OUIL 501 ESSAY

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Place between dream and awakening- how does the architecture within David Lynch movies affect his films?

Till this day he describes himself as an Eagle Scout, born in Missoula, Montana, but most of people know David Lynch as a painter, photographer, actor, and most famously: filmmaker. In this essay, I would like to focus on his other, rather not known ‘profession’- architecture. It might seem a little perverse to call Lynch an architect, but there is no lie in saying that this director pays a lot of attention to the places he is choosing for his movies. He himself said that he couldn’t agree for compromises, because they ruin the movie, therefore “You keep looking until you find the place that will work for the story.” (Rodley, 2005) But how does the architecture in David Lynch’s films affect his movies? As Gaston Bachelard once said: “There are minds for which certain images retain absolute priority.” (Martin, 2014) This quote unquestionably relates to the author I am focusing on. In every single movie made by him, there is ‘key-spaces’ including “corridors, staircases, rhythmic machinery and red curtains […]” And as Richard Martin (2014) adds in his book The Architecture of David Lynch, Lynch’s camera “[…] leads us disturbingly around the corner. Occasionally, we are thrust, without warning into dark openings. Our experience of the space may be radically changed by a shift in lighting or sound.” Even if focused on description above, without seeing any of David Lynch movies, it is sure to be agreed on, that places Lynch is taking the viewers into, influence the mood and atmosphere of the movie.

Before I begin, I would like to focus on relation between film and architecture.

The relation between those two disciplines is very simple, they both functions spatially. Usually in movies, a director takes us on a journey through different places, using different techniques, for example “generates space […] creates a narrative from rooms and corridors, focuses the traveling eye on specific features- all of which requires an architectural imagination.” (Martin, 2014) Therefore when the place appears in movie, it is never something that is unnoticed, it is a huge part of the world that filmmaker is creating. As Hans Dieter Schaal wrote in his book “Film architecture is never a silent shell, standing there indifferently, every façade, every building is involved and has something to say.” (Schaal, 2010) In David Lynch movies places say a lot, and they are thoroughly considered. In the interviews the filmmaker often says about importance of the surrounding he is choosing. There is also places that he always comes back when shooting a movie, or creating any form of art. This architecture includes mentioned before staircases, red curtains and hotel rooms, but also family houses small, little towns and suburbs. All of it creates the Lynchian world filled with dream-like, or nightmare-like, locations that are creating specific moods. The moods for Lynch are something that produces “a power of vision” and it “occurs only when all the elements of cinema are not only present but also ‘correct’ producing what he often refers to as a ‘mood’; when everything seen and heard contributes to a certain ‘feeling’.” The feelings that excite him most are “those that approximate the sensations and emotional traces

of dreams: the crucial element of the nightmare that is impossible to communicate simply by describing events” (Rodley, 2005) For example quite few scenes in his movies are something very surreal, hard to recognise at first glimpse, like a blue, shining curtain on the beginning of Blue Velvet (1986), and these kind of scenes disorientate the viewer but they also “constitute an almost physical sense or intimacy”. (Martin, 2014) The intimacy in the director movies is something that relates to familiarity, but Lynch doesn’t stick to that. Reversely, based on this closeness, he creates something opposite, unpleasant, alien-like feeling, the uncanny. As Chris Rodley in Lynch on Lynch said, uncanny is a feeling that “lies at the very core of Lynch’s work.” (Rodley, 2005) But what exactly does the uncanny mean? That is a particularly hard feeling to describe. Quoting Vidler: “Neither absolute terror nor mild anxiety, the uncanny seemed easier to describe in terms of what is was not, than in any essential sense of its own.”

(Vidler, 1992) First described by Freud, uncanniness or unheimlich is an opposite of heimlich, which means familiar. But explaining this particular term is not as easy as that; uncanny refers to the feeling of unease. In Freud’s words: “Uncanny is uncanny because it is secretly all too familiar which is why it is repressed.”

