David Lynch | Movies As Therapy

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In this video essay we look at the films of David Lynch, and explore how the director uses his films as a form of therapy. We cycle through the bulk of his career, including Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.
#DavidLynch
Co-written by manilazic.com, in association with www.caexisteproductions.com
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[@TheDiscardedImage]

What's everyone's favourite Lynch film, and why?

[@rahultej2248]

The Discarded Image Mulholland Dr. It is so seminal that it almost seems like a meta level introspection of Lynch on himself as an artist and the world around him.

[@JoJo-xp6wr]

Blue velvet, for the colors and wholesome moments

[@The5n0w]

Eraserhead, beautiful black and white shots, great atmosphere and it really managed to engage me emotionally

[@ACruelPicture]

Fire Walk with Me, because I know so many people like Laura Palmer.

[@samuel.soderberg]

Mulholland Dr. - the themes that you bring up in your video are all perfected there. A masterpiece indeed.

[@GoodshagProductions]

Lynch is arguably the best horror filmmaker of all time despite never making a straightforward horror film.

[@Dale_Blackburn]

"Horror" lol.

[@MauriiciioBriito]

His movies terrifies us much more than Horror movies, true that

[@cirquedude123]

First time I watched Blue Velvet I was completely horrified. I didn’t see it again for years and now it’s my favorite film of all time. You’re absolutely right.

[@GoodshagProductions]

Jacob Hutton I feel that exact same way about Mulholland Drive. Twin Peaks: The Return also had some pretty horrifying scenes. The Experiment breaking out of the glass box in the first episode was probably the scariest, most disturbing shit I’ve ever seen in a TV show. Not to mention the entirety of Part 8.

[@CraigMooreIII]

Fire Walk with Me is a horror movie

[@pdzombie1906]

Horror directors tend to be the most calm and caring people... They don't keep the darkness inside, they "disrcard" it in their films and carry on... Thanx!!!

[@AmberSlemmer]

It's very difficult to pick a favorite but I would have to say Fire Walk With Me for reasons I cannot explain. Something about the cosmic horror of the watcher in the woods, something about his sound editing when the camera would just pan on the trees of the Pacific Northwest, or on that single traffic light...to me those scenes are filled with indescribable depth, meaning, sorrow, and terror. I sometimes feel like I've carried this film with me my whole life. Not mad about it, but it will forever be a part of my internal landscape.

[@JoaoPedro-jr8pf]

"the longer you play fantasy, the closer you get to tragedy" Just one of the many insightful parts of this analysis. Congratulations for this great work!!

[@samcohen99]

"the longer you play fantasy, the greater the tragedy." Well said

[@richardfilanderer]

Twin Peaks: The Return is Lynch coming to grips with the complete absurdity and horror of today’s world. We have no idea what’s going on because Lynch frankly doesn’t know what’s going on. Everyone seems to be going crazy.

[@MauriiciioBriito]

The birth of Bob/Evil with the nuclear bomb test sequence followed by the display of abstract representation imagery was as shocking for me as the stargate sequence in 2001. I will never forget.

[@groofay]

@@MauriiciioBriito I watched part 8 as it aired. I was not expecting anything remotely like it, and I knew as I watched it that Twin Peaks was once again changing television forever. Absolutely unforgettable.

[@thewhatness]

Rewatched The Return recently, and I concluded it's about two things: 1) Deconstructing our own nostalgia by inverting the very commonalities of a return series. 2) Commenting on the perversion of the American Dream through outdated iconography and ideals. Cooper's admission that "we live inside a dream" is not literal, but figurative. Coop himself is a manifestation of the false American ideal that a government agent will doggedly pursue goodness until justice is delivered. It's no mistake that his antithesis is the villain here.

[@Jackp2003]

The way I look at it TP: The Return is a great balance between the good and the bad. I frankly don’t understand it when people say that the Return is “darker” than the original show. It shows both the good and bad things about society.

[@TheDiscardedImage]

Well, Cahier Du Cinema consider it a film, which I know is controversial.

[@hugbanque6467]

Now I enjoy Lynch more than ever, and with his weathers reports.... this man is kinda of a GOD

[@nothing-but-milk9176]

More like a wise sage

[@jbasti227]

His "have a great day!" never fails to lift my spirits

[@janggun1229]

Lynch walked away from therapy since the therapist couldn't guarantee it won't interfere with his creativity, by the way.

[@NightMedicine]

Lynch really pushes this theme of escaping from a traumatic reality into a created dream world to the limit in INLAND EMPIRE. It just keeps going and going until you can’t tell where the dream ends and the reality was to begin with.

