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POSTMODERN CINEMA IS ANALYZED ON DAVID LYNCH FILMS

Özlem ÖZGÜR, R. Assistant Selcuk University, Turkey

ozlemozgur03@hotmail.com

Aytekin CAN,Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selcuk University, Turkey

aytekcan@selcuk.edu.tr

Özlem ÖZGÜR was born in Eskişehir in 1982. She graduated from the Faculty of Communication Science at Anadolu University in 2006. She’s still attending Selcuk University, Social Science Institue in Radio-Tv and Cinema for Master Degree. Currently she is a research assistant and a member of Selcuk University Aytekin CAN was born in Eskişehir in 1965. He completed primary, secondary, high school education in Eskişehir. He was graduated from Radio, Television and Cinema Department of the Communication Faculty, Marmara University. He had master degree in Anatolian University. His doctorate study was completed in Marmara University. Abaut twenty articles and a book titled “The Child and the Cartoons” have been published so far. He work as an expert of radio and television for the Radio-Television Department of the Open Faculty, Anatolian University. Now. He is working as an associasted professor in the Communication Faculty of Selcuk University. Abstract The movement called postmodernism is intensively discussed, especially in the 1980’s in West. Postmodernism does not have a very old past, it is possible to search the origin of postmodernism in the end of the second world war. Because with the 18 th century industrial revolution, the Western countries started serial production, had new markets but afterwards the ordinary people became poor more and more, and the world war Holocaust, Nagazaki, Hiroşima deeply unnerved the trust of modern conception to people and to human psyche. Because of these reasons, it is possible to describe postmodernism in the western world, as an attitute or a revolt against modernism, rationalism justified by modernism and humanistic ideologies. Post modernism was born as a reaction to modernism. Postmodernism is nested with modernism, but regulary interrogates modernism. Especially as from the second half of the 20 th century, postmodernism was effective in different branches like science and art and soon started to be mentioned with cinema. Because cinema reflects the structure of its community and there is also a strong link between the movie, movie producer and the comunity. The subject of this study is David Lynch cinema, one of the leading representetives of the postmodern cinema. After some short film trials, the American film director presented the important examples of the postmodern cinema. In 1977 he released his first film Eraserhead which was noticed by many people and was critised by film critics After Eraserhead Lynch consisted of his style with other films espicially Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Wild Heart and Twin Peaks. David Lynch is an extraordinary movie maker. He is extraordinary in renewing the modern cinema by his subject selecting, his expression style. He affiliates a different dimension to modern cinema. He integrates is own interpretation not only to cinema but also to the seventh science, in which he is in, by pressing the psychologique and sociologic extensions. In his productions, it is possible to see: the spoilt community, the useless industry, sexual deviance, creatures known as people but which are monsters, the loney persons having psychologic problems, densely violent scenics, the dark present and a continious yearning to the past. In the study, the resources will be collected by literature research, descriptions and explanations related to modernism and postmodernism will be included. Following, the relation between cinema and postmodernism will be evaluated privately on the basis of David Lynch

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movies. It is aimed to find out why the movies are postmodern and to introduce why David Lynch cinema is one of the leading representetives of the postmodern cinema. The example movies of the study; Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Wild Heart and a tv series which is called Twin Peaks; will be analysed with some questions. POSTMODERN CINEMA IS ANALYZED ON DAVID LYNCH FILMS 1. Introduction With the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, labor and efficiency is increased very fast and mass production started. Industrial revolution-as one of the biggest transformation of the world history- was perceived in all sections of the society. This effect was spread to all parts of the world with steamship, train and telegraph. Atlantic Ocean has become an inland sea and the colonialism of European countries has increased with the UK and France leading countries. However, the poverty of the people in big cities and of factory workers cannot be overcome. Together with poverty, dependency on factories increased more and more and with the hope to get rid of this dependency being lost, social relations have dissolved (Kılıç,2008:20), suspicion about the place of man in the universe has raised because in industrial society man is reduced to the value of a meta. With the advancements in technology, the identities of individualism was reduced to single type and the efforts to create one type of individuals have increased and as a result of this a new definition of human being was made. Human beings were now consumers. In such a situation, human beings needed to question its place in the universe. Was s/he able to preserve his/her personality? Or has s/he become a part of cogwheel? Thus, the questioning done in every field was called as modernism. In the 20th century, mankind who was questioning modernism was faced with new questions again not answers. They were dragged to confusion (Uğurlu,2005:184). Therefore, the century we live now is the age of depression. Depression which means equivoque is a kind of confusion. In other words, depression means that the principles and reasoning methods applied in the society fall short against emerging phenomena and do no longer work. Depression means facing phenomena or events that we cannot make sense of and it is the disintegration of the concepts of “the universe and the world”, it is communication breakdowns, and the violence becoming prevalent. In such an occasion, people feel obliged to reset, recreate himself/ herself. This means that people go into a kind of settlement with his/her past experiences, with those who forms and sets him/her. Postmodernism can be regarded as that kind of settlement or rationality (Öztürk and Büyükdüvenci,1997: 13). The roots of postmodernism, which does not have a very long history, should be traced back to the end of the World War II. Because Western countries introduced mass production with the Industrial Revolution and got the hold of new markets; however, ordinary people got poorer and poorer and the events in the World War such as Holocaust, Nagasaki, Hiroshima shook the belief of people in human beings and the wisdom of mankind. Because of these reasons, it is possible to define postmodernism as a rebel against modernism and its principles like rationalism, universality, humanist ideologies (Nefes,2006:175). The fact that mass communication means and technology offers more and more opportunity everyday has a great influence on the metamorphosis formation of postmodern understanding ( Güleryüz,1990:.40). This era, that is postmodernist era is also an era of visuals and cinema. Cinema outruns the other means of art in terms of transferring the violence, confusion and disintegration mention above (Öztürk and Büyükdüvenci,1997:14). Because cinema is a

