December 14, 2018 – Twin Peaks is an abstract art TV show – probably the most abstract TV show ever made. Like Picasso, the writers of Twin Peaks have broken a lot of the rules. And as you know, with abstract art, some people love it while others hate it.
The two twin peaks might be fantasy and reality. Why they’re twins, I’m not sure. In Mulholland Drive, written by one of TP’s writers, David Lynch, there was the fantasy that the girl was going through, but then the reality she was going through. The same might be said for storyline of Blue Velvet.
1) DREAMS: We have dreams while sleeping. They can be quite odd, illogical, and not follow the norms of reality. Dreams may be something TP’s writers always have in mind.
2) ASPIRATIONS: When we speak of dreams, sometimes we’re referring to aspirations – the life people wish for. Someone dreams of being an astronaut, a popular actress, or maybe even a heroic FBI agent.
3) MISPERCEPTIONS: Another dream/fantasy people can have is their misperceptions. This can include self-misperceptions. Someone thinks she’s mean when really she’s nice. Someone thinks he’s humble when really he’s arrogant.
3) CREATIONS: I’m referring here to mental creations such as writing stories in books and scripts, or just imagining stories in your mind. Our minds make internal creations that are separate from the outside world.
The above four things could play a major part in TP’s storytelling. What if one of the writing exercises was, “Okay, this character has a weird dream – what happens in the dream?” But rather than making it an actual dream the character has, it just becomes part of the storyline of the “real” world of TP.
At some point a character can take on a life of its own. This is likely the case with Laura Palmer, for example. The show’s writers could just ask themselves, “What are Laura’s fantasies and aspirations?” And “she” gives the answer, not the writers. The writers could also think to themselves, “What if Laura were creating a character? Who would that character be?”
So we have two dreamers/creators in this world (TP’s writers David Lynch and Mark Frost) who have created characters in another dream/world (the dream which is the Twin Peaks show), and within that dream (within the show), the characters can also “create” dreams and other characters.
And I’m fairly certain that the viewers are also part of the creative team of the show. More on this later.
In the real world, when a person dreams, it’s solitary. People dream in solo. But what if you could mix people’s sleeping dreams together? This may be another device the writers use.
Because, as with Picasso, it’s okay to break the rules, be illogical, be abstract. Why am I painting this line or shape right here? Don’t worry about why, just do it. Why is this character saying this? Not sure why, just feels like something they would/should say. Why is this happening in this scene? Don’t know, it’s just an idea we came up with. Etc.
I found this picture on the Internet, and it really caught my attention. I think these are the four main dreamers of TP (along with the other writer of the show who is not pictured):
The main dreamers are, of course, the two writers who have dreamed up this series. But then their dreams (their characters) also have dreams.
Consider these dreamers…
RICHARD: The large, superimposed faces in certain scenes, I believe, indicate that what’s going on is inside the character’s mind. It’s his or her fantasy/dream. Above, in scenes from the 2017 season, we see the large face of Richard/Coop.
In reality (the show’s reality), there is Richard. But his fantasy is Agent Cooper/Coop, Dougie, and Evil Cooper. These are exaggerated, different versions of Richard.
Coop is the hero Richard wished he’d been. Evil Coop represents a time in Richard’s life when he went off the rails, was a terrible husband and father, and probably a criminal. And Dougie is when, within that same 25-year period, Richard left a life of crime, became a better husband and father, and was sort of boring. But this “Dougie” period is what helped Richard to get back to at least wanting to be more of a “Coop.”
[in the above photo] Richard, the “real” and complex person; Coop the Hero; Evil Cooper the All Bad; Dougie the All Good
In real life, one person can be somewhat innocent and naive at times (Dougie), then heroic and noble (Coop), and yet also quite evil at times (Evil Cooper). Maybe Richard has all those traits.
LAURA: In reality (the show’s reality), there is Laura. More than likely, she really was abused by her father, ran away from home, and eventually changed her name to “Carrie.” Much of what happens in the first seasons may be what Laura wished would have happened. Part of her wished she had died, rather than have to live with what her dad did to her. Part of her wished that her dad wasn’t really at fault – that some unknown force was to blame for his actions, etc.
Breaking storytelling rules: TP’s first seasons were about Laura’s murder. Then Laura/Carrie is still alive. Which is it? Again, it can be both. In this fictional world, the writers are the creators. They can do what they want. So there is a real storyline where Laura dies. Then there’s another one where she leaves TP alive, and changes her name. This is all possible because logic isn’t the driving issue, telling stories is.
Yes, young girls have been abused by and killed by their own fathers. More often than not, however, even if they’re abused, they’re not killed. They survive, and maybe move away, change their name, try to forget what happened to them, or fantasize that things had been different.
So why does Carrie scream in the final episode, outside her childhood home? Probably because she’s remembering all that happened to her when she was younger. What happened to her is wrong, evil, and she’s not holding it in. And her scream is similar to the next main dreamer’s key moment…
AUDREY: In the above photo, Audrey seems to awaken from a dream. Where is she? People theorize she’s in a mental institution. Maybe that’s the “reality” for Audrey.
Her fantasy may include all of the roadhouse bar scenes from the 2017 season, which seem segregated from the rest of the show. Maybe because they’re not a combo of Laura’s and Richard’s fantasies, they’re mainly just Audrey’s fantasies.
DAVID LYNCH: The real person is David Lynch. He may have, indeed, had lunch before with Monica Bellucci in a European café. But Lynch’s fantasy character, Gordon, has not. So for him, for “Gordon,” it’s just a dream. (The Gordon character says he had a dream about Monica Bellucci.) And the Gordon character may be how Lynch sees himself in real life — loud, dorky — whereas others don’t perceive him that way. Gordon is an alter ego for him, similar to Coop being an alter ego for Richard.
THE VIEWERS: The superimposed face of Richard/Coop also looks like someone’s reflection watching a TV screen.
With TP, there are many mysterious, unanswered things. And the TP writers aren’t giving you all the answers. Why? Because you’re supposed to create some of the answers yourself. With your mind/fantasy/creativity, you must fill in the intentional blanks. This makes TP a different experience/story for each viewer.
My theory is that the core story of TP is something like this:
BACK STORY
FBI agent Richard went to a small town to solve a murder case. A girl, Laura, was missing and presumed dead, with her body never found. (Remember the body disappeared later.) Richard didn’t solve the case.
FIRST SEASONS (1990–1991)
The "Coop” character is Richard's fantasy of the heroism he’d wished he’d used but didn’t, and fantasies involving the case. Eventually he gets caught up in things in the town, and kind of goes psycho. Mixed in are also Laura’s fantasies about what could have happened to her.
NEW SEASON (2017)
Twenty-five years later, Richard wakes up from his “Dougie” coma. The hero in him – “Coop” – is rejuvenated, and he starts working on the case again. He finds Laura living as “Carrie.” The case is solved.
With this as a basic framework, the writers can then make things as fluid and fantastical as they want. They can mix characters’ fantasies together, and do illogical, odd, dream-like things. They can do whatever they want, and break any so-called rules, because this is no-rules, abstract storytelling – abstract art TV.
A fan theory worth a read: https://ozba.wordpress.com/2017/08/31/twin-peaks-audrey-billy-and-living-inside-a-dream/