Tweet
Introduction:
This is one of the best movies ever made and I am not saying that because I am being fooled by the seemingly nonsensical presentation. Those who do not understand the story are criticizing those who are praising the film by saying that they are assuming it is genius because they don not understand the film. This movie is minimally allegorical. A great majority is quite literal. A simple story with a beginning, middle and end. People become confused by the film because they try to find a deeper, more philosophical meaning than is being presented and fail to realize that the crypticness comes from a chopped up plot resembling that of Pulp Fiction combined with a very long and rather explanatory fantasy sequence.
The General Plot:
Diane moves to L.A. after a jitterbug contest to get into acting. At an audition, she meets Camilla with whom she falls in love. Diane becomes enraged with jealousy since Camilla has relations with other people. Diane discovers the other man (the director) at a film shoot and discovers the other woman (a random blond) at the engagement party for Camilla and the director. Motivated by her rage and possessiveness, Diane hires a hit man to kill Camilla. After that is done, she is overcome by loneliness and slips into an unconscious, possibly artificially induced, fantasy world where she lives the life she wants to. Diane is then awakened. In her conscious state she is haunted by what she has done.
The Significance of the Fantasy:
The film starts out, after the credits, with a brief, “first person point of view” shot depicting somebody collapsing onto a bed and slipping into unconsciousness. This is where Diane's fantasy starts. The following accident is there as an excuse for her to "bring back" her dead girlfriend and justify the fantasy life by showing that the attempt on her life failed. She depicts her newfound girlfriend as meek and innocent because that is what she wished she was. In the meantime, she acts like everything is "like in the movies" because she has an escapist personality. She also, in a sense, kills herself off and assumes the identity of a waitress named Betty at a diner. The story revolving around the director is a direct result of her feeling that he was in someway victimized in reality just as she was and "convinces" herself that he was forced to choose Camilla. Camilla Rhoades in the fantasy is actually the random blond from the engagement party. She hated her so much that she turned her into Camilla and made the ultimate antagonist. She then took the real Camilla and turned her into a perfect, submissive out-of-the-movies girlfriend and used Rita Hayworth as an inspiration. She also paints the hit man as a very clumsy and incapable person to further justify the survival of Camilla. Her fantasy world, unfortunately for her, was a search for Diane which ended up being herself and made the dreamworld die by taking her through a series of reminders of reality. The first reminder was Club Silencio which chanted “there is no band” and expressed that “the instruments” you hear are not really there; this is a metaphor for the fantasy. She begins to shake violently because it shakes her perception of her surroundings. The other reminder is the blue box. Actually, the blue box is not the reminder itself, but the blue key that opens the box. The blue key reminds her of the actual death of Camilla because it is what the hit man said would show up when it was done. The blue box is the resulting “can o’ worms.” Along with having love, this entire creation of hers is an escape from reality by living in the idealized Hollywood that she expected to be part of when she arrived.
Additional Elements:
The mafia elements are derived from the engagement party. It was the translation of the lack of control she had felt during that evening.
Did she feel sympathy for the director? She sure did. One must remember that all of the misfortunes he endured were all in her fantasy and that means, if you feel sorry for him, so does she. The looks they apparently exchanged when she walked into the studio during the fantasy sequence is telling of that. In addition, the fact that she agreed to go to the engagement party and how she acted before the random blond showed up suggested she had come to terms with the relationship of Camilla and the director.
The fantasy begins with a detective saying they need to find the girl with the pearl earring. The fantasy ends with the painting "Girl with the Pearl Earring" in the hallway.
"You look like somebody else." Yes, this is the beginning of her realization that her fantasy girlfriend and her fantasy blond enemy are intertwined.
David Lynch is a fan of using the color blue as an expression of tension of change. It is apparent very strongly in Lost Highway and was carried over from Blue Velvet.
David Lynch also hates Hollywood with a passion and his take on it is a secondary commentary that is very bluntly presented. Or maybe it is the primary comment...
The Allegory:
The allegorical aspect of the film is the man behind the Winkie’s and the occurrences surrounding him. This, I believe, is where David Lynch leaves things open for interpretation; the message, if you will. Though the artist has his interpretation, what the man stands for is dependant on the viewer and his or her individual response to the literal elements of the film. Does he symbolize an aspect of the human psyche? Does he symbolize Hollywood?
Conclusion:
This is a story showing the psychology of a very troubled woman who lost a dream. It is not series of random things specifically designed to disturb, it is not a commentary about the human condition via chaos and it is not a cryptic philosophical message. It is an unfortunate chunk of the human condition that is presented beautifully. It is cinematic perfection. Enjoy.