(Vidler, 1992) But for Freud it wasn’t just the feeling of not belonging, it was something known that unexpectedly becomes unfamiliar, as if in a dream. Vidler also speaks about it in his book, Architectural Uncanny. He claims that uncanny is an “aesthetic dimension” that provokes thoughts to slip between real and unreal “in order to provoke disturbing ambiguity, a slippage between wakening and a dreaming.” (Vidler, 1992) This all is the very stuff of David Lynch cinema. To prove this point, it’s best to get into Lynchian world, filled with unease and nightmarelike scenes.

Primarily, uncanny found its symbolic home in architecture. First, according to the history of architectural uncanny, in private interiors or simply put: homes.

The home I would like to focus on is the one that Renée and Fred, characters of the Lost Highway (1997) live in. From the very start David Lynch takes us on a tour through endless corridors, of strangely quiet, perfectly furnished apartment.

As later released, married couple that inhabits the house, is being secretly recorded and receives tapes with footages of their own apartment. Suddenly, their home becomes something almost unfamiliar, invaded by an alien presence.

It seems like the entire house became suspicious. For example, the red curtain in the bedroom. It appears not only as a part of the room, but also as an object itself.

Zoomed in, red material is wavering, as if it has its own life.

It is reminding a viewer of the uneasy presence straight from nightmare. It also puts thought in heads of a viewers, that the scenes might be somehow connected to the theatre play, which is showing in front of their eyes, yet similar to a dream, it makes them experience certain things, but it is unreal. Viewer saw it, felt it, but still, that wasn’t

quite the reality. Similar, dream-like state, happens when David Lynch take us through dark corridors of the house. They seem dark and smoky and nobody knows where they lead. Let’s take the example of Fred walking around the house.

Camera follows him, but to a certain point, then he travels alone, and nobody knows what is around the corner, which is makes the viewer feel unsettling.

Camera shot, but also architecture of the house leaves the viewer in a ‘around the corner’ point, so they can see first if the danger approaching Fred is going to get him. But spectator doesn’t have a completely clear view on what, and if there is something behind the wall. It is just a feeling. That seems to be simple, but it is a clever move Lynch is using to create uneasy atmosphere. As Dr Sally Augustin in Place Advantage says, that because we, human beings used to live on Savanna centuries ago, we needed to be extremely aware of the danger around us, therefore we developed some responses to specific experiences to survive in the wild. “For example, we hate sitting with our backs to an open space, such as a door, through which danger could approach.” (Augustin, 2009) This is an effect that we not only have to have in real life, it can also occur when we are watching a movie, it is natural reaction, which David Lynch took advantage of. And this is not the only feeling that Lynch is feeding his viewer with. In the house there is also a sensation of “a disturbing transparency. Fred walks through doors that are not there and is engulfed by dark corridors that seem endless.” (Sheen and Davison, 2005) That is true, that the house seem to be transparent, lack of doors and big, almost unfurnished spaces, but the thing that seems to be the most disturbing is the window on the ceiling.

It would be almost invisible, until this shot. Director wanted the viewer to pay attention to this particular detail. The house indeed seems to be quite easy to look into. It is even more disturbing, when knowing for a fact, that Fred is being watched. Continuing with the uncanny mood, it is worth noticing how the characters behave. Both, Renée and Fred seem to be distant, even though they are a couple. The whole house is very clean and quiet and while they are in the house, they behave almost unnaturally. “Although placed in the same room, Renée and Fred communicate as if they were situated in different times and spaces.” (Sheen and Davison, 2005) Every scene it is like a day-dream, build up to a nightmare. House they live in doesn’t seem to be homely and cosy. Oppositely, whole house through its ‘perfection’ it’s unsettling; there is something that seems to haunt this apartment. Maybe because, as Bachelard once said “daydreaming […] is closely allied with intimate space. “(Martin, 2014), David Lynch knowing this, considered home as something not only architectural, but also, under its cover, unheimlich, perhaps a little bit dreamy. Either way, Lynch always had interest in houses, quoting: “ I like to think about a neighbourhood- like a fence, like a ditch, and somebody digging a hole, and then a girl in this

house […] a little local place that I can get into.” He also acknowledged, that “The home is a place where things can go wrong. When I was a child, home seemed claustrophobic […]”(Rodley, 2005) Perhaps with this thoughts and interests in minds, Lynch created this movie to answer the question, if it’s really possible to ever feel at home?

