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I am thinking about my favorite 5 films right now, and the message and theme of each is quite clear, even from the beginning. The dialogue between Jeffrey and Sandy is just downright entertaining to listen to, there's just something about it that pulls me into their little world and I can understand what each character is feeling. Since when does David Lynch hit us over the head with stuff (besides "dad jokes" we've heard before)? So what do you guys think of Blue Velvet? Its quite clear from just watching the film, but its still kinda cool to see it laid out exactly how the sequence's message is delivered so clearly. It is a realization that serves as a crucial motivating factor for our young protagonist for the rest of the film. We’re brought into a world which seems dreamlike and fantasised. Jeffrey, even though he is an agent of light in the film, is curious about why people choose the darkness. That fireman is waving at us, and he even has a Dalmatian! Honestly, and this is an issue with the tone of OP rather than their writing skill or observation, but I found myself tuning out because I was being told how great Lynch is rather than just being shown. The camera tilts down to reveal a white picket fence and red roses. All right. The ending... kind of a liberation for all of them. Along the way, Blue Velvet also makes references to The Wizard of Oz (1939). I haven't seen much of Lynch, I saw Eraserhead and Mulholland Dr. a few years ago and did not understand a lick of either film. Everything within this scene fits Freud’s theory perfectly. I think this line is far more important than a bit of comic relief for the ending. Jeffrey deals with the rape he witnesses in Dorothy’s apartment objectively and is not shocked when Dorothy appears naked and cut up in the middle of the night. This can be seen in the film when at its conclusion Jeffrey hides in the same closet he hid in during Frank’s early assault on Dorothy. Now you are talking: Blue Velvet is my favorite film, has been since i dragged my friends to see it when it opened. She also is seen as a mother figure to Frank too, as he makes evident by calling her ‘Mommy’. I think it comes down to taste if you find it to be an example of "how a master filmmaker builds tension and anticipation" or some heavy handed editing/cutting. It is a pleasant, relaxing sight. What do you think about the surreal qualities of this film? As the noise grows louder, the camera then goes right under the grass and into darkness, until the darkness remerges to be beetles crawling under the ground. It's one thing to explain what a scene is doing, it's another to celebrate it within the analysis. The strangeness reinforces that we are not dealing with a story in the real world but rather one in which the strangeness of a dream is common place and a more horrifying nightmare constantly lurks underneath. $3.99 Rent HD. What did Moe say? When Frank proceeds to open the closet Jeffrey shoots him in the head, killing the Father figure. Otherwise it just feels like an illuminated invitation to a circlejerk. It really comes across how personal this film feels to you. Thriller. It is replete with characters jostling to inhabit or vacate such positions as father, mother and son.” [2004; p.55; Gonzales], This is further represented as Frank also takes the role of a father to Jeffrey. Another film that is dealing with this exact same idea, but in a completely different way, is Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz. Many of Lynch's films mirror his own experiences with creativity and especially his espousal of using meditation to "dive within" for inspiration. I personally think this is David Lynch's best film. As the shot progresses the camera slowly brings us inside of the ear, until its completely black, as if we’re being brought right into someone’s mind. Also, this is where it all starts really turning for the first time. And look how undeniably amazing all of this is...". Think about how many other robins are out there. On your question regarding the robins i'd answer with this quote from Sandy in the film. They can't win every time. Like any Lynch film there is just so much in Blue Velvet that you can take from it. We see this through Lynch’s visual motifs and dialogue. Arguably the pinnacle of the David Lynch oeuvre, Blue Velvet is one of the most haunting, surreal, beautiful movies ever made. The film is telling us something bad is about to happen. When the robin comes in at the end, it has seemingly conquered that underworld. Jeffrey will behold horrors, and he’ll fall in love. For Jeffrey so he can now focus on getting a job or a life. But the nightmare's of Frank's world are always invading the good world and the outlandish aspects of both sides just helps makes this dichotomy clear. It seems Jeffrey’s quest is similar to the robins, as he is destined to bring love into this world of darkness, to rid the world of trouble, effectively ridding the town of Frank. I find it demeaning because it is supremely difficult to achieve this kind of simplicity and clarity of communication in a film. Now there’s an entire essay to be written on the importance of this song and how it relates to the film, but let’s leave that for another time. Of course I disagree with that assessment, because I haven't even caught on to what was really going on in the filmmaking of Blue Velvet until I saw the film for the Xth time. So it is of little surprise that the generations of fillmakers that came after him took special note of his work. PS: Best TV show ever is The Wire. Thoughts on David Lynch? Blue Velvet always struck a chord with me - I grew up in a perfect small town with pocket fences and Mayberry cops who know your dad. But there is so much more in the film too. This introductory credits sequence perfectly captures the essence