From the opening title sequence image of a bird in a country setting fading to factory
stacks and metal being machined, David Lynch’s attention to detail, and his
ability to capture the audience’s, becomes clear. Welcome to Twin Peaks,
population 51,201 - and dropping. Time is used as a cinematic
embellishment, and silence becomes a communication tool throughout the series.
The extremely long opening title sequence is uncomfortably long and introduces each
and every episode. Discomfort, with what feels like wasted screen time seems intentional,
and extended pronounced moments of awkward silence become a stylistic indicator.
In the first episode, after the high school principal announces that Laura
Palmer has been found dead, and a moment of silence is observed, visuals of an
empty hallway with unattended lockers, and an awards case with the homecoming
queen’s photo, is accompanied by silence. At the Palmer home, the audience sees
a homecoming photo of the victim. Her mother (in agony) is supported only by
the couch on which she sits, and there is prolonged silence before Harry asks what
time Sarah last saw her daughter.
A similar tragedy-related silence is
featured after a young boy is killed by Richard Horne. Bystanders stand
silently on the street’s edge (S3, E6) as a mother cradles the broken body of
her son. Only an electrical sound accompanies the camera’s tilt up to reveal a
plaque stating Pole 6. Previously, when Bobby is being questioned at the
Sheriff’s Office with his lawyer, he is asked if he killed Laura. Cooper lays
down the ground rules stating, “This is how it works. We ask questions, you
answer briefly and to the point.” The following silence in this instance is
used to heighten anxiety and elicit an emotional response from the audience. A
video of Donna and Laura begins to break or increase the tension, depending on
your perspective.
Wally Brando’s reunion with Lucy,
Andy, and Sherriff Truman (S3, E4) features poetic monologuing from the road
weary biker. Yet, thereafter, Lynch cuts between characters who are saying
nothing; only the Sherriff seems to feel as uncomfortable as the viewer. Silence
further embellishes the series (S3, E6) as Cooper sits on a bench
next to a bronze statue after work at the insurance company. He is holding case
files, and a security guard approaches him twice. The lack of dialogue when
Cooper is by himself is symbolic of his vegetative state. Even when he is
brought home and is eating a sandwich with his wife, the uncomfortable silence
is present. Cooper’s condition is similar to caring for an Alzheimer's patient
or assisting an individual in occupational therapy in which one must relearn
the most basic tasks. An interesting nugget to ponder occurs after the photo of
Jade is discovered: the phone rings, Dougie’s wife answers, and Cooper attempts
to put his fingers to her lips in a gesture of silence. Season 3, episode 8
(almost in its entirety) is an example of using silence to communicate.
Though Lynch’s embellishments of
silence and inactivity on screen seem to imply the desire to slow life down,
the culture presented in the series is one of stimulation. Coffee, cigarettes,
and cocaine are not only tied to all three seasons, but to all episodes therein.
Smoking, it was more acceptable in the 90s, and shortly after the series opens,
we see Laura’s body being turned. Lynch cuts to a shot of her mother (Sarah
Palmer) smoking in the kitchen. Leo is able to
ascertain that Shelly has been unfaithful in their home because two brands of
cigarettes are found in the ash tray. Donna transforms into a 1950s femme
fatale (after James is arrested) when she seductively smokes. Even in season
three (E5), smoking continues to been seen in the series when it is now relatively
taboo to show cigarettes on any sized screen.
Another example occurs when Dr. Jacoby is webcasting about bodies being poisoned
and diseases as a result of corporate greed. Jerry Horne (wearing a ski hat and
leaning against a tree in the woods) is watching the program on his laptop; he
is smoking a cigarette. In the same episode, a young unscrupulous looking
character (Richard Horne) smokes under a no smoking
sign, and money is transferred in an empty cigarette pack. In episode six, the
addiction is briefly discussed on a ride to town; an old man (Carl Rodd) has
been smoking every day for 75 years, and his younger carpooling companion (Mickey)
recently quit. Director Cole also quit, and he laments “Ah, the memory of tobacco,” in season 3, episode 7. Diane is the character that seems to be smoking in places that no one
else could: she smokes on the plane to question Evil
Cooper and in the FBI office right after the awful window cleaning with a
hearing aid scene. Further, the Woodsman’s recurring
line “Got a light?” shows that even the supernatural characters have
addictions. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Drug use is also a recurring theme
and cultural element in the series. This exemplifies how close the criminal and
darker elements are to the “normal world,” and is established in the first
season when the viewer learns that high school students Ronnie and Laura
(disenchanted with previously established norms) become drug-abusing
prostitutes with ties to a brothel owned by a fellow student’s father. Even One-Eyed
Jacks’ Madame, Blackie O'Reilly, is seen preparing a tension-producing
tourniquet for the heroin provided by Jerry Horne. Further, Jacques Renault
confesses that he, Leo, Laura, and Ronnie were high on cocaine when they went to
Jacques cabin the night that Laura died. Cocaine use is also responsible for
the pedestrian hit and run fatality in season three
episode six. Richard Horne is high and thoroughly agitated after a run in with Red
and his thugs. He curses, yells, cries, and then smiles in a cocky-arrogant
manner before becoming impatient and passing on the left through an
intersection; a young boy is killed. Shelly’s daughter, Becky Burnette, and her husband (Steven) are also using cocaine. Steven
has been denied a job and been lambasted for unprofessionalism by Mike Nelson.
