In Subverting Eden: Ambiguity of Evil and the American Dream in Blue Velvet, Irena Makarushka spends a lot of time focusing on the aesthetics of the American Dream and the ideal suburban town. The very first shot of the film is a stark blue sky, bleach white picket fence, and perfect red flowers - and with that you have the red, white, and blue ideals of America. The image “speaks of a privileged, prosperous nation whose manifest destiny is to champion the cause of democracy and freedom, a nation blessed by God and trusting in God’s goodness.” But the more you look at it, the pristine picture is actually rather unnerving. Nothing natural should look so perfect. And nothing that perfect lasts very long. Perhaps this “illusion and unreality” and “misplaced trust in surfaces” is a foreshadowing of the sinister events to unfold throughout the movie. Keeping in mind the idea of aesthetics, Dorothy’s apartment is the visual opposite of perfect and pristine, but there is no real solid reason as to why. Perhaps it is because it is a somewhat dark, muffled color scheme, or the layout of the apartment might be off. But whatever the reason, there is just an underlying feeling of creepiness emanating from the setting.
Makarushka also talks about the idea of dreams versus reality. This is something that never crossed my mind while watching the movie, but after having it brought to light, it certainly makes sense. This idea can be connected to the vision of the American Dream and how it is visualized as being perfect, but in reality it is no where close. But the point that stuck out to me was whether or not Jeffery was dreaming about his “rites of passage into the underworld.” Jeffery’s character rides a fine line between the villain and the hero. This attribute is reflected through use of unclear pictures that don’t fit into a concrete dream or reality. It makes me wonder if certain scenes of the movie really were at least partially an illusion, if not maybe even the whole movie. It almost seems as if the ending scene could be interpreted as nothing had ever happened in the picture-perfect town.
I had a hard time enjoying Blue Velvet. Besides from the obvious weirdness and disturbing scenes, it just seemed rather pointless to me. It left me very unsatisfied, partially because we don’t have clear answers about what events took place that led up to this whole fiasco. And thanks to Blue Velvet, the wonderful songs “Blue Velvet” and “In Dreams” will forever be tainted. Awesome.
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| I couldn't help myself. |
For a minute during the film, I thought Jeffrey was going to wake up and it was all going to be a bad dream. I'm kind of wishing it was because it was so disturbing and weird that it was hard to watch! I never thought of the movie as an illusion to the American dream until we talked about it in class. Now it does make sense. I never would have seen the red white and blue in the first scene with the picket fence and roses. There are so many elements that are easily missed! I'll need to re watch it (if I can bare it) to see it all.
ReplyDeleteYou did a reasonably good job analyzing this and discussing what's important about it, given that you didn't particularly like or get it. Which is always a good thing. Warning though--Lynch will probably linger in your brain, especially as a film student. He haunts everything, and there's nobody else like him.
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