Since the Fireman created the orb that looks like Laura in response to the Bob orb (evil) being made...is it safe to assume Laura was made to counter him as the embodiment of good?
I'm not sure, because Laura had done fucked up things to the people that loved her. Granted, it was after BOB entered her life. I feel like the Laura archetype is meant to symbolize something closer to the truth of her character, maybe nuance/truth itself (and BOB could represent simplicity/facade, or just pure evil). I hesitate to say they were created as opposites but maybe one is a byproduct of the other and exists to occupy/communicate with the other (figuratively and literally). Hard to articulate. But amazing that this show brings out these kinds of complex theories.
Also, some places I’m reading say The Fireman and The Giant aren’t the same person. But it makes more sense to me if they are.
Considering the Fireman did nothing to help or stop Laura's terrible fate (that I can remember), I don't think she was meant to be the "good" to fight the "evil" of Bob. I think Bob was a chess move from Judy and Laura was a chess move from the Fireman. Their game (and their motives) incomprehensible to humans. If Laura was the Fireman's chosen savior (or weapon), then why didn't he talk or meet with her the way he did with Dale several times? There's the line of "Laura is the one", but if I remember correctly the full line comes from an old episode introduction by the log lady who says "Laura is the one...who leads to the many". So, maybe Laura was simply meant to draw together a certain group of people who would later (unknowingly) act on behalf of the Fireman in his game with Judy. Great, now I need to rewatch the entire series again
Definitely articulates what I was trying to say above. This seems more accurate than something as simple as good vs evil.
It’s really good. I’ve watched it twice now. I’d say he’s accurate on about 70% of it. The other 30% are some conclusions he jumps to that I can see but don’t agree with as being as definitive as he makes it out to be. Highly recommend checking it out though.
I get way more enjoyment wondering about the show’s mysteries than I did watching that video with the supposed “key” to unlock everything. Wasn’t worth the watch to me
The general point is about how mysterious and unknowable the world is outside of the tranquility and quiet of Twin Peaks. Lynch works in general are not really meant to be understood on a literal level.
It's been awhile since I've watched that video so my memory's fuzzy on it, I remember not liking it but that may have had more to do with the presentation of the theory than the theory itself. Was it basically the meta theory where the shows about being a show?
I think it’s fun to watch videos like that but do it knowing that there isn’t a definitive answer to art. Lynch or any director could tell me exactly why they did what they did and what they meant with it but if it means something different to me, then I doesn’t matter to me what they intended.
Reminds me of when that Enemy video came out and people were swearing up and down that it was definitely proven. Like, no, no it wasn’t. That’s a really bad way to view art.
The 4hr video that endlessly talks about the meta tv idea has a lot of good points, and one of them is that on a thematic level, much of the series *can* be reduced to Lynch’s love of the kind of new age eastern-inspired views about needing to maintain a spiritual sense of “balance.” Laura is not simply a personification of “good,” she is a reaction to BOB’s overpowering “bad.” And it’s not that Laura is personally the one to counteract the bad, but her role in the series provides the jumping off point behind the real thrust of the series (ie, her death causing Cooper &co to investigate the dark truths behind Twin Peaks). Why do you think the (original) series spends so much time on a fraudulent business scheme and a brothel and drug cartels and mysterious Asian criminal enterprises? All of these things are only tangentially related to the core question of who killed Laura. But that’s because Laura’s death is tangential to the actual point of the show. If you interpret the Fireman as a kind of metaphysical director, like how Lynch is the literal director, who chooses to place Laura in the world (show), they are both doing the same thing of using her as a sacrificial lamb to achieve a greater goal
I was also kidding before, nobody seriously thinks that video is the definitive interpretation of the show. It’s just one interpretation. And it was definitely worth the watch, at least for me specifically, because I had never thought about the show that way before and it makes a lot of sense. It would enhance a rewatch for me to do so with that theory in mind.
I think there’s a level on which i agree with what he’s saying as a compelling theory of what Twin Peaks is about but he goes so into the weeds that eventually it makes what he’s saying sound borderline deranged.
Been awhile since I watched that video, from what I remember his "theory" was basically taking subtext and trying to make it text and almost completely dismissing Mark Frost's contributions to the show (if I'm wrong please correct me) and it just rubbed me the wrong way. The terrible Lynch impression didn't help either lol