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powerful art which has the function of creating a common view for masses of people and which can shape cultural life. Tough cinema is a branch of art which started to develop in the early 20th century, with its unique nature it appeals to audio-visual senses of people. It is a direct or sometimes indirect and complex reflection of the culture it belongs to (Güçhan,1992:5). Therefore, there is a dynamic relation among the producer, viewer, products of cinema and the social structure all of which live in (Güçhan,1993:52). The reflections of postmodernism in cinema can be summarized as passionate longing for past, the integration which comes about with the boundaries between past and now disappearing, the interest in reality and its representation, pornography, the communization of sexuality, consumption culture, alienated lives and anxiety (Öztürk and Büyükdüvenci, 1997:23). Postmodern cinema can justify anger directed presentations with unpreventable violence presentations and can make use of the most exaggerated views of reality to present non-presentable by making full use of technological possibilities and by creating such dichotomies like nature-technological civilization, human-machine, by reducing these technological usages to ideological manipulation to create certain fictional universes and to reach more real images of reality. It also creates variable and indifferent, schizophrenic and nihilist dominant characters and seeks answers to ontological problems which cannot be reduced to one another by means of these characters and their deviant rationality (Çolak,2008:514). One of the most outstanding directors of postmodern cinema is David Lynch. Since the second half of the 1970s, Lynch has produced the most important examples of postmodern cinema. In his productions, it is possible to see the social position of individual and his/her inner delirium, sexual deviancies, the abnormal lives of individuals, industry which is of no use and the freak like creatures which are shown to be human. 2. Aim and Method This study is composed of two parts. The first part is literature review and some definitions and explanations about modernism and postmodernism are given. In the second part of the study, some analyses on text readings from David Lynch films are made from British Cultural Studies critical point of view. With this method, media texts are taken into consideration within its unique historical, social and cultural conditions. This assessment is carried out by asking the following questions for each film in the sample of the research.

How is the narration structure in Lynch films? What do the spaces used mean? How is the society presented? What are the determining features of the characters, and what kind of relation are the

characters in the films? Are the concepts like pastiche or parody used? How are women viewed in the films?

In this study, the relation between cinema and postmodernism is examined within the particular context of David Lynch films. The aim of this study is to explain why Lynch films are postmodernist and why they are among the most outstanding examples of postmodern cinema.