Continuing with David Lynch interest in place, and starting focusing on a subject of Blue Velvet (1986), it is important to quote director himself: “My childhood was elegant homes, tree-lined streets, the milkman, building backyard forts, droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass cherry trees. Middle America as it’s supposed to be. But on the cherry tree there’s this pitch oozing out- some black, some yellow and millions of red ants crawling all over it. I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath. Because I grew up in a perfect world, other things were a contrast.” (Rodley, 2005) Quote above sums up not only an intro of mentioned before Blue Velvet, but also the whole movie. This is a film where characters are looking underneath the surface of small, American town to find an evil underground. Blue Velvet is a metaphor of the opposites. From the very start we are introduced to a beautiful, cheerful, sunny world of small town called Lumberton. In Lumberton birds are singing, houses look perfect and everybody smiles to each other. Straight after we see the death of a man in his own garden, and the bugs crawling beneath the grass he lays on. It leaves a spectator with an uncanny feeling. Filled with beauty and innocence of American town, straightforward into the subject of life and death happening in a privacy of own house and ‘evil’ crawling under it. It provokes the uncanny vibe, especially for people who grew up or live in such surroundings, because of mentioned before familiarity in uncanniness. But not only for them; perhaps using such environment, Lynch wanted to say that death will catch everybody, no matter if they live in perfect world.

David Lynch works from the start to show the opposites not only in Lumberton, but also in life. The idea is expanded thorough the movie and director is conveying the thought of evil underneath the ‘perfect’ world through different methods, also through architecture. The example of it can be a scene where Jeffrey, main character from ‘good side’ of the town, got interested in crime, which happened in his area; therefore he is went out to investigate it by himself. This is when the staircase scenes began to happen. First of all, Jeffrey opens the door of his room and he is about to step down the stairs to the darkness. Light behind him might symbolise ‘good side’ and the darkness he is going into convening the idea of evil world he is about to find out about. Straight after we see Jeffrey’s mother and auntie sitting in front of the TV asking him: “You’re not going down by Lincoln, are you?” Then he replies: “ No, I’m just going to walk around the neighbourhood. Don’t worry.” Everything is giving subtle hints of differences between good and evil, between different worlds. As Martin explained in Architecture of David Lynch during this time of the film it is clear

that “respectable area where middle class families […] reside” is very different and separated from “Lincoln Street, where Dorothy Vallens lives.” Lincoln Street is not Jeffrey’s neighbourhood. (Martin, 2014) Meanwhile there is a horror playing on the TV screen, where a close up of a man going up the stairs appears. It gives a viewer a hint of what is going to happen next. Few scenes later Jeffrey seem to be the man from the screen, after he crossed the barrier of the neighbourhood and climbing up the stairs to meet Dorothy Vallens from, mentioned above, Lincoln Street. Main character appears in this surrounding almost thorough whole movie. Staircase seems to be a ‘portal’ that connects both worlds, but leads to something evil. It takes a viewer for a journey and builds excitement with each step Jeffrey makes, because we know that upstairs is when the action is speeding up. This is where the apartment of Dorothy Vallens is and this is where “the confrontation between the opposing forces of Frank and Jeffrey takes place in an urban environment […]”(Martin, 2014) Ms Vallens live seems to be a princess locked in a terrible tower. The building is high, and Jeffrey always climbs up the stairs, he is the ‘good power’, a knight that is going to save fated lady. The apartment is surrounded by half-lighted corridors, which build the atmosphere of terror. This is not a fairy-tale. David Lynch made sure that surroundings reflect the thrill of the story. Another example might be Dorothy’s house. There is no sunlight shining in the living

room, what is more, whole place is in kept in dark, wine tones. Absolute contrast to what can be found in the ‘good area’ houses; they are in white, beige, light

colours. Again, surroundings show the contrast of both worlds. Also, living room and the perspective it has been shot from, reminds of a theatrical scene. There are only few pieces of furniture, reminding more of a play ornament. Again, similar to shots in Lost Highway, places remind the spectators of theatricality of the moment, and also about the dreaming-like state.