Becky borrows money (again) from her mother, and Steven has already consumed a
large amount of cocaine before offering his wife “a taste.” Becky’s drug-induced
euphoria is portrayed onscreen with a close up of her face, hair in the wind,
as she and Steven enjoy a ride in their Firebird convertible. His later apparent
suicide, which the viewer does not witness (S3, E15) is the result of a bad
trip. Cocaine in cars is also seen when Evil Cooper is arrested with drugs, a
gun, and a dog leg in the trunk.
Coffee adoration (or addiction depending
on your point of view) is cultural, social, and thematic in Twin Peaks. It
begins in season one, episode two. Agent Cooper is suspended upside down
speaking into a voice recorder to Dianne. How the town is judged, and how the
day will go in general, will be determined in half an hour when the first
morning cup of coffee is served. It’s a “damn fine cup of coffee!” Double R
Diner employees serve up the magic bean water by the gallon, and Cooper’s affection
for coffee continues even after he returns from The Black Lodge with no memory
of his identity. In season 3, episode 5, Cooper (in
Dougie’s life) is in the elevator with his back to the door. Phil Bisby, who
also works at Lucky 7 Insurance Company, is carrying two trays of cups stacked
on top of each other. Cooper gets a cup and cherishingly savors the coffee as
he walks through the lobby; he pauses to eye cups belonging to others seated
before Phil prompts him to the meeting room. Once there, still loving his
coffee, Cooper is preoccupied as Phil offers a coworker the green tea latte in
place of the coffee he is drinking. This
continues into episode six where Cooper is seen holding the cup with two hands
(like a child) as his boss reviews case files covered in drawings. Even
Director Cole expresses his appreciation (S3, E7) while sipping a cup at
Diane’s apartment, “Damn
good coffee!”
Though most classic detectives would
stereotypically be pictured with a double shot of whiskey, coffee is the fuel
the private investigator relies on when doing late night stake outs. Clearly, connective plot and character threads exist between the three
seasons, but the series as a whole is an adaptation of Hollywood’s film noir
detective genre. Instead of a hard-boiled detective, Twin Peaks features the sensitive, emotional, and loveable Agent
Dale Cooper. Instead of interrogations under hot lights and “roughing up” the
perp to get answers, Cooper’s tactics are unconventional. He analyzes dreams
and utilizes games of skill and chance (like the bottle breaking scene) to root
out suspects. However, he is a wounded male after his first love,
and the wife of his former partner, was murdered by said partner. Yet, until
his visits The Black Lodge and Red Room, Cooper remains well above the fray of
morality; his darker side isn’t really him at all but doppelgangers.
Additionally, jazzy detective-style music is more often than not in the
background, and the role of femme fatale changes
throughout the series. For Harry, it’s Josie. For Cooper, Audrey applied for
the position early on, but for Dale (the man behind the badge), his femme
fatale comes in the form of a former nun. Further, crime is much closer to the
surface than one would expect in a small town. Drug running, prostitution,
murder, general thuggery, and corporate espionage seem to be common occupations
in Twin Peaks. This theme is repeated in 2017 when a mere boy witnesses an
explosive device being planted on a car and later exploding with people inside.
This child has only crackers to eat, as his mother is addicted to opioids and
remains unconscious when not saying “119” repeatedly.
The system itself is also
not reliable, as is seen when a former FBI agent (Windom Earle) becomes the
villain. And if the system cannot be relied upon, the world and reality itself
are questionable when the veil between an alternate universe and Earth as we
know it is breached on numerous occasions in the series. These otherworldly
encounters are accompanied by distorted sounds in The Black Lodge, seemingly
unending visuals of atoms and explosions (S3, E8), and characters like Bob,
Evil Cooper, the insect that inhabits the body of a girl, and the Woodsman.
From
the first frames of the first episode, David Lynch utilizes surreal heavily stylized cinematography,
which is also considered to be a direct tie to the film noir genre. His use of
slant camera angles, jump cuts, intercutting, superimposed images, and a plethora of high and low
angle shots, as well as intercutting scenes from dreams, indicate that Twin
Peak, at least in part, is an adaptation of the film noir genre.
Some season 3 characters identified at http://twinpeaks.wikia.com/wiki/Twin_Peaks_Wiki
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