David Lynch: A Unique Filmmaking Legacy

There's a scene in the Twin Peaks pilot that encapsulates the essence of everyday life before veering into the unsettling. We start in a high school, where a girl sneaks a cigarette, a boy is summoned to the principal's office, and attendance is being taken in a classroom. The scene shifts abruptly when a police officer enters the room and whispers to the teacher. A scream pierces the air, and through the window, a student is seen sprinting across the courtyard. The teacher struggles to hold back tears as the anticipation of an announcement hangs heavy in the air. David Lynch then focuses his camera on an empty seat in the classroom, capturing the moment two students exchange glances, realizing their friend Laura Palmer is dead.

Lynch's genius lay in his ability to capture the mundane details of life, only to dissect them, revealing the unsettling truths lurking beneath the surface. This moment from Twin Peaks is quintessentially David Lynch, subtly weaving the thematic thread that runs through his career. Yet, it's also not the definitive Lynch scene, as his 40-plus years of work in film, television, and art offer a plethora of iconic moments, each resonating differently with his fans. Ask any aficionado sipping coffee or watching the weather report, and you'll get a unique perspective on what defines a "Lynchian" moment.

The term "Lynchian" embodies that unnerving, dream-like quality that has cemented David Lynch's legendary status. It's a challenging pill to swallow for fans, knowing that this artist with such a distinctive voice had different appeals for everyone. Few artists can claim to have inspired a new adjective. While "Spielbergian" or "Scorsese-ish" might describe specific styles or themes, "Lynchian" transcends the specifics of his work, much like "Kafkaesque," which captures the essence of the unsettling and disorienting.

Watching Eraserhead was a rite of passage for budding film enthusiasts, a tradition that continues across generations. Scott's teenage son, for instance, embarked on this journey, eventually binge-watching Twin Peaks with his girlfriend, reaching the Windom Earle era of Season 2. Lynch's work has a timeless quality, evident in Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017, where a child's bedroom evokes the 1950s, a nod to Lynch's own childhood. Yet, this world is far from nostalgic, filled with bizarre and unsettling elements only Lynch could conjure.

During Hollywood's nostalgia boom, Lynch took the greenlight for The Return and crafted a narrative that defied expectations, leaving audiences bewildered by the absence of key original characters. This was quintessentially Lynchian. When he did adhere to Hollywood's conventions with Dune, the result was a notorious misfire, yet unmistakably a David Lynch film. His experience with Dune is detailed in Max Evry's book, A Masterpiece in Disarray, showcasing how Lynch infused the film with his unique imagery, like the infamous cat/rat milking machine.

Lynch's work, including The Elephant Man, blends beauty with the bizarre, touching on themes of humanity and cruelty. The Elephant Man is as close as Lynch came to mainstream acclaim, yet it remains deeply Lynchian in its exploration of the grotesque and the sublime.

Defining Lynch's work by genre or trope is futile, but his films are instantly recognizable. His fascination with the world beneath our own, often revealed by pulling back literal or metaphorical curtains, is a hallmark of his style. Blue Velvet exemplifies this, starting as a noir thriller set in a seemingly idyllic town, only to delve into a dark underworld of crime and surrealism. The film's influences, including The Wizard of Oz, are explored in a documentary that traces Lynch's unique cinematic journey.

Lynch's influence spans generations, from early filmmakers who brought their artistic backgrounds to cinema, to those inspired by the films they grew up watching. Eventually, Lynch himself became the influence, embodying the term "Lynchian." This influence is evident in contemporary films like I Saw The TV Glow, which captures a Lynchian atmosphere, and in the works of directors like Yorgos Lanthimos, Robert Eggers, Ari Aster, David Robert Mitchell, Emerald Fennell, Richard Kelly, Rose Glass, Quentin Tarantino, and Denis Villeneuve.

David Lynch may not be everyone's favorite filmmaker, but his impact marks the end of an era. His films, which often evoke a bygone time while exploring the world just beyond our usual frame of view, continue to inspire today's and tomorrow's filmmakers. We will always be looking just under the surface, hoping to find those "Lynchian" things lurking.