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3. Modernism and Postmodernism The birth of modernity dates back to the enlightenment era in which it was explained that the order created by wisdom is the real order. 18th century is the enlightenment era and comes just right after Renaissance. Renaissance is an era is a rebirth era in the Middle Ages which takes human and science as the basis in opposition to the understanding in which institutions of religion, church and the institutions of feudal system are dominant. Renaissance as an era of passage accelerated the enlightenment Age in the 18th century. In the Enlightenment Era, the things to be enlightened are human beings and his/her life. While doing this the way to be followed is secularism, that is, to be interested with things which are not religious. Enlightenment is getting rid of all dogmas and the rules put by dogmatic authorities and making used of new points views. The aim of the enlightenment is to establishment of cultural sciences which are equal to new sciences of mathematic and nature ( Kılıç,2001:16). The thinkers in Enlightenment made great effort to develop a Project of modernity and objective science, universal ethics and law and art which can stand on its own within its inner logic. While doing this, their aim was to free and enrich people with the help of the accumulation of knowledge they acquired. Because as their knowledge about the world increased and as the dominance of wisdom stood out, people would be able to control the world. The definition of the leaders of modernity for human being is a type of human being who can renew himself/herself and adapt to new situations (Harvey,1999:25, Demir,1997:17,Odabaşı,2006:17). Modernization can also be defined as having the structure, institution, values and systems which Western societies that are developed in fields of politics, economy, culture ( Demir,1997:20). The theoreticians on the part of modernization just as Daniel Lerner regard modernization as equal with Westernization. According to him, modernism is the name given to the westernization of the world and it virtually means the end of the history for the society for the societies other than the western ones. Eisentaldt who is a modernist theoretician like Lerner defines modernization as a process of development towards the social and political systems developed in Western Europe and North America ( Gezgin,2004:158) and suggests that modern society can be identified with the following five characteristics: non-stop technological renew, the mutual embedding of the state and economy, the prevalence of secrecy, lies not receiving any reaction and a finite now ( Debord,2006:182). The modern world is established to destroy the current and set up a new version (Akay,2002:52). Renaissance is modernity when compared to antic age. The enlightenment of the 18th century is romantic modernism. The industry of 19th century is radical modernism. The thing that brought down the Ottoman Empire is the establishment of Modern Turkey. As it can be seen from these examples, the concept of modernity clearly shows or implies a comparison and the existence of a previous one (Erinç,1994:32). The concepts of modern, modernity and modernism identify a change, a lifestyle which was first established in the Western world and affected the whole world. In short, it can be said that modern is a determination which implies chronology, modernization is a process and modernity is state, modernism is the ideological explanation of ultimate framework (Demir, 1997:22). The most determining characteristic of modernity is the unlimited trust in human and human intelligence ( Şaylan,2002:21). Besides, modernism only covers the changes in culture, art and aesthetic (Orkunoğlu,2007:24) and a converse attitude to modernism and its basics like rationality, universality and humanism is postmodernist approach (Doltaş,2003:9). The criticisms against modernism are mostly because of the crises it had weathered. One the most prominent of these crises was the World War I and II and the pessimistic and hopeless feelings

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they brought about. They led to deviance from humanism -one of the basic concepts of modernism- and its great statement’s leading people to big disasters rather than free people form illiteracy and irrationalism (Odabaşı,2006:21). Dağtaş in her article titled as Postmodern Edebiyat ve Kara Kitap defines postmodernism as a movement started by university students, some scholars questioning the existing knowledge and power relation and education system in May 1968. At first, the students started questioning social sciences as social science started institutionalization after the World War II and these science stood close to the capital and political power as it get more institutionalized. Students realized that the truths that could come out of such an institution cannot be the only reality. First of all, is there only one way of wisdom? If knowledge is produced at universities and applied to life, then why there were wars and environmental pollution. Why could science and modernization make human being happy? Then, there must be some other ways that take people to reality and happiness and they were to be searched. That is, modernity and enlightenment tradition was now on the operation table. On the one hand, wisdom would question and criticize traditional structure, and the other hand it would apply the results of the experiences. In this way critical wisdom and instrumental wisdom would work together. Postmodernism was a rebel against these project and promises. (1995, p.38) In English the word “post” has two meanings. The first means after with o focus on its Latin origin. The second meaning is addition. Post does not include any other meaning than these two. As for the definition of postmodernism, it is a movement established on modernism and after it. This movement has modernity as its basis in terms of its definition (Erinç,1994:35). The first person to take the word postmodernism in a socio-cultural context and as a new view of world is Arnold Toynbee (Doltaş,2003:33). Well-known British historian Arnold Toynbee, stated that the modern world had come to an end with the World War I in the fifth volume of his book “An Analysis of History”. The era after this is the postmodern era and he claims that the World War II was the start of this period. Thus, the terms postmodern and postmodernism were first introduced to the literature by Toynbee (Erinç,1994:31). Postmodernism was born as a reaction to modernism. Tough it is closely related to modernism, it continuously questions it. It is a system of thought developed in the second half of the 20th century. It accepts a system of thought without a center as it philosophy. It claims that there is not a certain, universal and definable reality and that it continuously changes (Yılmaz, 1997:164). Therefore, postmodernism is rather an ambiguous concept. On the one hand, postmodernism suggests the end of a previous period and a sense of development, on the other hand it means going beyond certain cultural, artistic and rational movement and its deviancy from modernism express this surpass of modernism ( Yüksel,2002:21). Postmodernism is not a whole of principles and rules. Therefore, one cannot speak of methodological characteristic of postmodernism, but can speak of a common point for postmodern analyses and approaches. Postmodernism can be generally thought as the denying of modernism and rationality and scientific representation philosophy based on modernism. However, out of this common line, it is obvious that postmodernist approach includes different and even contradictory analyses. For example, some thinkers construe the concept of post-modernity as process of freeing in line with new social creations, new type of political identities. On the contrary, it can be used as an approach of construe reflecting hopelessness and social helplessness. It is impossible to define postmodernism as a whole of theories. It must be

