Lynchian Cinema

"You should not be afraid of using your intuition and feel your way through. Have the experience and trust your inner knowing of what it is." ​

This was the approach of esteemed director David Lynch to his own films. The term ‘lynchian’ is used to describe his understanding of cinema and cinematography. But what does ‘Lynchian’ exactly mean?

To understand his works, one must delve into the distinctive nature of Lynch’s filmmaking. Most of the time viewers are left to interpret the ambiguous narratives on their own because he believed that they should find personal meaning without definitive explanations. Starting with 1977’s Eraserhead, his first feature-length work, David Lynch left an unforgettable mark on history and inspired many filmmakers to come.

Having first experienced Twin Peaks at the age of 12 and being literally stunned by it, I see it as my duty to commemorate the legacy of David Lynch. He was ahead of his time, and for that reason, many failed to understand his vision. In 20th-century American cinema, which was mostly realist, Lynch introduced surrealist and often complex symbols in his films. As he once expressed, he had always wanted to be a painter since childhood. Like brushstrokes on a canvas, he weaves dreamlike sequences with a feeling of unsettlement. His first short film was Six Men Getting Sick (1967), and it was an animation project that he worked with Bruce Samuelson. Shortly after, he blended animation with live-action for his four minutes short film The Alphabet. He explained that he took the idea from the niece of Peggy Lentz, the woman in the video. According to Lynch, she had a nightmare in which she recited the alphabet in her sleep in a tormented way, which helped establish his artistic vision. Though it might be disturbing for some people, the outset of David Lynch’s filmmaking process is memorable creation of both visual and meaning.

 His first feature-length film, 1977’s Eraserhead, left an unforgettable mark on the history of cinema. Initially screened for small audiences and criticized by some, the film gained critical acclaim and has become one of the most celebrated cult classics. He often leaves us with the truth that evil is not necessarily ugly or fearsome, showing the delicate balance between beauty and horror. Also, his films show that even the most ordinary people have hidden secrets, as seen in Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway. He doesn’t just follow the conventional structure of cinema; rather, his approach to cinema operates like subconscious events .

“[Lynchian is] a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter.”(Wallace, 1997)

He believed that a film doesn’t need to be ‘reasonable’ or understandable by all.

“Cinema is a lot like music. It can be very abstract. But people have a yearning to make intellectual sense of it–to put it right into words, and when they can’t do that it feels frustrating. But they can come up with an explanation from within if they just allow it. As they start talking to their friends, soon they will see things–what something is and what something isn’t. And they might agree with their friends or argue with their friends. But how could they agree or argue if they don’t already know? The interesting thing is they do know more than they think. And by voicing what they know, it becomes clear, and when they see something, they could try to clarify that a little more and again–go back and forth–with a friend. And they would come to some conclusion and that would be valid.”

To define ‘Lynchian’ is not solely about stylistic choices but about recognizing an entire approach to storytelling and cinema as a whole. He redefined what is possible in storytelling. His work has and will continue to inspire generations. For this very reason, we will forever be indebted to him and his vision.