I chose to write about Major Briggs to try to prove that he has some of the same special “gifts” as some of the other characters in Twin Peaks. I will prove that Major Briggs has special gifts such as; those of, Laura Palmer, Sarah Palmer, Maddy Ferguson, the Log Lady, and Agent Cooper.
Major Briggs was working of a secret project for the government called Project Blue Book. It was later revealed that Project Blue Book's main focus was of the Black and White Lodge along with other unworldly events and phenomena’s.
During the second season Major Briggs is abducted and taken to the white lodge for several days. This is not the first time in the series that major Briggs was taken to the white lodge. According to “Lodges” (http://www.sheepproductions.com) “Major Briggs is being used by the white lodge spirits in an attempt to infiltrate the black lodge. [...] From time to time Major Briggs is abducted by the white lodge spirits [...] and it seems he is being sent into the black lodge.”
I started to ponder the gift given to Major Briggs when he had the vision of his son Bobby that was given to him by the white lodge. This is when I realized that he is working for the white lodge because the black would not send such a beautiful vision. This is not the only known thing sent to Major Briggs by the white lodge.
One of the other occurances was a message recieved, while monitering the woods. The message was for agent Cooper warning him against the owls, which symbolize the black lodge and BOB.
Major Briggs had both visions and coded messages from the white lodge. The other characters with special gifts, all had visions of their own, yet Major Briggs was the only one with a pure enough heart that was used by the white lodge.
Brettanie B.
http://www.sheepproductions.com/tps/explanations/lodge.htm
Monday, November 24, 2008
Nothing Is What It Seems
Things do not always seem as they appear, especially in the case of David Lynch’s television series Twin Peaks. Even one of the central quotes in the series illustrates this, "The Owls are not what they seem." I argue that the orderliness of life in Twin Peaks is an illusion that hides the extreme disorder lying beneath the surface. On just a quick glance through the town of Twin Peaks, one would think of it as the perfect “Andy Griffith” type small town. But as soon as Laura Palmer’s dead body washes up on the shore, we quickly realize there must be more going on than what is seen on the surface. As Agent Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman investigate her murder, they uncover little by little that the entire town is full of secrets, immorality, and disorder. For instance the drug ring run by the Renault brothers and Leo Johnson, the adultery that seems to be running rampant in the town, and not to mention Ben Horne and all of his dealings. So this seemingly peaceful and innocent town is actually very immoral and corrupt. Lynch also uses this technique with several of the characters. One great example of this is Josie Packard. For the entire first season Josie appears to be an innocent victim to the dealings of Ben Horne and Catherine. But as we find out later on, she is actually in on the plan to burn the mill and is helping Ben double-cross Catherine. The most shocking part is not the fact that the town is corrupt, but that few people take notice or desire to do anything about it. As J. P. Telotte notes in his article, “The Dis-order of Things in Twin Peaks,” “Everyday at the Sheriff’s Office we see row upon row of neatly stacked donuts, ‘a policeman’s dream,’ as Agent Cooper calls it. Similarly at the Double R Diner the bottles of mustard and ketchup are gathered together each morning awaiting the customers of that day” (Telotte 162). It would seem that even if the world was coming to an end, the inhabitants of Twin Peaks would just go about there lives like they always have.
Telotte, J.P. "The Dis-order of Things in Twin Peaks." Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks.
Caleb J.
Telotte, J.P. "The Dis-order of Things in Twin Peaks." Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks.
Caleb J.
The Virtue and Despair of Laura Palmer
In my opinion, a person who is saint like is someone that is wholly committed to virtuous deeds. In the Twin Peaks series, the public perception of Laura Palmer drastically changed throughout the development of her murder mystery case. In the beginning of Twin Peaks, Laura’s image was one of purity and virtue. Laura concealed the double life she led by hiding her mischievous acts under her charitable public image. Her intentions were to promote the good for the community, but Laura lacked self-respect because she was involved with drugs and other scandalous activities. Some would say that Laura’s good will, and victimization overpowered her less virtuous nature. In the article “The Canonization of Laura Palmer”, Christy Desmet states that “Laura’s spirit transcends the paradoxes of her earthly existence” (97). Did Laura’s charitable actions and circumstances of death lead her to become a saintly figure; or does the revelation of her secret life and involvement with drugs and sexual promiscuity defame her of a saintly image? I argue that, she does not portray a saintly image because her charitable acts and mischievous lifestyle are equally relevant. For someone to be considered saintly they must be devoted to persistent virtue through all walks of life.
Chris S.