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considered as a field which includes different tendencies and approaches without certain boundaries. This confusion and indeterminacy increases the efficiency and popularity of postmodernism (Şaylan,2002:28-29). The word postmodernism generally has a reference to a form of contemporary culture, while the term post-modernity is associated with a unique historical period. Post-modernity is a form of thinking which is suspicious of classical, reality, wisdom, identity and objectivity notions universal development or independence, single frameworks scientific explanation can refer to, great narrations and ultimate bases (Eagleton, 1999:9). In the 1960s, Jacques Derrida, Michael Foucault, Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco approach to language, political history, philosophy, and reading acquisition with a postmodern approach. In the 1980s, postmodernist approach is accepted in almost all around the Europe including the UK and Germany and many parts of the world ( Yüksel,2002:23). Umberto Eco defines postmodernism as a new manichaeism which has two functions and two meanings- irony and entertainment (Erinç,1994:36). According to Baudrillard is firstly a social case and according to Lyotard it is a form of knowledge. Postmodernism is not a new era, it is the redrawing of some lines and is based on the well-known project of freeing all humanity with technique and science. Postmodern culture is linked to experimentalism and temporality (Akay,1991:151-154). Eaglton claims that the source of postmodernism are social modernity losing it trust after industrial revolution, the emergence of avant-garde, culture’s becoming a meta, the appearance of vivid and new cultures, the collapse of traditional ideologies and also it is the product of its political friction with which it competes continuously (Eagleton,1999:35). In many books and articles Roland Barthes wrote just before his death, he approaches to photography and text and music with a postmodernist view and claims that artistic productions are not different from informative products. According to Barthes whether a written or visual production has aesthetic features can only decided by the subject perceiving it. In other words, not only there is no objective difference between artistic and non-artistic products, but also the object and the subject which defines it cannot be separated. When the subject defines the object, s/he also tells his/her characteristics (Doltaş,2003:26). Frederic Jameson thinks that a new era in social development process is realized and according to him postmodernism is the cultural mentality of advanced capitalism. That is, there is an emergence of socio-economic stage which comes about in the development process of capitalism and postmodern is used as a concept which defines the dominant culture of this stage. According to him, postmodernism is an expression of the objections which comes about as result of exhausted tradition of modernism (Stevenson, 2008:39, Atayman,2004:9). David Harvey defines postmodernism as the rejection of proposal which are claimed to be generally accepted; the acceptance of pluralism and disintegration in language plays or in scholar societies, the emphasis on difference and equality and the ironic and flabby acceptance of the fact that everything is caduceus (Canpolat,2005:96). Foucault is also one of the outstanding sources of postmodernism mentality because modernity and humanism critics puts forward new perspectives about society and makes analysis about the thesis of human mortality and knowledge and power relations. Foucault completely denies Enlightenment approach, and he points to the relation between new types of knowledge and power and claimed that Enlightenment development led to new types of pressures. According to him, the modern forms of knowledge which are accepted as indisputable reality functioned as means of power or pressure in rationality, social institutions, big transition or in the era of Enlightenment. Foucault radically denies the identicalness of wisdom and freedom which is one of the basic pioneers of modernity, but rarely uses postmodern expression and never adapts it (Şaylan,2002:255-257).

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With the broadest sense of postmodernism, it is an important method of criticism, an ideology which is against ideology, a movement of art and a phenomena of culture which serves to the political power and benefits, questions its norms by analyzing its mentality, and which enlightens its controversies, deviant and inverse norms and approaches (Doltaş,2003:190-192). 4. Postmodernism, Art and Cinema Modernist art and aesthetic understanding started in the second half of the 19th century and it has been dominant from the 1870s till the time when aesthetic discussions and generally it gives the message that the old has passed away and a new concept has started. Modernist art attempts to present presentations about reality and to produce criticisms and solutions related to social life (Şaylan,2002:69-70). In the 1960s, art circles in New York started to debate the concept of postmodernism and in these debates it was used as a concept opposing to modern art concept. Some art critics claim that we are now in postmodern period and postmodern understanding is to be adopted in art as well and some artist even identified themselves as postmodern (Şaylan,2002:44). Jameson presents a comparison between two well-known paintings-one by Van Gogh A Pair of Boots and one by Andy Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes to distinguish postmodernism from other art pieces. The painting by Van Gough promotes a traditional commentary approach which refers to the context in which the piece is created and to usual excessiveness instant. While the vivid colors of the painting present an utopist jest, the content tells poverty. One cannot make such a comment for Warhol’s painting. The first thing is that collection of shoes at pressure randomly. Jameson thinks that the shoes could have been left behind after a dance hall is destroyed by fire or it can be the spooky ruins of a concentration camp (cited by Stevenson, 2008:272). This contrast between modernism and postmodernism in art circles was also reflected in cinema, which is the seventh art. Modernist cinema has become more and more efficient after the World War II especially in Europe. For example, Antonioni, famous Italian film director, is regarded as one of the typical representatives of modernism in the cinema. The provisioned missions of social critic and recreation of new concepts are quite obvious in the artist’s true masterpieces in cinema; Night, Blow Up, Zarinski Point. Non-communication, the nightmare effect of classified society on the individual are the main themes of Antonioni cinema and Antonioni does not make films for the pleasure of two hours of film view, rather he aims at making viewers think and making its effect lasting even after the view. On the other hand, in postmodernist understanding of cinema, it is not important that the film leaves an impression on the viewers (Şaylan,2002:100-99). Postmodern films took farewell to the utopia like enlightening aim of modernist cinema. It does not represent a linear process of change, they move many directions at one time: towards the barbaric past, technological future, and to a part of subliminal hyper consciousness. The classical model in which the narration in cinema is a story of modernization and rescuing mythos has now become a past. Now, the cinema does no longer believe the subordinate or super-ordinate or revolution, however it also looks for what is mysterious and enigmatic down in the depths and crags of the past. Cinema is no longer explaining, enlighten, but instead it describes relations in their circular character (Atayman,2002:128-129). One of the leading features of postmodernism reflected in the cinema is the longing for the past. One the most important reasons for this is that the individual losing its personality. Individual is alienated as the individual could not find an answer for the question of existence and is in

