Well I have seen pretty much every Lynch film, short, animation sequence, internet clip, interview, and documentary you can name in my Film Criticism class. And what I have learned is not to expect any direct meaning or message from anything he has done (with Straight Story and Elephant Man as the exceptions). But I can definitely see how Lynch is ground breaking and a film making genius. His work is visually stunning and the directions he takes his films in is absolutely out of the realm we are used to as "Hollywood viewers."
Muholland Drive is one of my favorite Lynch films. It contains beautiful cinematography and very interesting scenes that keep the viewer enthralled (ex= scene where director gets beat up by Achy Breaky Heart sensation- Billy Ray Cyrus). However, the film is very confusing and after seeing it three times now, I still have no idea what the external meaning, if any, is.
But through class and the reading, the idea of postmodernism became clearer to me through this film. Images juxtaposed with other images creating a completely different image. Before I thought that meant something similar to montage, but it actually is quite different.
In the film, there is this clash between a bunch of film genres surrounding a plot about Hollywood. You name it, it is probably in there- western, mafia, film noir, detective, thriller, action, comedy, suspense, romance, etc... Now this is where it gets interesting. All these different film "images" that we are used to from other films, are now compiled and mixed up with one another in one film. The image of one genre mixed with another genre then creates this completely new image. That image is a very confusing one, however is a statement by Lynch to avoid the idea of the cliche in cinema.
In the reading, it discusses how Lynch sets the scene up for a romantic cliche between the director and Betty. Betty represents the girl who has the dream to make it big in Hollywood and become a star. She represents the girl that is to catch the director's eye, stop time, and hence create a romantic relationship and launch her to stardom. But Lynch toys with this cliche. He builds the scene up perfectly, Betty walks in and the director stares at her in awe, and she looks at him, about to get the big role----then Lynch pulls the rug from under the viewer and lets that old cliche go right out the door, along with every other formulaic Hollywood scenario we are used to.
I feel Lynch likes to take his films where they have never been before and cause viewers to feel uncomfortable with their surroundings. Lynch's use of postmodernism is quite interesting and allows his film making to take people to ideas and situations that they have never seen before.
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In a way, you can view this film as nothing more than just the nightmare version of Hollywood cinema. It takes all of these genres we know and love but it presents them in such an over-the-top and horrific way that none of these genres can be viewed as accesible for the general Hollywood audience.
ReplyDelete>>Images juxtaposed with other images creating a completely different image.
ReplyDeleteYes. This is nice. The postmodern aesthetic is in a very real sense a conversation of images with each other, rather than the images pointing to something else. And yes, Lynch is playing around with cliches--bending them into some very strange shapes. I also agree that Lynch likes making his audience uncomfortable. How does he do that though, exactly, and how does that serve his overall purpose, do you think?