This is one of the best movies ever made and I am not saying that because I am being fooled by the seemingly nonsensical presentation. Those who do not understand the story are criticizing those who are praising the film by saying that they are assuming it is genius because they don not understand the film. This movie is minimally allegorical. A great majority is quite literal. A simple story with a beginning, middle and end. People become confused by the film because they try to find a deeper, more philosophical meaning than is being presented and fail to realize that the crypticness comes from a chopped up plot resembling that of Pulp Fiction combined with a very long and rather explanatory fantasy sequence.
The General Plot:
Diane moves to L.A. after a jitterbug contest to get into acting. At an audition, she meets Camilla with whom she falls in love. Diane becomes enraged with jealousy since Camilla has relations with other people. Diane discovers the other man (the director) at a film shoot and discovers the other woman (a random blond) at the engagement party for Camilla and the director. Motivated by her rage and possessiveness, Diane hires a hit man to kill Camilla. After that is done, she is overcome by loneliness and slips into an unconscious, possibly artificially induced, fantasy world where she lives the life she wants to. Diane is then awakened. In her conscious state she is haunted by what she has done.
The Significance of the Fantasy:
The film starts out, after the credits, with a brief, “first person point of view” shot depicting somebody collapsing onto a bed and slipping into unconsciousness. This is where Diane's fantasy starts. The following accident is there as an excuse for her to "bring back" her dead girlfriend and justify the fantasy life by showing that the attempt on her life failed. She depicts her newfound girlfriend as meek and innocent because that is what she wished she was. In the meantime, she acts like everything is "like in the movies" because she has an escapist personality. She also, in a sense, kills herself off and assumes the identity of a waitress named Betty at a diner. The story revolving around the director is a direct result of her feeling that he was in someway victimized in reality just as she was and "convinces" herself that he was forced to choose Camilla. Camilla Rhoades in the fantasy is actually the random blond from the engagement party. She hated her so much that she turned her into Camilla and made the ultimate antagonist. She then took the real Camilla and turned her into a perfect, submissive out-of-the-movies girlfriend and used Rita Hayworth as an inspiration. She also paints the hit man as a very clumsy and incapable person to further justify the survival of Camilla. Her fantasy world, unfortunately for her, was a search for Diane which ended up being herself and made the dreamworld die by taking her through a series of reminders of reality. The first reminder was Club Silencio which chanted “there is no band” and expressed that “the instruments” you hear are not really there; this is a metaphor for the fantasy. She begins to shake violently because it shakes her perception of her surroundings. The other reminder is the blue box. Actually, the blue box is not the reminder itself, but the blue key that opens the box. The blue key reminds her of the actual death of Camilla because it is what the hit man said would show up when it was done. The blue box is the resulting “can o’ worms.” Along with having love, this entire creation of hers is an escape from reality by living in the idealized Hollywood that she expected to be part of when she arrived.
Additional Elements:
The mafia elements are derived from the engagement party. It was the translation of the lack of control she had felt during that evening.
Did she feel sympathy for the director? She sure did. One must remember that all of the misfortunes he endured were all in her fantasy and that means, if you feel sorry for him, so does she. The looks they apparently exchanged when she walked into the studio during the fantasy sequence is telling of that. In addition, the fact that she agreed to go to the engagement party and how she acted before the random blond showed up suggested she had come to terms with the relationship of Camilla and the director.
The fantasy begins with a detective saying they need to find the girl with the pearl earring. The fantasy ends with the painting "Girl with the Pearl Earring" in the hallway.
"You look like somebody else." Yes, this is the beginning of her realization that her fantasy girlfriend and her fantasy blond enemy are intertwined.
David Lynch is a fan of using the color blue as an expression of tension of change. It is apparent very strongly in Lost Highway and was carried over from Blue Velvet.
David Lynch also hates Hollywood with a passion and his take on it is a secondary commentary that is very bluntly presented. Or maybe it is the primary comment...
The Allegory:
The allegorical aspect of the film is the man behind the Winkie’s and the occurrences surrounding him. This, I believe, is where David Lynch leaves things open for interpretation; the message, if you will. Though the artist has his interpretation, what the man stands for is dependant on the viewer and his or her individual response to the literal elements of the film. Does he symbolize an aspect of the human psyche? Does he symbolize Hollywood?
Conclusion:
This is a story showing the psychology of a very troubled woman who lost a dream. It is not series of random things specifically designed to disturb, it is not a commentary about the human condition via chaos and it is not a cryptic philosophical message. It is an unfortunate chunk of the human condition that is presented beautifully. It is cinematic perfection. Enjoy.
Comment