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identity crisis in societies after modernism. In the near future, perhaps individuals will not be able to distinguish themselves from the machine they created. The only leaning point for the individuals who suffer from these crises is the longing for the past. Therefore, postmodern cinema seeks ways of replying this need of individuals in the past. For example, the director of the film Star Wars, Gearge Lucas adapted the theme from the Russian People legend in the 13th century and recreated the legend in another corner of the universe in the future. The story’s taking place in a place out of the world serves to this purpose as the importance of individuals is lost when there is no place. In his film Fisher King, Terry Gilliam shows that a middle age legend can be lived in today’s New York (Uğurlu,2005:185-187). Postmodernist cinema makers claim that phenomena including sex and violence are the outstanding elements of today’s life and express that they can make use of them as subjects of art. These facts, that is, sex and violence can be regarded among the outstanding phenomena of today which keep individuals busy. Postmodern artist prefers to present sex or violence as it is (Şaylan,2002:101). In post modern cinema the concept of time looses its sense, as well. Therefore, many obstacles before directing are removed as subject does not make a difference. In Tarantino Pulp Fiction, John Travolta presents a section from the life of a man who died at the end of the movie(Uğurlu,2005:185). One of the most known directors of postmodernist cinema is David Lynch. Lynch is from a generation who were born after the war and who started to film studies in the 1970s. After he graduated from the Fine Arts Academy, directed his first feature –length film Erasehead after a few short-length films and made many important productions of the world cinema. In his films Lynch presented the perfect samples of postmodern text. In his productions, it possible to see premature individuals of late capitalist, and their social positions and inner delirium. 5. Findings and Comments 5.1. The Narration Types in Lynch Films Narration types in David Lynch are separated. David Lynch does not make use of traditional narration types. The start, development and the end are all very different from traditional ones. In Lynch movies the development of events are free from time and reaching limitations. Reality leaves it place to a kind of dream time. Instead of conventional narration type which follows one story in linear way, he prefers complex, chaotic narration in which the start and the end are mixed into each other, and in which every moment is independent of others and creates a paradigm of meaning. Every thing seems to equal to something (Yıldızhan,2004:110). Thus, Lynch arranges his films like a riddle and for him everything is mythical, and there are many riddle in our minds. A film needs to create a new world, atmosphere or complex so that it can keep its viewers alive. Therefore, he uses many key expressions in filmic narrations. In this way, he forces his viewers to solve his secret (Özdemir,2003:16). In Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, immediately after a peaceful scene, we are to follow a cut ear or a dead body. In Blue Velvet, at the end Dorothy meets her son, Jeffery and Sandy get married and the bad dies, which is a traditional way of ending in which bad man looses and good ones wins. However, according to Atayaman “the peace world which we turn back at the end is presented as an illusion. A “Pleasentville” is not connected with the reality and which does not exist. The world of dark bluffs which Frank symbolizes is not a second world but the real world.”(2002,p.145) At the same time, Lynch makes fun of the films at the end of which good man wins and which have happy ending. In Wild at Heart the two young people love each other madly, they try run away

