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

Like a Moth to the Flame in Lost Highway by Kathy Li

10147 "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

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Thematic Analysis 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:
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. Character Doubling in Blue Velvet by Eli Rivas
5. 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
6. 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
7. Writing and Sexuality in Naked Lunch by Kathryn McCawley
All Video Assignments 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:
1. Cavernous Spaces, Good, and Evil in Blue Velvet by Elodie Saint-Louis
2. Character Doubling in Blue Velvet by Eli Rivas
3. Composition, Power and Freedom in A Dangerous Method by Annie Lu "My video essay explores how particular shots and camera angles are used repeatedly throughout the film, first, to visually depict how the power dynamics between Dr. Jung and other characters change as the story progresses and second, to emphasize the film’s themes of unattainable freedom and unavoidable entrapment. In the second half, Jung's struggle of balancing longing with responsibility to his family and the resulting impossibility of freedom is shown through the arrangement of the characters, their physical positioning in reference to each other and their environment emphasizes the overarching theme of freedom denied again and again.” - Annie Lu
4. Eraserhead by Alex Cox
5. Eraserhead Trailer by Susan Bin An unexpected and wonderful pairing of image and sound matches the jauntily staccato soundtrack with abrupt, comedic gestures in a screwball comedy Eraserhead. Jack Nance looks positively exasperated at all the trials and tribulations of being an irresistible modern man. The trailer helps draw out parallels between the world of 1977 and the depression era that gave birth to the screwball comedy. It also explores an argument Susan put forth in a film analysis paper that saw Henry as repressed, powerless, and emasculated, while in this genre, the subtlest of his emotions and reactions take center stage.
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. Lost Highway as Noir Essay by Jermaine Heidelberg “David Lynch has called his 1997 film Lost Highway “A 21st century Noir Horror Film”. Some of the noir elements of the film are obvious like its characters – a conflicted protagonist, Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) who is obsessed by the idea that his wife Renee Madison (Patricia Arquette) is unfaithful, and a femme fatale figure played by Patricia Arquette – or its investigative structure that revolves around the many mysteries of the film. By analyzing two scenes with respect to their use of shadow, I want to demonstrate that while Lynch draws on the noir tradition, he complicates his use of noir elements in such a way, as to subvert a reading that could rely on their conventional implications. In the end, it becomes clear that while Lost Highway makes use of these conventional methods of genre, they cannot be assumed to offer what David Foster Wallace has called the standard unspoken contract one normally enters into with other kinds of movies.” Jermain Heidelberg
11. 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
12. Performance and Shifting Identities in A History of Violence by Garrett Allen "What I was aiming to examine was both of these scenes through the lens of the specific performances by Bello and Mortensen and how it enables us to get to the nuances of their fluctuating identities. It is very easy to focus on the Tom-Joey battle because that is what the film directly centers on, but I thought that the more interesting and telling part of these scenes was with Edie. " - Garrett Allen
13. Reluctant Transformations in Madame Butterfly and The Fly by Jeremy Korn “In my final blog post for this class, I talked how Cronenberg seems to center his narratives on passive male characters who transform/are transformed in an attempt to sustain their fantastic desires. For the final project, I extended this argument into M. Butterfly. It’s a film whose aesthetic and gender and sexual politics really haven’t aged well, so I relied on Cronenberg’s interview with Chris Rodley to help me understand what Cronenberg was trying to say. I then covered the repercussions of the collapse of fantasy and the dramatic lengths Gaullimard goes to sustain it. I brought in Seth Brundle and The Fly because it seemed in terms of plot and insect theme that the two films were closely connected, especially in their climatic death sequences.” — Jeremy Korn
14. Remote Communication and Eroticism in 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
15. Revisiting Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze in Mulholland Drive by Kathy Li “In this video essay, I hope to elucidate some of the gender incoherence that Betty’s character exemplifies in the film. That is, under Laura Mulvey’s definitions of gender in cinematic erotic looking, the woman represents the passive object, only there to emphasize ‘maleness,’ while the man controls the action and the objectification. Furthermore, Hollywood’s emphasis on appealing to the straight male audience allows the male spectator to align with the male protagonist, creating harmony between his desire to eroticize the female on screen and the eroticization that does occur through the eyes of the male protagonist. Betty/Diane’s relationship to sexuality and gender is complex, and in this video essay I hope to unpack some of the anxieties that place her in an uneasy space between that of the male active and the female passive by exploring modes of communicating gaze and control. Betty’s projections of characters in her “fantasy” bring light to the complex tensions among gender, desire, and power that exemplify the relationships in her “reality.”” — Kathy Li
16. The Brood by Garrett Allen
17. Videodrome Shot Breakdown by Mercedes Flowers
18. Wild at Heart and the Wizard of Oz by Luke Driscoll “After watching Lost Highway, I realized how structurally similar it was to The Wizard of Oz, with the opening and closing acts focusing on a character in what we perceive to be reality, and the middle third taking place in an entirely different universe that contains much of the same players in different forms. Mulholland Drive is also structured in this way, and an argument could be made that in Blue Velvet, the world Kyle MacLachlan enters is different from his reality, with figures that resemble those of his world (ie. Isabella Rossellini and Laura Dern’s characters). The film that didn’t fit this narrative, at least for me, was Wild at Heart, which funnily enough contains an abundance of references to the classic film. I decided to use that as my jumping off point and explored why I thought Lynch differed from his go-to structure at the time. I decided to analyze Lula, who I perceived to be Dorothy in this film (not that you have to be that perceptive; she clicks her heels together at one point).” — Luke Driscoll