[@sausage.10367]

Surrealism was never meant to be understood, we may never know the insane genius which is Lynch, I thank him for introducing me to something beyond the gate of Hollywood , here's to you David 😉🥂

[@ThalassicMeasure]

At least with David Lynch, surrealism is meant to be mysterious, open to multiple interpretations, but there's no reason it can't be understood as Lynch meant it (though he'll never say what that is). If it were the case Lynch's art is never meant to be understood, everything about it would be random and meaningless (which might be the case with lesser artists). However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Lynch always goes on and on about the centrality of ideas, of piecing them together, of staying true to them, and letting the finished product speak for itself. In this frame, ideas have meaning and purpose. Furthermore, Lynch has expressed how great cinema tells a story on the surface but has much more happening at deeper levels. The deeper levels aren't obscured from our comprehension.

[@rahultej2248]

Beyond all his ‘conscious’(and brilliant, of course) examination of ‘themes’, Lynchian Cinema is primarily purest representation of ‘subconsciousness’ through visual expression.. the way of bursting the mind on screen without any sort of adulteration by ‘consciousness’.

[@hugbanque6467]

A really really really enjoyed this video, there was a really well editing, it was beautiful

[@reidsimpson4213]

I'd love to see his reaction to this. He would probably be like, "No. None of that is right. Go away."

[@reidsimpson4213]

@@billgaits3717 I mean, don't get me wrong, youtubers are pretty basic when it comes to interpreting art and media, but I can't really blame them for trying to pull from a wheelhouse that's familiar to them, even if it is literal or superficial, when trying to assess something as profoundly surreal and intentionally opaque as Lynch's works tend to be. It just is what it is, nobody's gonna have an inkling of what goes on inside that dude's mind but him, and he likes it that way and his art certainly benefits from it, it's unequivocally unique to him in a way other surrealist filmmakers just don't come close to approaching.

[@katomiler843]

Great post. No artist has ever been a better communicator of dream consciousness, the pre-conscious and the unconscious, and its intersection with ego consciousness, than Lynch. There are some who could be argued to be as good, but I've never seen one who is better. It's like being out on a small boat in the middle of the ocean. What is above the water, is conscious awareness. What is below the surface, and is made visible by the daylight, is dream consciousness, and the vast depths not subject to light, is the unconscious. And, just as in human existence, at night, all the creatures and forces from the dark depths of the unconscious vastness come to the surface... bioluminescing, in all forms of strange and unfamiliar forms, informing us about the nature of who we are.

[@movedmindpoRUSZonyUMYS]

I love the train-of-thoughts, complicated and fast-paced style of your writing. It's always riveting to experience.

[@alexandredion2151]

Lynch’s filmography is the therapy to modern blockbusters 🙉

[@AnnaLVajda]

When I was young I liked collages and vignettes and writing poems but I was not really traumatized then like now I enjoyed the creative process when you get depressed you don't really enjoy things anymore.

[@solharv7817]

I see blue skies and golden sunshine in your future

[@zac8780]

blue velvet really hinted at things that i had never seen before.

[@pablovint]

Insane analysis, mate! Great work

[@sophcw]

Really fantastic analysis, especially in the connections between Lost Highway and Mullholand Drive.

[@stardestroyer6272]

To face your darkest fears, is to die. The longer you play fantasy the closer you edge towards tragedy. This hit me hard! Wow, great edit!!

[@jorgepalaciom]

Great channel, thank you!

[@focal_point]

Great analysis!

[@665Iron]

I've watched your video like 6 times now. I would be awesome to see more content like this. Hoping you're doing great.

[@crybabyland]

Mulholland Drive completely changed the way I watched and proceeded films. Once I saw this, my lens for films like Vertigo altered. Bravo Mr. Lynch!

[@fatimaazahram6148]

Ur channel is really underrated

[@hugbanque6467]

I hope he has a new project in hands... It could be really cool,... But now we should enjoy his weather reports.

[@aleksahadzic9302]

Where can i find those?

[@hugbanque6467]

@@aleksahadzic9302 in his channel, called David Lynch Theatre

[@williamneal9076]

Well written.

[@crypto-radio8186]

David Lynch speaking on T-M caused Eurkia Mind Recognization: He speaks exactly like Manly Hall at the Temple in Los Angeles. The Philosophical Research Society (PRS), is a long-standing institute founded by Hall in 1934 to promote the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics and the occult. He traveled extensively, and the research he gathered would eventually culminate in the publication of his highly influential The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy, an accessible synthesis of the secret doctrine and hidden knowledge of the ancients, ultimately cementing his status as a preeminent occult authority. While The Secret Teachings of All Ages is thought of as his crowning achievement, despite having authored countless other treatises, he left behind another legacy in what a recent LA Weekly article describes as, “the strange-looking, Mayan-style mini compound on Los Feliz Boulevard, across from the southern boundary of Griffith Park, right next to the traffic jam-prone access to the 5 freeway.

