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I begin this with conflicting notions: I have a small thought to offer, but I know that it is insufficient to explain the title of this post. The true answer is something like “David Lynch’s work is captivating because it presents a unique insight into little examined and wholly mysterious elements of the our collective minds, conscious and unconscious, with expert and thrilling aesthetic sensibility.” Something like that.
My small thought is that David Lynch does seem to differ from most other story tellers on the matter of will: its origins, use, and how we respond to the will of others. Watching him (in role) yell at Louie CK, telling him to do the very thing Louie intended to do and then Louie finding himself incapable of doing it, suggested this to me. In these scenes, the directness and focus upsets Louie: David Lynch’s urging is pure “ego” here, ego personified, and the nakedness throws Louie so much he cannot form thoughts, speak or read. Louie retreats into another ego avenue, saying he will not change his appearance (his identity), and for that, he receives a good physical beat down. Comedy convention maintained-big egoes get deflated.
In David Lynch’s films, characters encounter their dreams and nightmares. They are often confronted by forces they did not (knowingly) invite, exerting their will on them. Their recognition, receptiveness and acceptance of others becomes the plot. So when a giant offers advice, or a stranger delivers an object, or an enemy advances menacingly, David Lynch’s characters are always knocked off balance and respond slowly. The effect is often cinematically surreal, but if you look at it closely, you’ll see that the giant, neighbour or enemy is actually doing very little and it is always realistic.
Back to Louie CK. In their scenes, David Lynch does exactly what the script calls for: he issues instructions to Louie, and demonstrates how to do something, and he provides some explanations when asked. And its the weirdest thing. The directness and simplicity is compelling viewing, because we’re watching the impact one human being can have over another.
I suspect that it looks so strange to us because David Lynch believes that the psychology of wills colliding or aligning is something wholly unknowable, so he presents only the physical manifestations of it.
I should review Schopenhauer on will and aesthetics: I think he had something to say about this.

Tags: David Lynch, Louie CK, Schopenhauer

This entry was posted on September 15, 2012 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.