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After watching Blue
Velvet, I was confused. I didn't quite know what to make of it. My thought from
the beginning of the film to the end (especially the end actually) was
"this is completely ridiculous". I didn't really understand that that
was indeed the point David Lynch was trying to make until searching the net for
interpretations, reading the article, and watching another Lynch film called Mulholland
Drive. In Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and Lynch's other work he uses not
only odd but very cinematic images and sounds to always make sure that the
viewer is uncomfortable and to keep them guessing if what they are watching is
actually real or all just a dream. This is clear just from the opening sequence
in Blue Velvet, which shows highly saturated bright colored flowers against a
perfect blue sky and a white picket fence. Irena Makarushka brings up the fact the color
scheme is red, white, and blue furthering the fact that Lynch intended this to
be the all American dream. The flowers fade into a man wearing a blue shirt
waving very stiffly from a fire truck with a dalmation by his side (red, white,
and blue again). All these images make the world Lynch is bringing us into more
artificial than anything else. The sequence then dissolves from these artificial
"American Dream" images to a man apparently having a heart attack and
the camera zooming into the blades of grass juxtaposed with eerie sounds,
something from a horror film, and then the festering of beetles beyond the
ground. This alludes to the fact that below the artificial "American Dream"
it isn't so perfect after all.
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| The "American Dream" |
Lynch not only
confuses his viewers with the images he
shows but also the way he portrays his characters. Similarly how Madonna
complicated the roles of women and Prince complicated gender roles in the
1980s, Lynch complicates the archetypes of his characters while also showing
the ambiguity of good and evil. For example, we are first introduced with the
character who we most likely assume will be the "hero" of the film,
Jeffrey. We soon learn this is not the case. After finding an ear in a field of
grass and putting it into a paper bag before handing it over to the police
(which isn't gross at all or anything) he is increasingly intrigued by his
findings. Sandy, the policeman's "All American" apparently innocent daughter
emerges from the darkness with just the information he's looking for. This
leads to Sandy's question of whether Jeffrey is a detective or a pervert. Is
Jeffrey good or evil? He spies on Dorothy and ends up hitting her during sex.
To me, Jeffrey thinks that by taking care of Dorothy it will make him good, a
better person, to step away from being like the sadistic Frank Booth. In fact,
Frank even says "you're like me" when they're on their "joy
ride". Frank Booth is another complicated archetype of his own. He rapes
Dorothy, beats up Jeffrey, and is an extremely cruel and frightening person in
general but yet he starts crying not only during the "In Dreams"
scene but also while Dorothy is singing "Blue Velvet". What is up
with that? Is Frank just completely psychotic or does he have some sort of
feelings for Dorothy? What happened to make Frank be this type of person? These
questions are never answered.
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| Frank moved by Dorothy's performance |
Another interesting
element to Lynch's work is his use of color symbolism. As stated above in Blue
Velvet, he uses the highly saturated colors of red, white, blue to represent
the artificial "American Dream". But how about how the inside of Sandy's
house is white and Dorothy's apartment is a deep, blood red? Sandy is supposed
to be the archetypal "virgin" or "good girl" (she also only
wears pink and white throughout the whole film) while Dorothy is this more film
noir-ish femme fatale type character, even though she isn't really completely
that. She's a victim as well as being dangerous. Isabella Rossellini has
described her as a broken doll who tries to cover up her pain and madness with
makeup and a wig, which we see her taking off in only one scene.
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| Dorothy's Apartment |
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| Sandy's House |
The end of film is
laughable but in a very uncomfortable way. It reiterates Sandy's dream about robin's representing love and happiness. However, the robin that's shown isn't
real at all but extremely mechanical with bugs hanging out of its beak. The
robin fades into those beautiful, colorful flowers and the fireman from the
beginning sequence waving again so we can all assume that everything is perfect
and great in that artificial "All
American" dream world again, can't we?
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| The fake robin of love |
This movie is obnoxiously saturated with symbolism, especially when it comes to colors. The apartment has to match Dorothy and Frank's complicated personalities, Sandy is constantly wearing white, innocent colors, the obnoxious red, white, and blue opening shot to represent the American Dream. Even the night club where Dorothy sings "Blue Velvet" multiple times is saturated in blue light. It's actually pretty annoying, and I almost see it as overkill. It bothers me that people even analyze the mechanical aspects of the robin at the end of the movie. Can't we just assume that the robin looks fake because it is and the movie didn't have the budget to get real ones..?
ReplyDeleteIf we assume that the robin looks fake ONLY because of the low budget film making then why would Lynch fill the scenes in the "perfect" American Dream town with such artificial color symbolism? It's clear he wants everything about it to seem really fake and superficial. The ending seemed like a parody of films that conclude with everything being perfect and happy and nice rather than an actual happy ending.
DeleteI didn't think about the color symbolism! It is so interesting how he used it to help tell the story. Dorothy's apartment is where many disturbing things happen and her walls and decor is very unsettling and dark. Sandy's wardrobe is white and innocent.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experiences in film making, everything that is show is there for a reason. So I think Lynch definitely meant to use a very artificial looking robin at the end. The robin the way I see it is mechanical looking/ not real because the love shared by Jeffrey and Sandy is fake just like the American Dream. I think Jeffrey had more of a connection with Dorthy than Sandy and by using the fake robin it shows that the love is fake.
ReplyDeleteWell done! Nice incorporation of the reading, and a good analysis of Lynch's use of artifice and color saturation. You still seem a bit uncomfortable with the concept of archetype though. You have the concept and use it well, but use the term a bit oddly. Characters play archetypes _of_ something. They're not archetypes themselves. But what you're touching on is what's important about archetypes and distinguishes them from stereotypes--they're deep, they're complex, and they typically contain oppositions: Frank is an archetypal villain, but also a screaming baby man, Dorothy is an archetypal femme fatale, but also a victim and victimizer (and mother). Sandy and Jeffrey are archetypal innocents, who, unlike Dorothy, don't truly know the difference between right and wrong. Sandy is ridiculously smarmy and pallid. Dorothy is much more interesting, with all the jewel tones and blood red apartment. Each character is a complex type, and each one of them has a parallel in the other.
ReplyDelete