VIII. DEAD ENDS?
- Consumption: food is a recurring motif, but the pattern and relationships are unclear. What’s the difference between a home-cooked meal, eating at a diner, or junk food and snacks? Which character eats from which category? Who is offered food and refuses it? Who is offered food and accepts it? Do some characters not eat at all?
- Flies: Lou Ming notices flies once or twice.
- Meeting Of The Mind: this visual motif of characters sitting in chairs across from each other is a repetition of Cooper’s meeting with the Fireman in S3E1.
- Mulholland Drive Elements: This is not a “dead end” so much as a “work in progress.” Lou Ming noticed several things in common between “Mulholland Drive” and “Twin Peaks.” When I started working on this piece of writing, I used to think these were just shared visual elements that could be expected when an artist produces more than one piece - and has a preference for working with the same actors repeatedly. I have since come to a different conclusion and will be keeping a wide eye open for these shared elements.
- Outside/Inside: situations that are painful or confusing on the outside become positive on the inside. When Dougie returns from the casino with a mysterious bag, on the outside he’s slapped and berated, but on the inside he’s given home-cooked food and the bag turns out to be full of jackpot money.
IX. THOUGHTS, QUESTIONS, MISCELLANEOUS
In the original series’ run, much attention was given to the idea of stepping into the Lodges to confront one’s shadow self – The Dweller On The Threshold – and reach perfection. Yet in “The Return,” we only see one Dweller in a brief recap flashback, and the Lodges are barely mentioned at all. Why is this?
It’s possible that the disappearance of the Dwellers is a sign that Laura Palmer has confronted and assimilated her Shadow Self.
Another interesting clue lies in Denise Bryson.
Carl Jung wrote that this confrontation between personas and shadow selves is the first step in individuation, and without it, it is impossible to recognize one’s own anima/animus and continue the path.
Denise is not promoted until “The Return,” and this coincides with the disappearance of Dwellers. No more Dwellers, no more buried Shadow Self.
X. LIMITATIONS
- I am not Lou Ming, Mark Frost, Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch, or anyone else involved with “Twin Peaks” whatsoever.
- I am not formally educated or trained in things like literary interpretation or artistic critique. I have no degree and I took AP English exactly once.
- I am not very familiar with Jungian concepts.
- I have yet to watch “Vertigo” or read the related sidebar piece.
- Lou Ming does not consider any of the books to be relevant to “Find Laura.” I have done my best to disregard and forget “Laura Palmer’s Secret Diary.”