Artist Research -- David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"

So today I watched David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) and was really excited about the whole thing.  It was very engaging and although it was two hours, the story flew by effortlessly. Although I'd been told to watch this movie before, and actually I already had it at home courtesy of netflix, Jeff had recommended that I watch it.  I'm pretty sure he said to pay attention to how David Lynch uses oddities in his work and figure out why its successful in his context.

One thing that was clear was that the oddities didn't seem random, but rather meticulously thought out. It lends to the narrative in terrifying and unsettling ways. The viewer is made to feel awkward -- as if they are not meant to see what they are seeing (i.e. Dorothy Valens undressing then dropping to the floor and inhaling the carpet, also getting up and stumbling down the hallway trailing her hands along the walls. We are made to feel what Jeffrey Beaumont must be feeling). They also only seem to happen in connection with Valens. When she isn't involved in the action everything is seemingly normal.  In fact, as the film progresses, the pieces of the film that are a little off kilter become normalized (i.e. Ben bursting into song -- "Candy Coated Clown") and doesn't seem at all out of place.

What makes all of the weird moments successful though, is that they don't have to justify their existence within the film, they can just be.  I don't need to know why Frank inhales with that little plastic mask, all I really need to know is that he is one messed up guy that is causing grief for Dorothy and Jeffrey. They become part of the narrative and necessary for the story to progress because of the tension that is created which is what definitely drives the story.

So as far as my work goes, I think what I need to do is make sure that the weird elements that I add to my images have to be necessary for the images to work. I'd also like to create a tension between my subject and the weird bits in order to really bring the images together.  I've gotten some good thoughts from this and I'm excited to put them into action.