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[ Friday, Oct. 30, 1998 ]
 ILLUSTRATION: David Heasty 
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Lynch dredges up bizarre in ordinary life
Editor's note:This is the second story in a series profiling influential directors and actors in the film industry. Previous story: Oldman acts out eerie roles
By CHRIS WITKOWSKY
Collegian Staff Writer
An inconspicuous small town has served as the backdrop to a genius' dark visions. Missoula, Mont., is where eccentric filmmaker David Lynch was born. It now owns the unique distinction of being the inspiration for the setting of many of Lynch's most twisted plots. Michael Brooke, Lynch biographer on "The Internet Movie Database," (www.imdb.com), wrote Lynch was born in the kind of small-town American setting so common in his films. His first projects as a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia consisted of short films about amputees and people vomiting blood. His first full-length film, Eraserhead, came at the end of his stint at the institute and put Lynch on the filmmakers' map. From deformation to drug use, Lynch's films go beyond the surface of reality and explore what lies underneath. Kevin Hagopian, communications lecturer, said Lynch is mesmerized by decadence and finds a certain romance in social and physical decay. "Lynch deals with weird everyday landscapes in which the normal is skewed in some way, visually or psychologically," he said. He then peoples his world with characters who reflect the traits of the new universe. The characters' disturbing qualities affect audiences but faze no one in the film because they are common in the characters' universe, Hagopian said. Yet Lynch uses people's peculiarities as a means of illuminating the shadowed aspects of humanity. "So many people try to cover up what's weird about them. Lynch celebrates it," said Emily Lynch (freshman-art history) -- no relation to David Lynch. This uncomfortable exposure also is a means of criticizing society as a whole. "It seems to me that David Lynch just picks out particular examples of dysfunction that can be found anywhere in America -- just look in the newspaper," Cory Styranko (graduate-philosophy) said. David Lynch will continue to create bizarre worlds for us to escape to for many years to come. Here are some notable movies: Lynch had more than 80 massive sets built in the desert around Mexico City to create the world of Dune. About 1,700 crew members helped with this project, taking three-and-a-half years to complete. Because of its complexities, it may take more than one viewing to really understand where this film is going -- a common characteristic of Lynch's films. This story is the continuation of the famous two-season television series Twin Peaks, of which Lynch was the executive producer. One trick Lynch used in this film was to shoot a scene backwards with actors reading the script from right to left. The footage was then reversed creating a surreal effect. Quirks such as the backwards trick combine to make Fire Walk with Me a truly "Lynchian" movie. The film includes close-ups of the human body -- ears, cells and flowing blood. "There is a parallel between the human skin and its inner workings and this small town and its inner workings," Hagopian said. Like disease attacking the immune system, the town's seamy underground eats away the layer of innocence. A college-aged detective, like a surgeon, opens the body of the community to find out what lies beneath. This anatomical exploration into the nature of corruption and loss of morality is considered one of Lynch's best. Blue Velvet was voted No. 3 in a critics' poll of the best films of the ‘80s. Collegian staff writer Melissa Dugan contributed to this report.
