHRIS G said...

David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” seems to illustrate the ideal American town, a crimeless safe haven in which no one has to lock their doors. Laura Palmer’s murder shocked the community and brought to light all the illegal and nefarious acts that were taking place. Not only was there an active pipeline of cocaine into Twin Peaks but it was manned by the high school all American quarterback as the lead distributer, his involvement was made clear by his debt of ten thousand dollars to Leo Johnson. His illicit activities drove him to murder, when he was set up by Jacques Renault in the Canadian forest. Twin Peaks is a perfect portrait of America today. There is always an underlying darkness that seems to take hold of the most unsuspecting people.
Chris G.

UWFTWINPEAKSBLOG said...

David Lynch also brought out the reality of abuse and rape in families. Many people believe that this only occurs in “poor” families, but Lynch shows us it can happen to the middle class as well. Diane Stevenson writes about this in “Family Romance, Family Violence, and the Fantastic”. She says, “Abuse as Lynch represents it, as most of us tend to imagine it, wears a garb of unclean low life, from which the clean middle-class home supposedly provides a haven; but in fact abuse lives in the middle-class home as much as anywhere else.” Laura’s home, just like her life, looked perfect when looking in from the outside, but as the series went on, the viewers found out that this wasn’t the case. Laura being raped and abused by her father just adds to the reality that this “perfect” town is just as normal as any other town in America where rape and abuse can happen anywhere and to anyone.

Joseph S.

UWFTWINPEAKSBLOG said...

The reality of Twin Peaks is deeper than a community that is suffering with drug problems; or a crimeless community that has suffered a tragic lost in the murder of Laura Palmer. Twin Peaks shows a gruesome picture of society. I will argue that the reality of Twin Peaks shows a horrific picture of things that are occuring in the homes in society. In "David Lynch", Thomas Caldwell asserts that "the horrors of domesitc violence are amplified by having a narrative about incest and by depicting the experience through the eyes of the incest victim, Laura Palmer". Twin Peaks is exploration of the ugliness that society is blinded from. Laura Palmer helps viewers become alert of the horrific acts that are occuring in homes. When you look at Twin Peaks it awakens the conscience of the potential of what people are capable of. The fact that a person can imagine these acts show that it is imaginable for a person to be involved in such acts. This was never David Lynch's intent, but this is what is unveiled as viewers watch Twin Peaks. Glenn Esterly in "With Twin Peaks, filmmaker David Lynch brings his unique vision to television", she quotes Lynch as he says, "...the characters turned out to be people we all know instantly. Theyre all very human". The reality of Twin Peaks brings the awareness that everyday people are capable of anything. Hence, not only does Twin Peaks shine light on domesitc violence, but also opens the eyes of people to never think that a person is exempt of such vile acts no matter how they appear, as exhibited in Twin Peaks.
DIAMOS D.