Chris S.
BOB, Bobby, MIKE, and Mike.
Writers generally use a variety of names in books, television shows, and movies so the audience can easily tell them apart. David Lynch on the other hand, uses similar names such as BOB and Bobby, MIKE and Mike. He also uses characters who look alike, Laura Palmer and Maddy Ferguson, her cousin have an extreme resemblance.
MIKE and BOB were once partners and Mike and Bobby are close friends. Why would David Lynch use the same names for the two pairs of men? It’s because they have something more in common than their names.
Bobby is the alter ego of BOB because what Bobby is BOB isn’t and what Bobby feels BOB doesn’t. Bobby, an adolescent name, is young and in love. As a teen he wants everything but doesn’t want to give anything up and carries almost no responsibilities. He wants to take care of Shelly and save her from Leo even though he was also seeing Laura Palmer at the time she was brutally murdered. Bobby is relatively good according to Twin Peaks’ standards and we as the audience learn a great deal about him. Laura Palmer, who was being victimized by BOB, victimized Bobby in return.
BOB, a more mature name, uses his position as a spirit or entity to manipulate people by feeding off of their fears. BOB is evil and is very mysterious in Twin Peaks. He has a limited amount of appearances in the series and we know almost nothing about him. No one knows why he kills or motivates him to do the things he does.
David Lynch uses the same names for each of these characters because they are the same person. One is an entity, and the other is human. They both have a friend named Mike, and Lynch doesn’t even use another form of the name Mike as he does with Bobby and BOB meaning that Mike is only there to serve one purpose, to be Bobby’s partner, making him a necessary but insignificant character. Robert, being the root of both names, is the name BOB chooses to use as his calling card after killing someone, because Robert is both Bobby and BOB.
Korynne W.
MIKE and BOB were once partners and Mike and Bobby are close friends. Why would David Lynch use the same names for the two pairs of men? It’s because they have something more in common than their names.
Bobby is the alter ego of BOB because what Bobby is BOB isn’t and what Bobby feels BOB doesn’t. Bobby, an adolescent name, is young and in love. As a teen he wants everything but doesn’t want to give anything up and carries almost no responsibilities. He wants to take care of Shelly and save her from Leo even though he was also seeing Laura Palmer at the time she was brutally murdered. Bobby is relatively good according to Twin Peaks’ standards and we as the audience learn a great deal about him. Laura Palmer, who was being victimized by BOB, victimized Bobby in return.
BOB, a more mature name, uses his position as a spirit or entity to manipulate people by feeding off of their fears. BOB is evil and is very mysterious in Twin Peaks. He has a limited amount of appearances in the series and we know almost nothing about him. No one knows why he kills or motivates him to do the things he does.
David Lynch uses the same names for each of these characters because they are the same person. One is an entity, and the other is human. They both have a friend named Mike, and Lynch doesn’t even use another form of the name Mike as he does with Bobby and BOB meaning that Mike is only there to serve one purpose, to be Bobby’s partner, making him a necessary but insignificant character. Robert, being the root of both names, is the name BOB chooses to use as his calling card after killing someone, because Robert is both Bobby and BOB.
Korynne W.
The Woods Hold Many Mysteries
I believe that the Log Lady's husband's spirit may be contained in the log she carries around with her. Although not much is mentioned about her husband, other than he was a lumberjack who died in a fire. Her husband's spirit may be housed in the log and he could be sending messages to her that only she could hear. With the log's connection to the spiritual world, it could give her hints as to what is happening in Twin Peaks and she would deliver these cryptic messages to Cooper. In season two of Twin Peaks Josie’s soul gets trapped in a log at the time of her death as well, so it doesn’t seem too unlikely that the “Log Lady’s” log may house her husbands spirit.
Ellis J.
http://www.2000revue.com/community/topic.cfm?topicid=4053&page=1
Soul Murder
Many people assert that BOB is the representation of the evil that lurks inside of everyone; I argue that BOB is a symbol of a more specific kind of evil, incest or childhood sexual molestation. Many characters in the series commit crimes and participate in immoral acts, but BOB does not possess them while they engage in their sinister activities. Ben Horne is perhaps the most corrupt citizen of Twin Peaks; he is aware of his actions and has no remorse for his numerous sins. Ben has his hands in nearly every criminal activity in Twin Peaks, but we never see Ben under BOB’s control. Other particularly nefarious characters include Leo Johnson, Jacques Renault, and Hank Jennings. All these men are low life scum, their lives a series of one malevolent deed after another. However, BOB is not involved in any of these characters’ crimes.