of the film and sets up the tone. It might be Pollock, or da Vinci, Michelangelo, van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso, or whoever. I saw Blue Velvet, and I loved it, except the ending. I can't understand anything of it (even when I read the interpretations). That being said...there are great films that present themselves as X on the surface, but then a closer examination reveals that they are Y. And because there is something mysterious and even frightening under that blue velvet. I think that in Blue Velvet a huge debt is owed to Alfred Hitchcock who pioneered this kind of meticulous and clear communication with the audience. It is very possible. Blue Velvet – 15,380 people a month google for further explanation. And yet there is deep rot under the surface - incest, abuse, heartbreaking poverty. Something ominous lurks underneath the final scene the way something ominous lurks underneath the fertile soil. Lynch delves into the subconscious through his use of thematic imagery. Our thesis is based around the book’s 4th essay called ‘Mysteries of Love: Lynch’s Blue Velvet/Freud’s Wolf Man’, by Sam Ishii-Gonzales. Thinking of all of the different elements combined to create an abstract film as a whole is really intriguing. The first five minutes of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. For me they don't. You sum it up pretty well. I spent a great deal of time my freshman year of college unpacking this film, here are some of my thoughts regarding the Lynchian universe and numerous juxtapositions contained within the film (for me, Blue Velvet is a film of contrasts). Goodness is dreamlike and evil is nightmarish, what's terrifying is how intimately close they both are. One of the visuals of the film that I always think about being so simply great is the opening and last shot of the red roses in front of the white picket fence. The main character just goes deeper and deeper into this mystery and it becomes a mystery thriller in dream land. For Dorothy obviously because they had her husband and son kidnapped. It's all too much like a sick vivid dream, that explores the horror and imagination of something that couldn't possibly exist. We go past that well mown lawn and see something disgusting. Other clues that it is a truly American movie is that the action takes place on "Lincoln" street and the trappings of Americana all through the film. This gives the impression of a suburban lifestyle; it is also worth noticing that these same colours are found in the american flag, hinting to the thematic of the american dream. His invitation into this world, his first clue, is a decaying ear. On the surface we see pleasantries, but there is something mysterious and even frightening underneath that blue velvet. Frank is a foul-mouthed, violent sociopath whose orgasmic climax is a fit of both pleasure and rage. We get more quick shots of the town, the last one being of a strange man whirling a chain (another detail that reminds us of that crucial juxtaposition). The officer waves with a gentle hand as polite kids cross the street. It gives these credits a sense of mystery. Oh, I recall it, "weird for the sake of weird". Does the value of a particular work by any of these artists depend on how obvious the goals of the artist are? A crucial reinforcement of what was merely hinted at before – sexual dysfunction. I see in Blue Velvet, among other things, a clear give and take between light and darkness, displaying them as the natural order of things. (Perhaps sepia Kansas is the land from which the filmgoer comes when they enter the theater.) I do enjoy Blue Velvet, but mostly for the unique atmosphere it creates. 17. This is evident throughout the film and the dynamic between the three leads. Guess I'll go see Transformers: Age of Extinction now. Through his victory over Frank, Jeffrey inherits the role of Father. The campy and dreamlike qualities of the film work perfectly for me and only add to the themes Lynch is exploring. It's probably meant to show that this is a town of patterns and where everything is expected to fall into place. And you are absolutely right - Lynch is tackling what many people consider to be the ideal of safety and even somewhat sacred. Jeffrey's journey from naive small town society into Frank's underworld seems like a long one, but the film remains in the same town and the whole thing happens over a relatively brief time span. The darkness has been dispelled. Directed by David Lynch. Frank’s wild alterations between ‘Daddy ‘and ‘Baby’ show us the changes of roles and identity within the film. I just think that vision of the roses is so simple and elegant, what could be romantic becomes something much more lurid by the end. As Gonzales says: “The permutation of roles and attributions, positions of identity and desire, are everywhere evident in the texture of Lynch’s narrative. But I don't find any of this to be less than completely obvious. And apart from that pleasant 50’s sign we also get an up-beat radio jingle. Kyle MacLachlan is at the centre of this struggle caught between the blonde goodness of Sandy and Frank's darkness he wears a black suit with a white shirt even visually telling us how he's between these worlds. It is one of the most standout opening sequences I can think of. The Subconscious Both Freud’s theories of the Oedipus Complex and Primal scene are dealt with in ones subconscious. Specifically in Sandy’s monologue, she explains the biggest contrast in the film between love and darkness. Nothing takes place in Velvet that could not take place in the real world. This is the American Dream turned inside out for us to wake up to... a brilliant piece of art. So I think the robin at the end is to show that darkness has been vanquished and love has prevailed. The robin comes in with the beetle in its mouth, mirroring the opening sequence which showed