Just as jeffrey kyle maclachlan is blue velvets main character, so the ego is the main character of the life narrative. Culture blue velvet is terrifying, seductive and ahead of its time bbc. Jeffrey cant help compare frank with his own impotent father, lying. Blue velvet is a good example of a movie using such a dynamic. A surrealist drama, 9 years after eraserhead highlighted latent tendencies within a dystopian city and much before the dreamlike chaos of mulholland drive, blue velvet has tinges of both movies the mechanics of eraserhead and. David lynchs film blue velvet threatens to make interpretation redundant, so openly does. David lynchs blue velvet is an exploration of things above and below the surface.
E rotic, neurotic, euphoric and at all times unutterably twisted and bizarre, david lynchs blue velvet is back in cinemas, 30 years after. The movies title, featuring kyle maclachlan, isabella rossellini, dennis hoper and laura dern, was picked from the. Or perhaps i should say, i admire its craftsmanship but am not one of its defenders. The film essentially served as a comeback film for the director after. Oct 23, 2015 being only his fourth full length film blue velvet is the one which feels most personal and relatable, perhaps because david lynch based the majority of this screenplay on events from his childhood mixed with a good amount of the classic film noir mood and mystery. Aug 23, 20 blue velvet how the darkness mirrors the light. Blue velvet is a creepy, surreal film noir, full of haunting and often hilarious scenes. Blue velvet is especially rich with beautiful music that both comments on and runs counter to the images onscreen. From its early closeup of a severed ear to the absurdist violence of its final act this was the film that made lynch a household name. The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear. Blue velvet is a nightmare, or better yet, a reverie on the dark side of desire. The freudian interpretation of this movie is multifaceted, and this is why i think it deserves credibility.
Freud argues that uncanny themes are all concerned with the phenomenon of. Sigmund freuds analysis of the psyche defines jeffrey beaumonts relationships to other characters in the film as well as the characters motives. In the following clip, the late, great david foster wallace talks about what the film did for him as an artist, as well as discusses a certain scene that demonstrates how the film works its nightmarish magic which we will then take a look at together and the experience will be educational and fun for me. David lynch is a master of planting ideas in the visuals and audio of his films and it was a pleasure trying to deconstruct some of the meaning.
Blue velvet 1986 is a neonoir mystery film written and directed by david lynch, starring lynch regulars kyle maclachlan, laura dern, isabella rossellini, and dennis hopper. I found blue velvet to be disturbing in a very soapopera kind of way. The filmmaker creates images that fit so cleanly into freuds major concepts such as the. Blue velvet is an american movie which was made back in 1986. The filmmaker creates images that fit so cleanly into. Blue velvet is david lynch in peak form, and represents to date his most accomplished motion picture. An exposition of the structure and development of the oedipal conflict in the characters and plot of blue velvet in blue velvet, the 1986 film by director david lynch, the theory of the oedipal conflict performs well as an organizing and explanatory tool in an analysis of the progression of the protagonist, jeffrey beaumont. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars kyle maclachlan, isabella rossellini, dennis hopper, and laura dern, and is named after bobby vintons 1963 song of the same name. The film turned lynch into an adjective to be memorialized thusly is a rare and sort of dubious honor. However, i also wouldnt quite call it great, because it delivers so much less than it could have. Blue velvet written and directed by david lynch, this is possibly the only comingofage movie in which sex has the danger and the heightened excitement of a horror picture. Its almost too easy to analyse david lynchs blue velvet 1986 from a freudian viewpoint. The alluring, dark nature of david lynchs blue velvet is the result of multiple effective artistic decisions, and the disturbing subject matter itself. The protagonists actions are motivated by his own inner desires, and when he is, at the film s conclusion, reabsorbed into his original infantile and feminine state, one can observe the failed oedipal complex and how it resounds throughout blue velvet.
Even music from the fifties is constantly played throughout the film, as if the eighties culture did not exist. David lynch films are paintings come to life, this has very much to do with the fact that lynch himself is a painter and he brings that artistic point of view to his film making. In david lynchs 1986 film blue velvet, college prep jeffrey beaumont asks the. This article explores david lynchs controversial 1986 film blue velvet, through its unexpected parallels with shakespeares hamlet. In agreeing with ebert, i wouldnt go as far to give it only one star as he did. The article lays out the narrative and symbolic parallels between the two texts, including their plot similarities, the oedipal dramas inherent to each, their remarkably similar use of imagery and their respective use of the madonnawhore dichotomy in their. Later in the film we discover that dorothy achieves sexual arousal through franks sadistic behaviour. Apr 11, 2014 blue velvet is a neonoir film that borrows as much from alfred hitchcock as much as it does from gothic literature. This film was one that not only launched lynch as a name to remember in the film industry but also jump started the careers of many of his leading cast members. Before the cult90s tv showtwin peaks, he made the 1986 controversial noir movie blue velvet. For all its strangeness, though, effectively blue velvet is a film noir.
