Customer Reviews

Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks (Contemporary Film and Television)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hadn't begun viewing episodes of Twin Peaks until this past summer. After I had rented and viewed every episode, I went right into reading this book. With the episodes fresh on my mind (especially after only one viewing) I think I probably appreciated the writing more than a hard-core Twin Peaks fan would. There's a smattering of essays covering every aspect of the show; from the music to its depiction of women to alt.tv.twin-peaks... the last essay is a twenty or so page dialogue discussing postmodernism and Twin Peaks. There are five appendixes containing scene-by-scene breakdowns of the episodes, a calendar of events, cast listing, writer/director listing and abbreviations listing. There's also a bibliography and an index.

This isn't easy reading; it suffers from the Really Smart People syndrome (every contributor holds a PhD)--meaning lots of large words and plenty of asides with a dictionary--yet every piece is insightful in its own way. My favorite was Angela Hague's "Infinite Games: The Derationalization of Detection in Twin Peaks" which likened Twin Peaks's narrative structure to what philosopher Robert Carse called "infinite play." Really great stuff.

"The echolalia and subvocal signs of the semiotic - what we might call feminine Twinspeak - therefore co-exist with and challenge both the patriarchal canonization of Laura Palmer and its Freudian subtext. (104)"

The above sentence comes from arguably the best of the twelve essays contained within this book, Christy Desmet's "The Canonization of Laura Palmer." She makes some extremely insightful points, but to reach them, you have to wade through pretentious written-with-thesaurus-in-hand idiocy like the preceding paragraph.

In general, those expecting to find opinions on what the Red Room really is, or whether coffee and cherry pie are a metaphor for something deeper, will have to parse through endless masturbatory babble, and for the most part will be ultimately disappointed by the lack of any revelations about the show itself (one notable exception is Angela Hague's interesting "Derationalization of Detection," which delves briefly into what actually happened to Cooper in the Black Lodge).

Some essays, such as Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Bad Ideas..." might simply be re-titled "Why I liked Twin Peaks," as it comes off more like high-brow film criticism than anything else, revealing nothing about the show other than why the writer thought it was good. Ditto Marc Dolan's essay "The Peaks and Valleys...", which contains only speculation as to why the show might have lost its audience. Henry Jenkins' is awful, doing nothing more than chronicling ultimately irrelevant discussions on alt.tv.twinpeaks while the show was airing.

A few of the feminist writers are equally terrible for different reasons. Martha Nochimson's "Desire Under the Douglas Firs..." had potential to be very interesting, but went on a "phallocentric" tangent, and from her we read insights like "The phallic nature of the thumbs up sign, and the phallic incapacity of the Old Bellhop, who cannot stand up straight, are complemented by the visionary presence of The Giant, a phallic presence, as emphasized by the visual foregrounding of The Giant's crotch. (153).

In addition, I fear, some of these writers seem to be a little out of their depth, and readers who are specialists in any of the fields contained within might be able to find numerous mistakes. For instance, in the essay about music (my own area of specialty) Kathryn Kalinak misidentifies leitmotifs, writes musical examples in the wrong key AND mode, and generally reveals herself to be musically illiterate. She also assigns import and symbolism to things that deserve none. She notes that in one scene, "a country and western selection on the jukebox mysteriously disappears for Shelley and Norma's entrance only to reappear a few moments later," citing this as proof that Lynch is trying to make us aware of the line "between illusion and artifice." Nonsense. It was an editing mistake. I could wax philosophical that the chess game between Cooper and Earle (which contained impossible positions/illegal moves) was Lynch trying to symbolically demonstrate any number of things, but it was really just Lynch being lazy, and that's fine.

The essays alone really only merit two stars, but following them "Full of Secrets" has several excellent appendices which contain writing/directorial/acting credits, a Twin Peaks calendar of events, and a complete scene breakdown from the pilot through FWWM, all very well done and useful.

For the rest of the book, well, you've been warned.

If you are a die-hard TP fan, then you should grab a copy of this book. Most of the essays are quite academic in nature, but that fact doesn't diminish their readability. You may not agree with every analyzation from each author, but if you loved the show, you'll gladly welcome the fresh insights.

If you've been wondering what serious academic scholars think about Twin Peaks,
this is the book for you.

On the other hand, if you want fun reading about a fun show, Agent Cooper's
Autobiography or Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide would be a better bet. ;-)

A dozen in-depth analyses of the unique TV series, written by a raft of PhD's,
including professors from leading universities. No matter how many times you've
watched the programs, I guarantee that this book will tell you things you've
never noticed . . . or even imagined. There's a complete listing of characters,
a calendar/timeline, and 50 pages of scene-by-scene descriptions of all the
episodes, plus the movie.

The last chapter is a sort of free-for-all panel discussion (or, as the eight
co-authors describe it, "a writing strategy that privileges the dialogic
interchange rather than the monologic pronouncement"). Here are the concluding
remarks:

REEVES: Maybe David Lynch is possessed by BOB so he is not responsible
for his actions.
ALL: Hmmmm . . .

In my opinion, this book's sometimes pompous, sometimes far-fetched, sometimes
incomprehensible attempts to dissect the products of David Lynch's wild creativity
are--if one takes a step back--wryly appropriate to Twin Peaks' own blending of
the mundane and the weird.

A sanguine exposition of multiple themes explored in this rare television series. My favorite is the essay on reality, "Under the Douglas Firs..."
There are real epistemological points explored by David Lynch and Mark Frost. Ultimately, the show was 20 years early for broadcast television, but merits serious discussion today.

Twin Peaks offered a door into that which is below the Matrix that we assume is "reality." In many ways it is like the red pill that Morpheus offers Neo. This book explores the various elements in the show that opens up vision. To see more does not mean there is some final answers. What does happen is-- what we assume proves to be wrong. When we hear the music of the show it is not just supportive sound, when we see people act they are not carrying out the cliches of the ordinary. We see the typologies of our pop culture but the cliches of their characters are violated or turned upside down. There is humor in the show because humor liberates and the apparent order of the town is seen to be an accomplishment of all kinds of human evnergy and possibility hidden below the cliches. If you hated the show-- the book will be of no value. IF you liked the show or are passionate about the work of David Lynch-- this book can give you words and pathways to walk to learn why.

David Lavery's book is, beyond any doubt, a book to purchase for any fan of "Twin Peaks" or related Lynch material. This book of essays, focusing on different themes and messages in David Lynch's tv-serial, is most likely the best of its kind on the marked.
Take a mesmorising trip through the fantastic of "Twin Peaks" or go looking for clues to unlocking its strange mysteries - this book will give you all the leads. So whether you are into exploring doubling, postmodern culture, detective fiction, the fantastic, or merely the world of David Lynch, I strongly recommend getting a hold of this book. An amazing a thorough read - even better than the otherwise strong "Weirdsville USA"!!!

After there was no hope for the show's return, I found some of the essays from this book at my college library during the mid 90's. It is great to be able to own them!

Sure, some of the essays are somewhat pretensious and in some cases in accurate, but you will not find the series analyzed like this anywhere else. This book is a very unique resource. If you are a fan of the show, then you will absolutely love this book.

great book, but using the term "bad idea" in any of david lynch's works is a "bad idea"! any TWIN PEAKS paraphenalia is a wonderful gift to the world of mystery, questions, and the secrets that are behind them. since the series was left as a secret, then its wonderful that us peaks freaks can still enjoy putting all the TWIN PEAKS puzzle peices together. RELEASE "FIRE WALK WITH ME" DELETED SCENES! HOO HOO HOO!