Blue Velvet: Venturing And Learning From Our Shadows
A Strange, Crazy, And Clear World Indeed
You know, there’s nothing quite like watching a David Lynch film to get a better understanding of just how fucked up the world is.. There’s no telling where it will take you. It’s doubtful that in the beginning of the process, that director Lynch himself knows what places he’ll go when creating the work. Now that’s nothing new for someone who happens to be a creator as much as they are an Auteur. However, in the case of cinema’s beloved Candy Colored Clown, we get the sense that whatever realm his mind will travel, be it in a fully conscious, or meditative state, it will certainly be as beautiful as much as it will be very strange, and with the right kind of fucked-upness to make the anticipation of whatever story he has planned that more exciting.
Blue Velvet is a truly unique film. But that was already an obvious fact. This declaration isn’t just because it comes from the mind of a unique filmmaker, although, it does help. At the same time though, it hardly spoon-feeds a viewer, even with its rather simple narrative riddled in the kind of complexity that only makes the journey much darker but well worth the voyage.
Now, using this word “simple” may sound like the kinda thing you’d want to say to offend a man as creatively driven as David Lynch. There’s nothing simple about a man who made a film as bizarre as Eraserhead. The same goes for a film like Blue Velvet, which on the surface has a basic narrative, but the kind of thematic complexity that will make anyone with an intellectually introspective mind wonder where is it going and where the audience will be by the time the credits roll. Wherever that is, it certainly won’t tell you, and neither will David Lynch. He’s been heckled about it for over more than thirty years, and to this day, he still refuses to discuss the meaning of the film, especially the ear. At this point, and as sincerely humble as he appears in his love for artistic individuality, he might as well tell those still willing to ask “Figure it the fuck out.”
When it comes to films as unrelentingly enigmatic as Lynches’ noir mystery, questions are the answers as much as they are the purpose. It’s this approach which not only adds to the theatricality behind its dream-like quality. But it further allows for viewers curious and sincere enough to delve into the world crafted by Lynch to embrace the ambiguity and even use it as a means of further looking deeply into themselves. There is even a moment in this story when the main character, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle McLaughlin) tells his friend Sandy (Laura Dern) “There are opportunities in life for gaining knowledge and experience. Sometimes, it's necessary to take a risk.” In a way, great filmmaking in itself entails great risk, especially when the greatest fault to befall a storyteller like Lynch, Nolan, or Kubrick, (yes I’m comparing them) is that of pretentiousness.
There is no denying that every opinion aimed at an artist is subjective, and as individualistic as they can be in pertaining to their artistic aesthetic, there is always a possibility for them to be either cinematically poetic or just simply pretentious. Hollywood certainly has its fair share of filmmakers that fall under that scope (not naming names, really). But at the same time, that fear is probably the greatest one filmmakers must overcome, aside from writer’s block, if they are to truly make that of an original work. In the case of Blue Velvet, and despite its simple Noir Mystery story (third time using the word simple,LOL), it still manages to explore something original without really telling anyone watching.
David Lynch spoke about one of the central influences of Blue Velvet originating from that of his own dark thoughts. He went into detail in describing how in arguments with his wife, he had often experienced urges similar to that of Jeffrey, who in the course of the film, not only engages in his an exotic sexual affair with a woman named Dorothy Valens (Isabella Rosellini) but he even performs acts of physical violence at her own behest. Every punch delivered is no doubt one among the many Lynch felt like enacting. Thankfully he didn’t, but it still says a lot about the darkness in his thoughts and even the kind most people usually push back out of fear of a realization beyond comprehension.
The sincerity of David Lynch admitting he experienced the dark tempting violence that modern society prohibits was indeed proof of his maturity. It was also proof of his willingness to explore a part of himself so few people never bother or often fear knowing. As to where this fear comes from, it’s best to turn to the teachings of the Swiss psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung elaborated that “The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
In this quest for self-knowledge, director David Lynch has presented a film, which in many ways operates as a cinematic invitation into the deep subconscious most people don’t often explore. Looking at his protagonist Jeffrey, there is a fantastic contrast with that of Dennis Hopper’s adrenaline-fueled portrayal of the violent drug-dealing gangster Frank Booth.
Unlike the urges Jeffrey actively suppresses, Frank holds no restraint in the violence he perpetuates and exacts over Dorothy. In fact, during what are among the films most intense forms of ritualistic rape, he goes all out into enacting these vile acts, whilst embodying two different personas of Baby and Daddy. It’s pretty much a Freudian nightmare that would leave Carl Jung frozen in how oddly comical yet equally disturbing it is in action.
Midway through the film, after Frank confronts Jeffrey and Dorothy, and even tortures them a bit with his star-studded performance of the musical number, “Candy Colored Clown” he tells Jeffrey “You’re like me.” The scene is as enigmatic as much as it is claustrophobically haunting, much like the kind of atmosphere you’d experience in a dream.
By the end of the film, after Jeffrey’s shadow has been both confronted and ultimately conquered, the full essence of the dream-like atmosphere is demonstrated. This doesn’t just occur with a return to the sunny-side-up intro where a firefighter was literally waving at the audience as “She Wore Blue Velvet” played in the background. No. In fact, Laura Dern’s Sandy serves as the messenger of this clarification when she utters the quote, “It’s a Strange World.” And on that note, the world of Blue Velvet is indeed a strange one. However, is it really any stranger than our own?
David Lynch’s films have been classified as very dark and nihilistic. There is no denying this. In commenting on this classification, Lynch spoke about how there is a lot of darkness in the world, but not once did he make this claim as if it was a negative thing. In fact, he went on to say "Being in darkness and confusion is interesting to me. But behind it you can rise out of that and see things the way they really are."
A statement of that degree alone could not be any more Jungian, and it was the king of archetypes himself who said that understanding the shadow is a pathway to self-knowledge. Prior to the sunny-side-up intro Blue Velvet uses to deconstruct its ideal caricature of a modern American suburb, the first image is that of the beautifully lit blue dress Dorothy wears. But unlike the exuberant dress she wears, much like her red Wizard of Oz-inspired heels, the dress is framed to the degree of a red curtain, the kind that would be found in a theatrical production. That alone illustrates not just the mystery, but the invitation into a dark mystery as such depicted in Blue Velvet as a way of further granting viewers a sense of self-knowledge. In the case of the world Lynch created, that’s for us to find out. Until then, we can still ask the candy-colored clown.
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