Besides being one of Americas most prolific directors, and possibly having attained cult status primarily outside the states, David Lynch must be said to be the quintessential cult director of our time.
The films shows Lynch’s diversity - from his earliest, surreal experimental film Eraserhead and the epic science-fiction box-office flop Dune to the hugely popular tv-series Twin Peaks and the slowest moving road movie Straight Story ever, David Lynch seem to have touched nearly every genre possible - with the possible exception of the western.
This class will focus primarily on the late Lynch and the inherent “weirdness” of his films -asking if it is at all possible to extract any meaning from his films and investigate some of the reasons why he has become such an influential and academically interesting filmmaker.
- Is Lost Highway a film open to interpretation, or does it suggest a specific reading?
- What is the attraction of films which are so hard to understand?
- Does Lynch deliberately seek to make his films for an audience of academics or intellectuals?
- What the elements in Lost Highway could potentially make it a cult film?
- Does David Lynch have an overall agenda to his films? Ie. does he have a social / political agenda?
Film: David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997). Screening 15-3, kl 14.00 in room 2.130
Reading: TBA
Links: David Lynch’s own web-site
slides