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from their past which they want to forget and which they wish they had not lived but cannot. In fact, the film which develops around a classical story cannot be assessed as classical since there are detached scenes. In the end of the film, Lula, Salior and her children walk as if they heading towards a new story. Lynch leaves the assessment of the last scene to the viewers. In Twin Peaks includes the investigation of the murder and the seven days after the death of beautiful girl of the town. In the riddle FBI detectives and the local people tries to solve, it is revealed that the girl uses cocaine and she was raped by her father. However, we do not see a scene in which the bad is punished but her inner deliriums indicate that he is having inqury and who don’t know whether he was captured or not. Saxophone player Fred Medison lives not a very good life with her wife. He has some doubts about his wife. One day, he hears form the diaphone at her house that “Dick Laurant has died” and he cannot recognize the voice. Neither he nor the viewers can make sense of it and it continues to complex the viewers mind. With Fred’s identity change, and with scenes of one after another, “Lost Highway” is the most complex of Lynch movies, we have difficulty with understanding what is shown and besotted with it. The narration following a two sequence way gives us an impression that we are trying in vain. In Eraserhaead, David Lynch is representing the most effective examples of experimental cinema. In our hero’s nightmare like house Hanry who is the main character and who is very much indifferent to the world he lives in, we are presented very complex scenes. In this film which is a product of Lynch’s early carrier, he tells how complex the world is and that the people of modern day are in their vault. In films before postmodern era, the events are connected to each other with a reason and result relation. The viewers are expected to create a kind of identicalness. Lynch does not have such a concern in any of his films. In his films structured very complex way, we are met with a new knot and try to solve it. 5.2. The Spaces Used in The Lynch Films Lynch films are either directly dreadful or cold places or these places include violence even if they seem to be places to live. Eraserhead which is a early period production of the director takes place in a very dark room. What we see outside when the hero goes out is inert industry. In this way , the director gives the loneliness in industrial society with dim, neglected and lonely streets and with the house of Henry. In contrary to Eraserhead, there is a postural town in Blue Velvet. With its gardens full of well-groomed flowers, it gives the impression that it is away from all badness in this world. In the same way, in Twin Peaks there are similar views. With Twin Peaks town which is surrounded with forests and through which a river runs, and the environmental mounting, Lynch tells that the sensible and logical intervention of human beings to nature is now a mythos. This mythos, which Lynch tries to destroy- views human and nature in peace, and human as active ordering subject. Popular cinema productions put human beings into nature again and seem to have solved this controversy. However, Lynch town has a desolate view and seems likes a place out of history. With this view, it evokes death (Atayman,2002:133-134). In Wild at Heart, at the very first scene we see a dance hall open to public and Salior kills the hired killer who is after him. Compared to Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, it shows that danger is everywhere. In this film, there is not an environment of safety or peace even on the surface. In Wild at Heart, we see hellish spaces like hotel rooms, highways and prison. This eerie in the lives of people can even be seen in the bedrooms of people. There are big villas with postmodern designs instead of moderate houses in Twinpeaks or Lumberton and now that the house is a place where violence and sexuality is lived unlimitedly and it has lost its classical sense.

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Lynch is an expert at turning every space he chooses to a hell like place no matter it’s a room, a highway or a house. All spaces are pregnant to danger and cruel violence with his camera. In his films, the director brings impulses to front with labyrinth of desires in such spaces like Frank’s flat in Blue Velvet and in Red Hall in Twin Hills. According to Zizek, this makes the director a libido poet (Özdemir,2003:16-17). In Lynchville town, which means the world of Lynch, if we get the impression that new forms of middle age blows out frequently, and that individuals are in a situation where they are not old enough for their own fault, it is certainly related to the political experience of Lynch generation. The social convulsion after the death of Kennedy in the society was going worse and worse with Vietnam War and Watergate just as Twin Peaks and Lumberton towns Jeffrey met badness in Lincoln Street which is named after the first American President assassinated (Atayman,2002:119-121). 5.3. The Presentation of characters and their relations in the Lynch Films The characters in surreal films of Lynch which appeals to the subconscious, the characters in the fuzzy, hellish world of psychopaths and paranoiacs have a deviant sexuality, a passionate melancholy, bottomless and unbalanced vain disappointment and an insolent pessimism. They increase their hysteric paranoia with their sins and tranquilize their feelings and never look back. If erasing what you live and as you live is a terrorism, Lynch heroes are the most fierce blooded terrorists ( Özdemir, 2003:15). In almost all Lynch films, there are premature people. These people do not know why they cannot be fully born. This can be seen in Lynch experimental cinema Eraserhead at best. The hero of the film, Henry, was not born completely. He wishes not to have been born at all. In one of the scenes, he takes the cordons at birth. In another scene, he stamps on sperms with a woman foot. The children of Mary and Henry were born before expected time. A comment to be done for Henry is that he is a representative of society after industrial revolution. According to Özodaşık “after the formation of modern industry societies, the new individual who experiences a deep social adaptation faces some kind of problems. These problems which he cannot name himself, and cannot express push people into various compulsions and problems. This new individual is a alone in his fight against this difficulty of adaptation and various problems.”(2009,p.163) Hanry is a typical example of it and he is very lonely and in his answers to Mary’s father’s questions, he says that he does not know much about anything and he gives up thinking and looking for answers. In Lynch films, the dosage of violence is very high. With its most common sense violence is related with aggressiveness. In this sense, violence includes a provoking, abrasive action which is directed to an object or person, or sometimes avoiding action or non-action ( Mutlu: 1997,41). In Eraserhead Henry kills his child, in Blue Velvet Jeffery kills Frank, in Wild at Heart Sailor kills the killer after him, in Lost Highway Fred Madison kills Eddy and in Twin Peaks Laura and Teresa Benks are victim of an enigmatic murder. There is not only a physical violence but also a sexual violence. The scenes of Lula and Salior and Pete and Alice having sex are highly disgusting. In Blue Velvet, Dorothy is the sexual slave of Don. Laura and her friend are forced to a sexual ritual in a cottage. In Lost Highway, Alice asks Pete “Why me?”. According to Baudraillard “ampleness and violence are together and are to be solved together. The problem of purposeless violence which is rarely seen in some countries and which is deeply rooted in developed or overdeveloped countries- is a part of general problem of basic controversies of ampleness and violence in the postmodern society is turned into a purposeless and reasonless