BOB is only shown to possess Leland Palmer, Laura Palmer, and Agent Cooper. Laura had been sexually abused by her father, and as a boy, Leland was molested by his grandfather’s neighbor, BOB. Was Agent Cooper also molested as a child? In his essay, “Introduction: Twin Peaks’ Interpretive Community,” David Lavery discusses the book The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My tapes. Lavery observes that the book provides a great deal of backstory on Agent Cooper. Lavery goes on to recount a quote from the book about a vision Copper had as a child: “man who I have never seen…trying to break into my room. He kept calling my name and said that he wanted me.” Copper’s vision has similarities to what Laura experienced with BOB. BOB had entered Laura’s room through a window every night for five years to molest her, and BOB had told her “he wanted to be her.” Not only did BOB want to sexually possess Laura he also wanted to possess her soul. In the book Treating the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, by Jody Messler Davies, Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, and Mary Gail Frawley, the authors discuss psychoanalyst Leonard Shengold. Shengold used the phrase “soul murder” to describe the psychological damage of repeated sexual abuse in childhood. Shengold maintains, that using fantasies of a sadomasochistic nature, victims attempt to distance themselves from their traumatic memories. It doesn’t matter if BOB is an external demon gaining control of his victims, or a sick fantasy in the victim’s mind, he is the representation of the "soul murdering" aspect of childhood molestation .
Treating the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse http://books.google.com/books?id=Mxn-Xro7m1MC
Full of Secrets
http://books.google.com/books?id=m6mjuWXrqb8C
Lela C.
BOB is only shown to possess Leland Palmer, Laura Palmer, and Agent Cooper. Laura had been sexually abused by her father, and as a boy, Leland was molested by his grandfather’s neighbor, BOB. Was Agent Cooper also molested as a child? In his essay, “Introduction: Twin Peaks’ Interpretive Community,” David Lavery discusses the book The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My tapes. Lavery observes that the book provides a great deal of backstory on Agent Cooper. Lavery goes on to recount a quote from the book about a vision Copper had as a child: “man who I have never seen…trying to break into my room. He kept calling my name and said that he wanted me.” Copper’s vision has similarities to what Laura experienced with BOB. BOB had entered Laura’s room through a window every night for five years to molest her, and BOB had told her “he wanted to be her.” Not only did BOB want to sexually possess Laura he also wanted to possess her soul. In the book Treating the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, by Jody Messler Davies, Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, and Mary Gail Frawley, the authors discuss psychoanalyst Leonard Shengold. Shengold used the phrase “soul murder” to describe the psychological damage of repeated sexual abuse in childhood. Shengold maintains, that using fantasies of a sadomasochistic nature, victims attempt to distance themselves from their traumatic memories. It doesn’t matter if BOB is an external demon gaining control of his victims, or a sick fantasy in the victim’s mind, he is the representation of the "soul murdering" aspect of childhood molestation .
Treating the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse http://books.google.com/books?id=Mxn-Xro7m1MC
Full of Secrets
http://books.google.com/books?id=m6mjuWXrqb8C
Lela C.
The Gap Between Seasons
The two main characters of Twin Peaks were the murdered Laura Palmer and the police force out to catch her killer, so naturally audiences assumed that Twin Peaks would be a detective story. I argue that Twin Peaks did not follow the normal narrative structure of a detective story, becoming a continuous serial that did not have a planned end. In Peaks and Valleys of Serial Creativity, Marc Dolan postulates that "a detective story therefore achieves closure when the detective(s) has filled in the story leading up to the plot's beginning." The plot literally began with Laura's murder, so the logical conclusion to Twin Peaks would be resolving the crime and coming to a solid conclusion where all plot threads are tied up and accounted for. Instead, Twin Peaks went on to exhaust all its major plot hooks and crime clues too early, and was eventually replaced by the supernatural. The plot threads involving Leo Johnson, the Renault brothers, the Roadhouse and One-Eyed-Jacks were all closed by the end of the first season, and, as Dolan puts it, "the investigation into Laura Palmer's murder was no farther along than it had been back when Cooper addressed the town meeting in the pilot." With every possible clue having been used by the end of the first with the investigation team no closer to catching Laura's killer, Twin Peaks had not progressed anywhere, and was forced to go from an episodic serial, where plots go on for episodes but are ultimately addressed and concluded, to a continuous serial, where plots are exhausted and new plots are introduced to prolong the series. This gave the second season a much more infinite feel to it, with no central plot or direction.
Andrew R.
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