This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Videographic Essay Explorations: David Lynch & David Cronenberg Main Menu Shot Breakdown Assignment Trailer Assignment Incorporating Secondary Sources and Comparative Essays

Thematic Analysis

10147

Both filmmakers have numerous preoccupations (obsessions, one might say) that re-appear from film to film. Students were asked to talk about the function and significance of a recurring motif, image, character. Rather than simply identifying the recurrence, they make an argument about the way the theme is complicated as it reoccurs in different contexts.

This page has paths:

Welcome Adam Hart and Simona Schneider with essays by Garrett Allen, Susan Bin, Alex Cox, Nicole Flanary, Jermaine Heidelberg, Jeremy Korn, Kathy Li, Elodie Saint Louis, Annie Lu, Abi Polinsky, Eli Rivas, Nina Sapers, Keyon Vafa
Contents of this path:

Contents of this path:

Existenz by Abi Polinsky “ExistenZ is a film that is overflowing with symbolism, grand-scale metaphors, and extremely evocative imagery about sex, technology, and societal norms, and there are definitely a lot of video essays that could be made about the way that Cronenberg uses subtle and not-so-subtle imagery in the props or overall look of the film to convey various ideas about technology and humans’ interaction with it. I chose, however, to work around the imagery and focus on a particular character, Ted Pikul, and the way he fits into the film. As we have discussed with so many of Cronenberg’s films, sexuality and the repression of that sexuality is a strong theme in his work. ExistentZ is no exception, and I think that Pikul’s character is one of the stronger examples of a familiar male character struggling with his sexuality.” — Abi Polinsky“ExistenZ is a film that is overflowing with symbolism, grand-scale metaphors, and extremely evocative imagery about sex, technology, and societal norms, and there are definitely a lot of video essays that could be made about the way that Cronenberg uses subtle and not-so-subtle imagery in the props or overall look of the film to convey various ideas about technology and humans’ interaction with it. I chose, however, to work around the imagery and focus on a particular character, Ted Pikul, and the way he fits into the film. As we have discussed with so many of Cronenberg’s films, sexuality and the repression of that sexuality is a strong theme in his work. ExistentZ is no exception, and I think that Pikul’s character is one of the stronger examples of a familiar male character struggling with his sexuality.” — Abi Polinsky
Lost Hallway: An Examination of Two Hallway Sequences in David Lynch’s Lost Highway by Nina Sapers “David Lynch’s film Lost Highway is famously inscrutable. In the film, a story about a man who murders his wife, whom he suspects of being unfaithful, suddenly turns into a story about a different man halfway through the movie. We then follow the adventures of Pete Dayton, a younger, more virile incarnation of Fred Madison, who then morphs into Madison once again when he cannot “get the girl.” While it is interesting to consider how Madison’s desires are acted out through Dayton, I find it far more fascinating to consider the ways in which Madison and Dayton's experiences complement each other to make a more full-fledged understanding of one man’s psyche. A perfect example of this idea lies in the almost identical hallway scenes both characters experience, which are shown in my accompanying video one after another. Dayton’s scenes reveal the crackling anger and distress under Fred Madison’s stony facade, offering insight into what is actually going on in his head.” — Nina Sapers
Like a Moth to the Flame in Lost Highway by Kathy Li "In this video essay, I showcase how this scene represents a turning point in Lost Highway, where the worlds of Pete and Fred begin to unravel and collide. While there is a lot going on in this scene (sound, blurred camera focus, unhinged camera movement, close-ups), I demonstrate how these different elements work together to create a sense of claustrophobia and anxiety that mirrors Fred’s own anxieties. I show that there are many interesting parallels between this scene and scenes with Fred, such as when the policemen visit his home and in the surveillance video of Fred killing Renée.” - Kathy Li
Character Doubling in Blue Velvet by Eli Rivas
Lost Highway by Nicole Flanary “I tried to compare the appearances of the telephone in Lost Highway. I wanted to discover what connection can be made between the strange and frightening sensation we as viewers feel while watching the phone ring inside the house and the arousing sensation Lynch creates with Arquette’s lips so close to the phone and taking up the entire frame. While the phone appears in other, similarly threatening ways (with the Mystery Man), I found this reading of the connection between the erotic and the uncanny most compelling to write on. My central thesis is that through abstracting the meaning of the telephone, David Lynch makes it an object that we can associate with sex, but an unfulfilling, unattainable, and somehow threatening sex.” — Nicole Flanary
Learning in Lynch's Alphabet by Keyon Vafa "In the first few viewings, I tried to decipher the film’s meaning. I didn’t get very far. I don’t think it’s meant to be fully interpretable – David Lynch himself called it, 'very abstract – a pretty dense little film.' But I noticed a couple of themes pop up throughout the movie, namely involving birth and childhood (the fertilization sequence, upper-case ‘A’ giving birth to lower-case ‘a’, chanting the “ABC”s in the background), along with the dread associated with learning (alphabet being poured into figure’s brain, the blood-like imagery and sonic mismatches.) "To find a perspective through which to analyze these themes, I noticed the film was divided into animated and live-action portions. The question, then, that I tried to answer in this video essay is: What is each type of medium trying to convey? How does the film maintain stylistic continuity (or lack thereof) between these two forms?" - Keyon Vafa
Writing and Sexuality in Naked Lunch by Kathryn McCawley