the bright, happy suburban life (introducing the robin early on) and which descended immediately into darkness, when we go underground and see the teeming underworld of suburban wasteland, the beetles scampering over each other. The underlying decay in Blue Velvet feels like home. But, I would tie all of this together into reality, as we don't have these abstract pieces sitting outside our zone of knowledge like the blue box and blue key for example. Though there is still an aspect of darkness even in that naive ending, in real life Lynch comes across as a remarkably naive man ( part of his charm) so it makes sense. I sometimes think of it as equivalent to Coltrane's Giant Steps - there's a really strong structure around Lynch's riffs, and that structure starts to recede more and more as Lynch's career goes on, with something like Inland Empire being close to Sun Ship in terms of its lack of approachable organizing structure. The theory also suggests that the chid sees the father as aggressive towards the mother in this act. At no point does it dip into the fantastic or the dreamworld, as Peaks or Mulholland do, even if the explanation for these dreamworlds is madness. We continue listening to the local radio as we’re introduced to the town in a wide establishing shot. Add to Wishlist. The camp perfection captures "good" and the nightmarishness of Frank's world encapsulates "evil". I like to think of Lumberton as a proto-“Twin Peaks” town, and if you do compare that show to this film you will recognize many similarities. The static shots used throughout the scene further represent this fixated state. Mulholland Drive has always been my favourite Lynch film but the more I watch Blue Velvet the more it creeps closer to being my favourite of his. If you’ve never taken a trip into the mind of director David Lynch, this is the place to start. "Blue Velvet" is a popular song written and composed in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. Don't forget the scene where Jeffrey disguises himself as the bug exterminator! Whether this adds anything or not, this is something I worked on dealing with the possible context for the image of the man in yellow being shot in the head; the question is not whether or not the hypothesis given is valid or not - but to demonstrate that circumstances surrounding this incredibly exotic, very memorable image may well be very mundane, the way this movie takes things that would be the very mundane components of another movie into something striking, a world that feels as if it's never been shown before. And for those who have not seen the film I hope this text persuades you to seek out this masterpiece. The use of color in this film is absolutely outstanding. This little summer adventure he was having coming right into his 'normal' life. These are mostly establishing shots of the town, each going closer which makes for a smooth transition. Lynch uses many visual motifs to further establish a symbolic Oedipus complex with the characters. I enjoyed The Elephant Man very much, Straight Story is interesting and Mulholland Drive is to me a total scam. A child approaches him as the dog repeatedly bites at the spraying water. An example of this is pointed out in Gonzales’ essay which makes reference to Jeffrey’s cognition of the Father as both a figure of horror and pity, which is conveyed visually when Lynch dissolves from a visually and aurally distorted shot of Jeffrey’s Father, Tom Beaumont, in a hospital bed connected to life support, to a slow motion image of Frank during the primal scene, howling into the night. And for the longest time, there was this darkness. Maybe my education was lacking back then, but most probably I was just caught in the spell that the film is weaving. Saying that though I always think that the robin is so artificial that it makes me wonder how long this "victory" will last. Except the dog, that's not a mundane image. I felt like it was hitting me over the head with it. An elegant cursive font fades in and out over a fabric of blue velvet that is gently swaying. We had a Frank, an insane older cousin of a friend, who made us try crack and flew into psychotic rages, in prison now for beating his wife to death. Such Lynchian regulars as Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern star alongside Isabella Rossellini, who gives a head-turning, career-best performance as Dorothy Vallens, and Dennis Hopper, breathing life into one of cinema’s most terrifying villains, Frank Booth. They smile and talk of how the robins came and everything was made perfect again. The swaying fabric reinforces this pleasant image and everyone knows just how soft velvet is. It is quite difficult for me personally to analyze the filmmaking behind a film that has grabbed me and taken me somewhere else entirely. 18. Blue Velvet could had multiple endings. Want to support the show or request an episode? I like the dreamer vision, but I don't get the symbolisms it tries to use, and to be honest Lynch gets on my nerves having to guess all the time what the hell is trying to tell me (probably nothing). Does anyone else feel the same way? So the first thing one notices is the curtain made of (you guessed it) blue velvet, which transitions into the sky and the camera pans down to show red roses and a white picket fence. This kind of awkward interaction is common place in the film, with people speaking honestly about their feelings and being often undeterred by shocking moments. We see how affected he is by his father’s condition. “‘Blue Velvet’ was my second film and my second film with David,” MacLachlan said. LYNCH DISCOVERED ISABELLA ROSSELLINI IN A RESTAURANT. And look at how he proves he's a master by. Slowing down as the dog growls and bites. It discusses killing the Father figure to have the Mother for himself. 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