Re: FILM CLUB: Blue Velvet
Posted: 25 Nov 2009, 16:46
Davey the Fat Boy wrote:dishonest rhetoric.
yeah, Goat Boy! tuck your shirt in!
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Davey the Fat Boy wrote:dishonest rhetoric.
Leg of lamb wrote:I've only seen this film once - at Baron's apartment, no less - so I'm not that equipped to talk about it. I was closer to Davey and Penk than the film's champions, though. What I really disliked about the film's rhetoric were all those clunky, childishly naive lines about good, evil and all the rest of it. At first I thought they were cheap irony; then I was encouraged to see them as sincere and complementary to the dark side of the film - which seemed to solve the issue somewhat. But then I thought, hold on a sec, that's in many ways no better - doesn't that amount to Lynch placing faith in these trite consolations? Lynch's sincerity implies that evil is difficult and troubling, whereas goodness is elemental and childlike. Any complexity only comes from the interaction of these two opposites, the darkness jeopardising these simple, comforting values that can hopefully provide atonement.
I rate the dangerous side of the film quite highly - especially the incredible 'In Dreams' scene and Hopper's character in general. I just don't think that these suburban simpletons are the antidote.
Dr Modernist wrote:Leg of lamb wrote:I've only seen this film once - at Baron's apartment, no less - so I'm not that equipped to talk about it. I was closer to Davey and Penk than the film's champions, though. What I really disliked about the film's rhetoric were all those clunky, childishly naive lines about good, evil and all the rest of it. At first I thought they were cheap irony; then I was encouraged to see them as sincere and complementary to the dark side of the film - which seemed to solve the issue somewhat. But then I thought, hold on a sec, that's in many ways no better - doesn't that amount to Lynch placing faith in these trite consolations? Lynch's sincerity implies that evil is difficult and troubling, whereas goodness is elemental and childlike. Any complexity only comes from the interaction of these two opposites, the darkness jeopardising these simple, comforting values that can hopefully provide atonement.
I rate the dangerous side of the film quite highly - especially the incredible 'In Dreams' scene and Hopper's character in general. I just don't think that these suburban simpletons are the antidote.
Yet we accept those good/evil binary oppositions in fairy tales do we not?
I think you have to discard any notions of naturalism when watching Blue Velvet.
Goat Boy wrote:One of the key lines in the film is where Frank says to McLachlan....'you're like me'.
brotherlouie wrote:That's a great post. It's a curious and engaging thing. The POV angle you describe above is actually more plausible than typical readings which tend to go for 'dreamlike' and so on. It's realistic precisely because there a loose ends WITHIN THE FILM ITSELF, not just hanging at the end.
Who are the other criminals?
How did Frank get like that?
What does he breath in?
Does Dorothy need to be hit to orgasm?
Is Frank a sort of father figure to Jeffrey?
Were Frank and Ben (Dean Stockwell), lovers?
All of these a fair questions that in no way change the narrative, but act as enriching points for the plot. All of them, pretty much, revolve around relationships of one form or another. There are others, I'm sure.
As an aside, has anyone seen In The Mood For Love by Wong Car Wei? It has all the visual flair and curiosity of Blue Velvet but without the life or death sinister underbelly.
the masked man wrote:Watching it again, a few things struck me. I think the film very much represents the dual nature of Lynch's identity as a director. The thing is, I'm not sure how much he is making fun of this community - as I understand it, he's a small-c conservative who clings to the myths of middle America. And yet he's also drawn to this weirdness that he also perceives existing in his country. In short, he's influenced by both Frank Capra and Luis Buñuel, and he's not sure whose side he's on.