[@dwhutto]

If you describe David Lynch's work as a challenge, what does that say about this essay? Incredible stuff man. I've been recommended Lynch's work many times, watched a few and it has never clicked the way you described it.

[@TooFarWest1]

How could you overlook The Elephant Man?

[@portzblitz]

Thanks for the video PLEASE warn us about the strobe lighting from now on when applicable. Thanks!

[@amritasokhi5419]

twin peaks was a meditation

[@sebastiannarvaez862]

It's hard to believe that this man hasn't launch a new movie after fourteen years (I only talk about straight about films not the Twin Peaks new season)

[@joez6235]

Lynch described Twin Peaks: the return as a “18 hour long movie” so I wouldn’t dismiss it. That’s about 9 regular movies worth of production done in less than 5 years, give the guy a break.

[@oddyseustsakiris9404]

very good i like a lot

[@lactroc11]

great

[@jualiet2212]

I'd love to hear what you have to say about LA CHINOISE. I adore Godard but that is one of those films that I couldn't crack.

[@NinesShow]

An amazing video on my fav director

[@patricioespinozagoycochea6329]

👏👏👏

[@The7dioses]

Whats completely contradictory and paradoxical is that meditation is about bringing light into this world, yet all his art work is completely dark and low vibration. Go figure.

[@celiaferreira2028]

Yes...this is confusing to me. I just came across from him. & from seeing his directing style, I was left confused about him. 😮😢

[@nicholassolomon1234]

They are absolutely therapeutic. I have a damn horribly placed owl cave tattoo to match

[@78deathface]

“I’m making my lunch!”

[@danemmerson426]

Never realised the end music is from the third man

[@JoJo-xp6wr]

I always wanted to make movies that make people go to therapy.

[@poeticalgore6500]

Beware of Bob

[@lazyjuan5528]

David Lynch's voice is very similar to Charles Bukowski's

[@highchamp1]

Pagans Vs The System On a scale of how much you buy into one or the other (My own 80s teenage wisdom for you)

[@paulzenco6182]

I rule!

[@QuirkyShiny]

Sorry but I strongly disagree with your reading that the mystery man in Lost Highway is the villain. I think it's more that's he's 'the ugly truth' or repressed guilt of Fred killing Renee. He keeps popping up with the truth he's trying to forget/reframe. The videos are flashbacks which he finds disturbing. Fred sees the MM as ugly because he doesn't want to face what he's done. In the party all distractions are drowned out by the MM's presence because it's an intrusive thought that Fred can't ignore as much as he tries to. In this way, the MM is almost a hero. Dick could be Fred's violence, which overreacts and hurts Renee (it's possible he was beating Renee due to his anger). In the end the truth 'kills' the desire for violence anymore.

[@Yojimb001]

i just did a podcast about lost highway on soundcloud and i mistakenly attributed the ID to jung but on further reading...the ID was freud's but in reality it is closely related to jung's shadow. after much more thought...the mystery man is just fred madison's ID or shadow. That is...his basic animal self that when freed from the constraints of reality in his boring suburban life...becomes a deranged killer. As I state in my analysis...Lynch's movies, particularly Lost Highway, are a rollercoaster ride where you are enthralled and excited but you are always checking the seat belt and thinking the whole time "OMG...is this the ride where the wheels come off and we all go crashing to the ground thdn dont even know we died"

[@good-questions]

Whoah Whoah Whoah Whoah dude. Kyle McLaughlin is not necessarily a stand in for the director in blue velvet and *most definitely* not in Twin Peaks. If you wanted to argue that you would do better by saying every character altogether is a different aspect of his exploration of the human psyche. But Gordon Cole is clearly David Lynch. Coop is the protagonist. FBI directed by Gordon Cole, shown on film directed by David Lynch.

[@enriquec.5980]

First!

[@chaeyoungvideos5742]

First

[@christiandost3898]

Jäää?

[@ronnickels5193]

Dune wasn't that bad.

[@marccharbonneau1967]

Meanings are meaningless in Lynchland kids.

[@zyral.f.6938]

Oof. Completely ignored almost half his filmography as well as his sound compositions and the importance of a film's score and soundtrack. Channel takes its name literally and does half assed research, I see.

[@lukeschroter9276]

tbh David Lynch is overrated I never understood his films