Counter-Currents
Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 171
Greg Johnson & John Morgan
The Films of David Lynch, Part 2
Counter-Currents Radio
85:24 / 64 words
Part 2 of 2
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Greg Johnson and John Morgan conclude their discussion of the films of David Lynch. Topics include:
- Wild at Heart
- Lost Highway
- The Straight Story
- Mulholland Drive
- Inland Empire
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11 comments
These were such joys to listen to, thank you very much. Glad (and a bit relieved) gentlemen such as yourselves thought the same of Inland Empire, as I’ve been called a “pleb” before for not liking it. Can’t wait for your future conversations!
I would love to hear Greg Johnson and John Morgan discuss the movie Silence (2016). I’ve only just seen it a few days ago, and I’m convinced, though I’m not a Christian, that it is one of, if not the greatest and most important movie of the 2010s. In my opinion there is a lot to discuss here, even from an Alt-Right/New Right and non-Christian perspective.
https://counter-currents.com/2017/01/silence/
Leon, I would love not only to record a podcast on, but to see “Silence,” although unfortunately none of the theaters in Budapest are showing it. I would certainly like to do one as soon as I am able to see it, however, based on Greg’s review.
Great follow up. Loved the analysis of Lost Highway.
Two other black characters in the Lynch oeuvre:
The blind assistant at Jeffery’s father’s hardware store – a literal magic negro – he and Jeffery have a long running game, in which, despite his affliction, he can somehow always guess Jeffery is holding up.
And Richard Pryor – confined to a motorized scooter by MS when he played an assistant at the auto-shop in Lost Highway. Both character’s are “house negro” types, greeting our Aryan heroes with dialog like “welcome back, it’s so good to see you” Even though everybody else understands the troubles are just beginning.
Before being red-pilled, I actually blamed Lynch’s interest in eastern religion for his level of comfort with anachronistic racial hierarchies.
In the old (((Siskel))) & Ebert clip about Wild at Heart, Siskel actually tries to convince his apoplectic co-host that the scene with the black hit man didn’t reflect any “racial animosity”. LOL
Yes, but they are just bit characters. Hawk is the only significant one.
Of interest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch#Political_views
I’m not so sure how congruent Lynch’s politics are with the far-Right. You can argue that his body of work sends another message but the man himself seems just another cog in the machine.
The way that I interpret mulHolland Drive, as regards the kersher character, Kersher is lynch. The producers, or whatever they were, who bully Kircher were depicted as Italian Mafiosa. He’s basically saying, what if a Jewish director were bullied by Italian mafia who control the entertainment industry? He’s trying to make the point in a PC way with a frameshift.
The cowboy character is a positive figure who shows kersher how to survive by means of flexibility. If you notice, the Coen brothers reprise the cowboy in no country for old men.
Unfortunately, I think most of Lynch is like Dali. Stunning and fascinating images, that are ultimately vapid. There actually is a substance there, but it is so esoteric that most people would not understand.
Mr. Johnson. Really enjoyed the discussion of Lynch and his work. Recently listened to the latest Northwest Imperative; a MST3000 or you and Mr. Kersey commenting on Hidden Figures would be great. Side note. Nixed my son’s recent field trip to see said film…
I saw David Lynch in person, once, speaking at a Borders Books just before the chain went under financial sands. Lynch was escorted by an entourage of men in suits, and he looked as if he spent the last several hours trying to sleep on an ornithopter. Yet he projected a strength and vision, a total mastery of art. The only downturn in the evening was when someone asked him about <Dune.
His response was to quickly change the subject.
Dune is one of the few Hollywood movies which takes religion seriously. Watching it is akin to participating in a High Mass. There is church-like ritual for the Guild navigators, cathedrals of orange spice gas, monastic Fremen chambers where warrior monks perform arcane rituals, water raised to a level of holiness, and prophecies that really work. These are people who take their religion seriously – “wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen,” the “Hand of God” with us – all spoken without irony and by characters you know would cheerfully draw a crysknife in defense of their faith. In the finale, Paul Atreides appears to have assumed powers of Biblical proportions, making it rain, for he is the Kwisatz Haderach!
Lynch’s Dune follows a fairly simple Cambellian theme: a young man goes to a strange world where he passes tests (single combat, crossing the desert, riding a giant sandworm), performs a forbidden rite (taking the water of life), and unleashes his powers to bring the new law to the galaxy. Always there is the combination of the mystical and the high tech – weirding knifefights alongside atomic weapons, transhuman powers initiated via genetic breeding programs. Elements of post-1960s psychedelica are also thrown in, with the “spice” a metaphor for assorted psychotropic drugs; meanwhile the Fremen are enlisted in an army of archaic-future warrior-hippies.
And of course, everyone is White, at least all the important characters. Some non-White faces can be seen among the Emperor’s generals. We might place the Atreides (consider the significance of the name) as Western men and women rising up against a decadent and multicultic Empire.
There are several drafts of Dune’s script online and you can see where Lynch was moving. If the filmed version has a flaw, it’s that the first act is dragged out with exposition and pointless subplots, while too much of the second half is glossed over by narration. There are additional scenes which were shot but not used in the theatrical release and that can be found in the extended (and atrociously edited) Alan Smithee version or among the DVD special features. Some of them tie up loose ends, like the Atreides making an alliance with Dr Kynes and Jessica fulfilling a prophecy involving a crysknife.
Given an opportunity (and sufficient financing), would Lynch return to Arrakis and film God Emperor of Dune according to his own vision?
Greg, I really enjoyed listening to these podcasts. The discussions about Lynch being a “1950s Man” and his implicit appreciation for pre-Hart-Cellar America were particularly interesting. A few years ago Steve Sailer rererred to David Lynch as a “Red State shaman”. That’s strangely fitting.
Also, thanks for spending some time on Wild at Heart (1990).
Has Quinten Tarantino ever fessed up to sniffing Lynch’s boxers before writing the script to True Romance (1993)? There are a lot of similarities between the two films. It’s one thing to pay homage to a movie from 25-30 ago, but True Romance just looked like fanboy imitation a scant 3 years later.
The plots nearly are identical: Road movie in which a boy with Elvis-issues and a pretty blonde girl with a distinctly southern name and a troubled past are on the run…. in a vintage automobile.
Tarantino doubled-down on Lynchianism by throwing in some gratuitious Dennis Hopper, and then he had the nerve to rip off the “peach” line!
Wild At Heart-
Sailor: She turns over, peels off them orange pants, spreads her legs real wide and says to me…”Take a bite of Peach.”
True Romance-
Clifford Worley: [after Alabama kisses him] Son of a bitch was right. She taste’s like a peach.
I always wondered if Lynch cast Patricia Arquette in Lost Highway (1997) as sort of a “I see what you did there” nod?
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