Blue velvet is not a film that is easily appreciated. A film this painful and wounding has to be given special consideration. This destiny among other traits are all reminiscent of the film. Likewise, it is not a film that is easily forgotten. With isabella rossellini, kyle maclachlan, dennis hopper, laura dern. Like a good painting, his movies tell a story, which much like an abstract painting, is. The movie is powerful, challenging and made with great skill, and yet it made me feel pity for the actors who worked in it and anger at the director for taking. The filmmaker creates images that fit so cleanly into freud s major concepts such as the id, ego and superego, that one wonders if that reading might be oversimplistic.
The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill. I fell in love with lynchs work a number of years ago after seeing the first episode of the murder mystery. David lynchs blue velvet inspired tarantino, the coen brothers and many more. Mar 28, 2017 blue velvet is especially rich with beautiful music that both comments on and runs counter to the images onscreen. It has all the hallmarks of the subgenre but, as is usually the case, lynch puts his own spin on the proceedings. Long thought lost, these scenes run the gamut from blandly expository to unapologetically crackpot, revealing the two directions that lynch couldve. Order custom freudian analysis of blue velvet paper. The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child. The movies title, featuring kyle maclachlan, isabella rossellini, dennis hoper and laura dern, was picked from the 1963 bobby vinton song which has the same title. It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the 80s. The titular blue velvet and the song that goes with it are repeated over and over again, and again its pretty obvious that its a symbol of the sexual perversion that hoppers character embodies. Theretofore sex in film could potentially be used as a means of revealing the lightest or the darkest characters traits. Sep 20, 2016 the setting of blue velvet takes place in a 1950sesque upperclass neighborhood, even though there are cars and certain styles from the 1980s.
Blue velvets opening musical cue is a big homage to alfred hitchcocks famous composer, bernard herman. Find out where blue velvet is streaming, if blue velvet is on netflix, and get news and updates, on decider. With an emphasis on dreams, disguises, and the importance of maintaining outward appearances versus the reality that the majority of the characters either. And yet those very scenes of stark sexual despair are the tipoff to whats wrong with the movie. I recently sat down to watch the film again on dvd, intending merely to watch the. Dec 01, 2016 e rotic, neurotic, euphoric and at all times unutterably twisted and bizarre, david lynchs blue velvet is back in cinemas, 30 years after its original release. Unmasking the psychosexual nightmare of david lynchs blue. It was the second movie of his that i had seen, the first being eraserhead. In fact, blue velvet shares an awful lot with alfred hitchcocks vertigo, and not only in their mutual fascination with surrealism. While far from definitive, this list highlights the reasons we come back. The 10 reasons why blue velvet is a david lynch masterpiece. Then i interviewed lynch in new york, and i found, not a monster, but a pleasant, sincere man who was disarmingly frank about his film. Filmdagbok asbjorn ness norwegian filmgazette andreas thomas german jonas goken. Psychological criticism of blue velvet film studies essay.
Central to freuds understanding of the psyche are the division into two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. In blue velvet frank screams obscenities at dorothy, beats her, inhales narcotic gas from a cylinder at his belt, and then rapes her. Starring kyle maclachlan, dennis hopper, isabella rossellini, laura dern cinematography by frederick elmes directed by david lynch voyeurs come in all shapes and sizes, from wallflowers like russ meyers immoral mr. These movie showcased elements of film noir and surrealism. The film essentially served as a comeback film for the director after the critical and box office failure of 1984s dune, and while it barely broke even commercially, its glowing critical response shone in comparison.
Blue velvet that lynch is the only reputable art film director in hollywood atkinson 1997, p. Blue velvet is turning 30 this summerthe anniversary is a coincidence, braatz says, though he hopes blue velvet revisited will have a film festival premiere this year. Ive seen blue velvet a number of years ago when i was first discovering lynch. Blue velvet verbotene blicke ist ein usamerikanischer spielfilm aus dem jahr 1986. If you have not seen blue velvet, perhaps a brief description is in order. The characters in this movie undergo pressure and changes that some might attribute to a sense of destiny. Jan 01, 2006 this article explores david lynchs controversial 1986 film blue velvet, through its unexpected parallels with shakespeares hamlet. Blue velvet came a year after robert zemeckiss back to the future, the highestgrossing film of 1985, which sent teen idol michael j. For lynch, the sometimesauteur, sometimesillusionist, blue velvet was the movie that cemented his credentials as a filmmaker in a way that none of his.