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violence. This is now a indefinable and uncontrollable problem. Blood, violence and sexuality only indicates that this balance is temporary and it is one the controversies of this order.”(2008, p.226-227) 5.4. The Presentation of Society in Lynch Films In this stage of study, family will be handled for the presentation of society as family is smallest unit of society. The interaction of the individual with his family starts before birth and goes on till the end of life. A family structure which cannot meet the needs of individual affects the personality of that individual and thus society deeply. According to Toffler “the effects of increasing social transfer and scientific revolution forces individuals to new family types. In family before industry, there are many children and grandparents. With industrialization, the workers who leave the lands move when it is necessary. In this way, large family type leaves it place to small family; the new type of family which can move more easily than large family forms a standard model in industry countries. The children of small families had the opportunity to leave home earlier.” (2006,p.252-265) Hanry in Eraserhead is the lonely person who leaves home after industrialization. Besides, in this film, we see a family who has lost its function. Her father does not care about Mary’s situation. Her mother is highly abusive. Mary and Henry cannot achieve to get married and live in a house. The grandmother we see at home is the representative of large family which is not seen in postmodern societies. A similar grandmother is also seen in Blue Velvet but besides showing small town families, Blue Velvet emphasizes Dorothy’s scattered family. In Wild at Heart Lula and Salior have no family. Salior even gets decrease in his punishment because of having no family. We get the impression that Lula used to have a family in the past. Although we cannot understand what happens to her father, her mother seems to be away from classical family symbol, she is a source danger rather protecting her. Fred and his wife in Lost Highway get more and more alienated tough they could be a family. Pete a conversion of Fred has a family but they with their different clothing styles and motorcycles are away from traditional parent image and they have an image of parent which are lonely, have become indistinct and are away from responsibilities. In Twin Peaks, the director shows us how family is lost in postmodern societies. Laura is raped by her father. Lula in Wild at Heart was raped by her uncle. In Twin Peaks which he directed two years after Wild at Heart, he clearly presents violence and family in its ruin. Now the rapists are not uncles but fathers. According to Browmiller “raping occurs when a woman does not wanting to have sex with a man and the man’s behaves against her wish. With this action, the man forms his man identity. The act of raping is generally not done with sexual motive. The relationship between raping and lust is at minimum level. On the other hand the relation between power and superiority is high.” (1984, p.17) However, in Twin Peaks the important thing in Laura’s being raped is that the rapist is her father. This is defined as incest in the literature. When an incest relation comes about with one party forcing and pressuring the other party, it is regarded as a case abuse. Sexual relation by making use of the family relations and with the obvious forcing of one party is besides it own contextual features, it is a crime. Laura’s father is criminal in the eyes of society. When Laura is looking for what she had lost, she was dragged in drug and violent sex. She made her step to this world because of her father. In this films Lynch point out that there is no father to be trusted in the family, and that individuals are getting more and more alone and violence has reached to radical points.

