David Lynch

David Lynch’s films are usually described as… Lynchian. This tautology recognises the distinctive features of Lynch’s cinema, but can also distract from a strong affinity with the gothic and horror genres. In all aspects of narrative design and character type, mise en scène and setting, thematics and tropology we can uncover compelling evidence of Lynch’s gothic sensibility. This essay pulls out the gothic spine from the body of Lynch’s work: the loopy storylines which replace conventional categories of time and space, inside and outside, dream and reality, self and other with clues, secrets and mystery; and a narrative engine fuelled by fear associated with extreme acts of violence, the transgression of primal taboos, shadowy doubles, monsters and demons.