David Lynch Decoded

by Mark Allyn Stewart

What does it all mean? Surely all of those red curtains, strobe lights and dancing dwarfs we keep seeing in David Lynch's films must mean something, right? Well actually, they do. In fact, not only do they mean something, they're all interconnected. Reading these symbols is the key to understanding not just David Lynch's films individually, but his body of work as a whole. Journey with author Mark Allyn Stewart as he travels film by film to let you in on the larger tapestry that Lynch is weaving and shows you how works such as Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. are all pieces of a larger picture.

140 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2007

Reviews

[Allie Marini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, great for a fan of David Lynch (useless if you’re not a fan). A movie-by-movie guide to symbolism in his body of work. Reads like essays from your favorite film professor in undergrad, so not super difficult to understand for the average person. I wish the author had just skipped The Straight Story, because the 1.5 pages it took up basically felt like a reach (I think any Lynch fan can agree that this story exists outside/adjacent to his body of work but doesn’t converse with it.) The greatest amount of page space was devoted to Inland Empire, and I wish every piece covered in this book had gotten the same attention, because the section on Twin Peaks (the series) is criminally short (wonder what the author would have to say about Twin Peaks: The Return)! Overall it’s a fast read that’s a little like “David Lynch CliffNotes” that helps clarify some of the more overt symbolism that threads into and evolves as Lynch’s work progresses.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the themes and interconnected nature of all of Lynch's films. It was interesting to see things I'd seen and thought about echoed here as well as several other observations I hadn't thought of before. Worth reading for the Lynch fan.

[Laurie Hertz-Kafka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge David Lynch fan. I've seen most of his movies, all three seasons of Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me, and even The Missing Pieces and have read the two Twin Peaks companion books. This book did an excellent job of identifying the major themes in Lynch's body of work and in tying them together into a cohesive whole.

As anyone who has watched the third season of Twin Peaks (The Return) knows, Lynch weaves myriad themes, plot twists and symbols into his work, creating an artistic puzzle along with the intrinsic mystery of the stories. Many fans have spent the past three years analyzing The Return throughout copious essays online. (The best site I have seen for great analysis of this series is https://25yearslatersite.com/category... - especially the essays by John Bernardy.)

This book was written prior to Season 3 of Twin Peaks, but it still provides great insights into the series (I feel that The Return is an entity onto itself in terms of the many plot twists, and the companion books added several more plot elements). The author is not trying to hand hold the reader in terms of interpretation, but more to point out the major things to watch for, several of which I had never noticed (such as barking dogs heralding an important event, a great symbol as they can hear and sense things humans can't). Stewart also points out elements of Lynch's visual language. I liked (and agreed with) his insights; they added to my enjoyment of Lynch's work, as he pointed out (as opposed to reducing it as some have tried to do).

I also liked the fact that Stewart gave a general overview of the story of each of Lynch's films since it has been many years since I've seen some of them; this content was really helpful in jogging my memory. It was also helpful since most of Lynch's movies involve plot twists in which time periods overlap or wind back, running through various levels of consciousness. This book made me want to rewatch some of Lynch's films and catch up on the ones I haven't seen.

[Michael Jarvie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat simplistic and reductive account of the familiar tropes in Lynch's films. Not particularly well written, occasionally reading like an undergraduate essay, though one must give the author some credit for attempting to unravel the mysteries of the Lynchian universe.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent book that should be read by any cinephile or lover of Lynch's films. The author explores some of the unifying images, ideas, and themes in the aforementioned director's major body of work (read: feature films and Twin Peaks), although there are a couple references to the short "The Grandmother" in here. This is a svelte book that demands to be read and re-read and works both as a probing analysis of Lynch's oeuvre as well as a primer on the filmmaker himself. Particularly interesting are the chapters devoted to Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, especially in light of the recently announced series' return.

[severyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short essay on some of the tropes and themes of Lynch's films and TV - fire, electricity, the colour blue, etc.
It has lines like:
'A film with several other-world characters such as Eraserhead has quite a bit of electricity appearing in it, where as [sic] a film such as Blue Velvet, which has less obvious connections to the other world, does not have nearly as much electricity.'
It takes about 90 minutes to read.
The publisher is a self-publishing house.

[Phil South · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant thesis on the meaning behind Lynch's films, a cogent and detailed analysis.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less a decoding than just describing each movie but there are a few nuggets in there worth discovering I guess

[Danny Antrobus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun whizz through Lynch's main output up to Inland Empire picking out key cross-cutting themes. Keen to re-watch some now.