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5.5.The use of Pastiche and Parody in Lynch Films Pastiche, parody and schizophrenia which Jameson handles in relation with postmodernism were used by every theory studying postmodern films. Jameson points out that in an environment where individual subject is abolished, individual style is lost and thus stylistic recreation is no longer possible. According to him, the only thing to be applied is pastiche. Pastiche means emulating to death shapes. While taking and using the symbols and episodes of other productions in pieces, it renews them and leads to artificial compositions and tires to leave a more vivid effect. Parody which aims at disgracing and making fun of styles which are still alive and effective finds an efficient place in modern art. The term schizophrenia which Jameson borrows from Lacan refers to people who could not experience language, now, past and future because of inexperience and concentrated in now. “A schizophrenia who cannot experience language cannot have a time continuity experience” (Sarup,1995:176). In Blue Velvet, David Lynch put past and now into each other. Red roses in front of white fences, firefighter car in the 1950s, the clothes Sandy’s and Jeffery, the leather jacket Sailor wears by emulating to Elvis in Wild at Heart, in Lost Highway firstly brown and then blonde Renee/Alice emulate westerns and they are all examples of pastiche. Also, in Wild at Heart, Lynch gives a parody of a classical love and a happy ending. 5.6.Women in the Lynch Films In Lynch films women are potential femme fatales. Dorothy in Blue Velvet, Lula in Wild at Heart, Laura in Twin Peaks, Renee/Alice in Lost Highway are femme fatales. According to Zizek “femme fatale is the passionate supplementary of the male subject is a fantastic creation which is not seen necessary and not apparently assumed, and thus which can only be recreated in obvious story line only on the condition that the punishment of women and men dominant order is suggested. However, it must be born in mind that he destroys the new femme fatale male fantasy by realizing him directly and bluntly and by putting him in action in real life.” (2008: p.26-27) He gives what Alice Pete in Lost Highway dreams but he also indicates that she will never be able to get it and does not let her realize her fantasy. No matter Lula in Wild at Heart identify with Femme Fatale symbol, she adores to her hero. She waits Sailor’s release from the prison and she is with her man. Dorothy is the sexual slave of Frank. She seems to get pleasure from sado-masochist relation. She behaves Jefrrey in a similar way as Frank does her, she emulates Frank but in the end of the film she meets her son with Jeffery’s help, that is, she is helpless and needs help. Blue Velvet is Lynch’s fantasy of watching woman in her bedroom by hiding. For Jeffery, it is more exciting to watch her hiding than having sex with her (Özdemir,2003:18-19). In this way woman is changed into an object watched and viewed. Freudian analysis of the relationship between Jeffery, Dorothy and Frank is to the odipal basis. In fact, Frank who desires Dorothy-who is a mother- wants to take the place of her child and sometimes says Mummy to her. Jeffery watching Dorothy and Frank gets involved into his parents’ relation. He wants to kill Frank and to be close to his mother. Dorothy is subjected to all these deviancies but on the other hand she seems to like it (Atayman,2002:150, Özdemir,2003:19-20). Sandy who is another woman character in Blue Velvet is like a child who will never be an adult, she completely contrasts Dorothy. She does what is expected from a good woman and she forgives her. She represents purity as much as Dorothy represents violence.

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In Twin Peaks which are the mountains the region is named after, in fact symbolizes woman body as Twin Peaks are used for woman breast. A mother who accepts a stranger and who embraces him represents nature (Atayman,2002:134). However it is not as it seems. In Twin Peaks woman are subjected to any type of violence at every chance. They experience both sexual and physical violence. They are not able to protect or control themselves. In Erasehaead Mary who has epileptic attacks and who is not normal cannot stand her child cries and leaves home; she is weak and helpless. The common points of women in Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart is that they are all raped. 6. Conclusion The association of cinema and postmodernism dates back to the 1980s. One of the most known directors of postmodernist cinema is David Lynch. Lynch is from a generation who were born after the war and who started to film studies in 1970s. With his choices and narration style, David Lynch has renewed modern cinema, forced the limits of narration and created a language unique to him. In his films, there are sociological, psychological and philosophical declinations. He directed his first feature-length film in 1976 and then in 1986 Blue Velvet, in 1990 Wild at Heart, in 1992 Twin Peaks and in 1997 Lost Highway came. His films got better in every film and he forced the limits of narration. Lynch cinema handles frightfulness of biological beings, the frightfulness of reproduction, the cruelty of man in the world, the discarded without giving any clues from life, gratuitous violence, sexuality out of control and a world which we do not want to see and deny.(Yıldızhan:2004,249) In fact we are watching these images from televisions and reading from newspapers ,but we prefer to ignore. So the Lynch films viewer whose all information is taken away is helpless in front of the things s/he sees on the screen. No matter how much s/he tries to settle and make sense of things, s/he cannot. Therefore, David Lynch’s cinema is one of the important examples of postmodern cinema. REFERENCES Akay, Ali.(1991) Konu-m-lar. Bağlam Yayıncılık, İstanbul. Akay, Ali.(2002) Postmodern Görüntü. Bağlam Yayıncılık, İstanbul. Atayman, Veysel. (2004) Postmodern Kurtarıcılar. Don Kişot Yayınları İstanbul. Atayman, Veysel.(2002) Şiddetin Mitolojisi. Akademi Yayıncılık, İstanbul Baudrillard, Jean. (2008) Tüketim Toplumu. Hazal Deliçaylı, Ferda Keskin (Çev.) Ayrıntı

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