Lumberton seems to reveal its secrets throughout the story. This small town appears to be a source of visual, but also narrative, intensity for the Blue Velvet.

Lynch has an ability of creating that “single, bubble-like location […]”(Martin, 2014) just to tell the story he imagined in his head. Location that seems to be quiet and peaceful, but under its surface there is a whole bunch of red ants crawling out every night.

As it has been shown in this essay, David Lynch has an incredible intuition when choosing places to be shown in his movies. But what did it affect in his films?

Pallasmaa was right when saying that a filmmaker “often recognises the mental ground of architectural impact more subtly than an architect.” (Martin, 2014) David

Lynch is one of those directors. Facts showed in this essay, proves that the choice of place in Lynch’s movies affect its mood. Lost Highway is an example of an environment like that. Yet, this filmmaker finds architecture to be more then just a mood changer. Blue Velvet shows that David Lynch considers the environments because they also impact the storytelling. He is using the houses, red curtains, lightning and sound, to hide little symbols, crucial to his stories, within the architecture of the movie. Lynch is creating all of those environments because he wants to take the spectator to different universes. And very often those places relate to the state of dreaming. This is where uncanny begins. The Modernist avant-gardes, who “used it as an instrument of ‘defamiliarization’”, renewed uncanniness as an aesthetic category. Surrealists followed Modernist avantgardes and they proposed the idea, that uncanny lays somewhere between dream and awakening.” (Rodley, 2005) David Lynch ideas were clearly created because of his interest in ‘defamiliarization’, and architecture in his movies helps him convey those ideas. Although there are many books about Lynchland analysing his approach to, architecture, character, sound or storytelling, Lynch has always been a person who finds “intellectual analysis of the dream at best woefully reductive or worse-destructive.” (Rodley, 2005) Following his words, instead of analysing his films, maybe it is best to experience dreams Lynch is showing us in his movies.

As a response to the subject and research I have done, I have created a series of drawings in the visual journal. They all are focused around architecture, especially on the architecture in David Lynch movies. I have analysed the quotes, the films, books and all the other information, and based on that and my thoughts I have created drawings. Media I wanted to explore was mainly ink. In my private practice, I have started using ink quite a while ago, and I have decided to explore it also in this module. With different tools, I had explored mark making. Visual journal also helped me with bringing the line back to my drawings. Subject was answering the matter of uncanny places. I have been exploring the ones straight from David Lynch movies, and also created my own.

My aim was to create atmosphere similar to uncanniness and make strong, bold images that will have similar influence on spectator like David Lynch movies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Augustin, S. (2009). Place Advantage. 1st ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Chion, M. (2006). David Lynch. 2nd ed. London: British Film Institute.

Blue Velvet. (1986). [film] Directed by D. Lynch. USA: Fred Caruso.

Eraserhead. (1977). [film] Directed by D. Lynch. USA: American Film Institute.

Lost Highway. (1997). [film] Directed by D. Lynch. France, USA: Mary Sweeney.

Martin, R. (2014). The Architecture of David Lynch. 1st ed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Rodley, C. (2005). Lynch on Lynch. 1st ed. London: Faber and Faber.

Schaal, H. (2010). Learning from Hollywood. 1st ed. Stuttgart: A. Menges, p.54.

Sheen, E. and Davison, A. (2005). The Cinema of David Lynch: American Dreams, Nightmare Visions. 1st ed. London: Wallflower Press.

Vidler, A. (1992). The Architectural Uncanny. 1st ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, p.12.