The impossible David Lynch
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The impossible David Lynch
（Film and culture）
Columbia University Press, c2007
- : cloth
- : pbk
Available at 6 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-257) and index
HTTP:URL=http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0619/2006028223.html Information=Table of contents only
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Todd McGowan launches a provocative exploration of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's groundbreaking oeuvre. He studies Lynch's talent for blending the bizarre and the normal to emphasize the odd nature of normality itself. Hollywood is often criticized for distorting reality and providing escapist fantasies, but in Lynch's movies, fantasy becomes a means through which the viewer is encouraged to build a revolutionary relationship with the world. Considering the filmmaker's entire career, McGowan examines Lynch's play with fantasy and traces the political, cultural, and existential impact of his unique style. Each chapter discusses the idea of impossibility in one of Lynch's films, including the critically acclaimed Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man; the densely plotted Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive; the cult favorite Eraserhead; and the commercially unsuccessful Dune. McGowan engages with theorists from the "golden age" of film studies (Christian Metz, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Louis Baudry) and with the thought of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Hegel.
By using Lynch's weirdness as a point of departure, McGowan adds a new dimension to the field of auteur studies and reveals Lynch to be the source of a new and radical conception of fantasy.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Sacrificing One's Head for an Eraser 2. The Integration of the Impossible Object in The Elephant Man 3. Dune and the Path to Salvation 4. Fantasizing the Father in Blue Velvet 5. The Absence of Desire in Wild at Heart 6. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me 7. Finding Ourselves on a Lost Highway 8. The Ethics of Fantasizing in The Straight Story 9. Navigating Mulholland Drive, David Lynch's Panegyric to Hollywood Conclusion: The Ethics of Fantasy Notes Index
by "Nielsen BookData"