Freud s theories are further represented in blue velvet as the theme of the subconscious runs throughout the film. David lynch is a man who shows us what we would never admit is true of ourselves the dark parts of society which rest under gossamer, silk and appropriately velvet, the naked animalistic things which destroy our sensibilities and reveal us as little more than bumping about a. Blue velvet 1986 treacherous manifestations rey kissna. This was the first film in which lynch focused on both original scoresound. Apr 06, 2012 this is an essay i wrote for a cultural studies class looking at david lynchs film blue velvet through a freudian lens. Feb 10, 2012 blue velvet is to be shown as part of the bfi southbank in londons new david lynch season, which begins today. Its nightmarish, violent, and overthetop, but it also contains some tender, genuinely touching moments, and a happy ending in which good conquers evil. Just ignore the silly romance novel thumbnail they use for this movie. An analysis of the film blue velvet by david lynch. It obviously works for a lot of people, and thats great, but i wanted more. This surface is really a borderline between not only idyllic suburban america and the dark, perverted corruption that lies underneath but also between good and evil, conscious and. While your choices may vary, here are our 10 reasons why blue velvet is still great some two plus decades after release.
Blue velvet contains scenes of such raw emotional energy that its easy to understand why some critics have hailed it as a masterpiece. The article lays out the narrative and symbolic parallels between the two texts, including their plot similarities, the oedipal dramas inherent to each, their remarkably similar use of imagery and their respective use of the madonnawhore. Mar 26, 2016 blue velvet came a year after robert zemeckiss back to the future, the highestgrossing film of 1985, which sent teen idol michael j. He compares the infant to tantalus, who was forced to watch. Unlike the said movies though, blue velvet is awake and aware. One is that the ego is the core self which constantly has to negotiate the drives of the id and reprimands of the superego. The actual plot line and the character of frank were not things i took lightly. Lynch delves into the subconscious through his use of thematic imagery. Teas to the handsome but lethal pinup artist of michael powells.
Such surrealism comes out in many forms in blue velvet, from slowmo sequences to stretched faces to characters disappearing from the frame, all set animalistic roars. Velvet not as an indictment of a corrupt america, but as a freudian. Blue velvet can also be linked alongside some of its predecessors such as the big heat and chinatown for its shocking portrayal of topics that other films of the time would cringe. David lynch is a man who shows us what we would never admit is true of ourselves the dark parts of society which rest under gossamer, silk and appropriately velvet, the naked animalistic things which destroy our sensibilities and reveal us as little more than bumping about a confusing landscape of. Blue velvet is to be shown as part of the bfi southbank in londons new david lynch season, which begins today. The film noir crime plot, deliberately vague about details, unravels like a slowmotion bad dream with a uniquely absurd internal logic. Oedipal conflicts in david lynchs blue velvet david lynchs blue velvet explores the dark underside of every day existence, the brooding monsters that lie hidden behind the white picket fences of ordinary suburbia. Unmasking the psychosexual nightmare of david lynchs blue velvet. Though after hours is beautifully made, its bloodless compared to blue velvet. David lynch is one of the worlds greatest and weirdest film makers according to the general opinion in the world of film criticism.
My problem with blue velvet interviews roger ebert. In agreeing with ebert, i wouldnt go as far to give it only one star as. Blue velvet fixed lynchs cultural coordinates for people who hadnt even seen his films. Sep 26, 2011 blue velvet is a strange, but beautiful film. Blue velvet how the darkness mirrors the light youtube. A commercial and critical success, the film left its director in the enviable position perhaps of becoming cultural shorthand, familiar to even those who hadnt seen his work. Feb 25, 2011 sigmund freuds analysis of the psyche defines jeffrey beaumonts relationships to other characters in the film as well as the characters motives. Blue velvet is a 1986 american neonoir mystery film written and directed by david lynch. I believe lynch is a talented director, and that in blue velvet he has used his talent in an unworthy way.
Blue velvet is a neonoir film that borrows as much from alfred hitchcock as much as it does from gothic literature. Oedipal conflicts in david lynchs blue velvet, an essay. David lynchs film, blue velvet essay 1605 words bartleby. Aug 22, 2017 45minute interview with dennis hopper on blue velvet and his film career highlights. Most importantly, blue velvet changed the way both directors and audiences think about smalltown american life.
Fox, a cleanscrubbed kyle maclachlan type minus the dark. This is an essay i wrote for a cultural studies class looking at david lynchs film blue velvet through a freudian lens. Freuds theories are further represented in blue velvet as the theme of the subconscious runs throughout the film. The movie is a headon collision between two popular genres from the 1940s. The unassuming setting of suburbia and the atmosphere of film noir, once worlds. Long thought lost, these scenes run the gamut from blandly expository to unapologetically crackpot, revealing the two directions that lynch couldve gone with blue velvet. This can be seen from the very start of the film, as the blue curtains open and were brought into the world of blue velvet. Both vertigo and blue velvet are deeply concerned with the male gaze. The big selling point for the new blue velvet bluraybeyond the lynchapproved image and soundis the 50 minutes of deleted scenes, removed from lynchs original fourhour cut of the film.
1427 1379 83 1520 722 692 1373 1117 1109 181 366 375 214 64 1310 680 198 557 1147 150 132 1273 1169 502 1263 285 235 33 206 120 367