David Lynch’s Electric Dreams and Atomic Nightmares
David Lynch explored the contradictions of modern life, from the alienation woven into workaday existence to the terror of the nuclear age. His films turned the American dream inside out, revealing the surreal beauty and hidden horrors beneath the surface.
David Lynch attends the Twin Peaks screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2017, in Cannes, France. (Amy T. Zielinski / Getty Images)
The loss of David Lynch — the great American filmmaker, painter, musician, and transcendental meditation evangelist — is profound. More than any other American artist, Lynch peered at the opaque conditions of contemporary life and saw the sheer horror and dislocation of the modern experience. His films juxtaposed the picaresque exterior of American suburban life with the relentless undercurrent of casual violence and cruelty that lurk just below the surface.
From the severed ear that a young Kyle MacLachlan finds in a pristine suburban lawn in Blue Velvet, thrusting him into the depraved world of Frank Booth, to the test detonation of the atomic bomb unleashing a cosmic evil in Twin Peaks: The Return, Lynch has always been attuned to — and unafraid to depict — the darker side of the modern condition.
The Horror, the Horror
Lynch’s seeming rejection of the modern world, coupled with his occasional vaguely Libertarian sounding pronouncements early in his career and his ’50s throwback aesthetics — including his love of early rock and roll and pop, his iconic pompadour, his preference for dark suits and ties, and his almost Boy Scout persona — led some to label Lynch an artist of the Right.
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