I've been thinking about David Lynch all day today. I imagine I'm not alone in that respect. I'm sure countless driven, artistic types the world over have found themselved consumed by different areas of his incredible, restless carnal vision and been assessing the importance of particular films, TV shows, paintings and interviews and articles and thanking David for his invaluable contribution to their lives.
He's truly a Rock & Roll figure. A product of the Rock & Roll age. Even though his works and Art stretch back way beyond that. Dada, Expressionism, Film Noir. People have always needed to dance together. To sleep together. To let rip. Or else to imagine themselves doing so from a safe but vicarious vantage poimt. It's a basic human urge. The desire to feel free. Going back to the caveman.
Lynch's artistic urge appeals to me in some incarnations more than others. I've never watched much of Twin Peaks though I appreciate its cool. Its sheen. I don't like Mullholland Drive and tried and couldn't watch Blue Velvet again in recent years. It embarrassed me. I found it dated. I didn't like Wild At Heart when I saw it in the cinema at the time, I confess I thought it a bit naff. I prefer the new version of Dune to Lynch's. It seems truer to the novel that comsumed me as a teenager than watching Sting leaping around in a.ludicrous sci fi codpiece.
It's difficult to put into words why some things rip at your heart and others don't. Ultimately it's not worth beating yourself up about or even arguing with others. If Dr Who or greyhound racing do it for you then go with that.. Ultimately it doesn't matter. Though I would maintain that it's important to be inspired by things and want to create statements of your own. This is a central and fundamental human instinct. Why we are alive. Fascists don't like it. In fact they can't stand it. We must all stand up to that and make statements of our own in response to tyranny
So if I often prefer to watch Hitchcock or Coen Brothers, Fellini, Scorsese or even Jim Jarmusch movies than sitting down and watching a David Lynch film or TV show, even one of his best, that doesn't mean much. It doesn't lessen the respect you have to have for the guy and his work, It's impact. It's influence. It's brilliance. The influence of Lynch is phenomenal and impossible to measure, document and define. It's important to try to have an influence. To strive to inspire.
It's that influence which makes Lymch so significant. His artistic drive and vision. His drive was essentially artistic in the best possible sense. This artistic drive is immediately recognisable in all his work. A restlessness. A desire. A vision. Craving. I'd go back ultimately to the film of his which made his name, Eraserhead which I watched and rewatched first years ago with my first true love, the girl I spent my university years with, on a battered old VHS cassette.
When I think of Eraserhead and David Lynch I think of her and of how much we loved it and each other. How much we babbled and bonded as we watched it together. Lost in wonder. And the inspiration to create ourselves.That's the key.The same thing happened between us with other works of art while we were together. Housekeeping. The book and the film. Jean De Florette and Manon De Sources. Photography. Man Ray. Cartier Bresson. Ultimately most of all each other.
RiP David, You won't be forgotten. I imagine that's all you wanted,.
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