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Subject: Blue Velvet

Author:
Jimmy

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Date Posted: 21:05:15 07/13/07 Fri
Author Host/IP: c-68-41-235-157.hsd1.mi.comcast.net/68.41.235.157

I want to discuss "Blue Velvet" in-depth because this film demands a critical analysis.

I want to submerge myself til I am capable of understanding Lynch's main purpose for this film. I want to know how he was able to convey a mood through Rossellini as well as her apartment and her lingerie. Without MacLanaghan's character, however, all this means nothing. His character provides the proper scope to meet Rossallini, Frank and all the other creeps; through him, and only him, this movie illicits a horror-story based on Middle-Class paranoia.
In regards to Frank, Hopper is brilliant but I don't feel he serves any real purpose outside of White-Trash Bad-Ass to Mac and vicious abuser to Rossallini. He is the epitome of the nightmare that awaits the young white man should he attempt to venture out into this ugly world, but he's still just a composite of it. Rossallini and Mac (and even Dern) represent real-life characters that most people will be able to relate to.
While Rossalini is the driving force behind the story's themes, Mac is the main character. He reminds me of Matt Damon in "The Good Shepherd." The comparison is valid because they are both normal, moral clean-cut white kids blessed with a world of comfort. Yet, they choose to immerse themselves into an immorral world so they can fight for their values. Although they're willing to break the rules to acheive their objectives, they know that it is for the greater good. Furthermore, they do not succomb to these moral meanderings. They may get their hands a little dirty but their souls remain pure.
Mac is a pervert. Actually, he's no worse than the average repressed kid his age. Anything is going to get him excited but the more forbidden the better. This is where Rossallini comes in. Stalking her through the ridges in her closet, Mac watches Rossallini strip out of her dress into a black bra and panties that reveals ivory skin and soft body. I'm usually not aroused by such a specimen but she is dirty. Filthy dirty. And her body contrasts against the red rug of the apartment. I couldn't find a dirtier slut on YouTube if I looked all night. She is the archetype of what every suburban boy goes downtown to get. She is a loser, a slut and a whore and Mac can get as weird as he wants with her. She has no feelings. Having discovered him, she forces him to strip at knife-point and just as she is about to give him head there is a knock at the door. Mac hurries back into the closet and what he is privy to next is where Lynch expresses the morality of this film.
Frank comes storming in and treats her like a Recruit as he bades her to the ground. It's a disgusting scene that's quite hilarious but Mac doesn't think so. He feels sorry for her. Eventually, we learn that she is at the mercy of Frank and this awful world; we can even infer she was once a normal mother in Mac's community who was the victim of these savages. That changes the tone alot. All of a sudden, we are forced to consider Rossallini--and every whore out there--as a human being. Middle-class guilt is now compounded: impure sexual thoughts plus apathy towards the downtrodden. This could be my mom.
Now, he has to save her. However, he's still a kid with raging hormones and she is monumentally unstable. Guilt aside, he's still going to fuck her. He'll feel bad about it later at home. Also, there is the Dern character to consider in all this: tall, blonde, thin and always dressed in pink sweaters. Very nice. He'll never get any off of her but he can have Rossallini any which way he wants.

Lynch may be a twisted fuck, but he's a middle-class fuck. The attitudes he illicits from the audience towards Rosallini are old-fashioned and steeped in guilt. Furthermore, they're almost comic-book quality in that the hero has to save the girl from vile villains. Lynch holds nothing back, however, and this is a graphic film. Seemingly capable of one humiliating task after another, Rossallini is fearless as she is treated like a slave, beaten like a dog, and finally, forced to walk naked like a retard. She has to! We have to see the underbelly of her unfortunate life that most would just breeze in-an-out of. Wham-Bam- Thank you, mam. See you next week. Lynch sticks the grim realities of the prostitute in our face. We may not have forced the demand; but, we do create the supply.
The ending shows Mac safely back in his world. Over a holiday picnic, Mac is proudly relaxing in a lounger outdoors as the sun beams down. His girl is calling him to come eat and when he gets inside the two of them along with the old aunt will observe a robin. "It's a strange world we live in." Indeed, and Mac has left the safety of his and conquered evil and saved a mother and her child. Lynch ties up the movie brilliantly with a closing scene of Rossallini, no longer looking slutty and no longer living in the city, hugging her child with a big smile on her face. Almost as if she was thanking Mac for rescuing her. I was stunned. Connecting this happy ending back to her desperation earlier in the film, I would have never guessed it ending this way. Isn't Lynch supposed to be evil? Outrageous? "Blue Velvet" is none of these. It's the journey of good-looking, middle-class White kid who saves a fallen lady from a monster who dwells within the inter-city because he is incapable of accepting Western Civilazation.

Rossallini is dirty. DIRTY. And I wanted to get dirty with her. Holy Shit. Take the threat of Frank and his goons out of the equation, and I'd engage all my wierdest fantasies in that apartment. She is the slut that we have set aside for such purposes. Lynch nails every aspect of this through Production Design and Lighting; I cannot describe what he does, but I felt it. His technical abilities convey to the lay man an arousal for lust. Not a primal desire, granted, but one that a kid from the suburbs will strongly respond to. Then he flips it and makes you feel guilty. He tries throughout to engage the viewer in sympathy and pity but we are on gaurd because it's Lynch. Ignoring scenes like Mac listening through the door to the mom crying are suddenly resurrected at the end.

Every girl forced to act in porn may not be abused by guys like Frank; but, buys like him were right there at the impetus for these perversions. Society today might accept such behavior and the girls may even feel empowered. This is a lie. There are factors involved, like the underlying reason why it's sexy, that we must always consider; Lynch goes there; beneath the surface

While staying on track, this movie raises issues because Lynch draws on two diametrically opposing worlds; and as a result, allows the viewer to bring his own baggage with him.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Who Still Wants To Fight?	Jimmy	16:34:55 07/15/07 Sun