Contrasting Themes in David Lynchs Film, Blue Velvet Essay

Contrasting Themes in â€Å"Blue Velvet† The subconscious psyche is one of the most fascinating and almost completely inexplicable aspects of human behavior. Even more intriguing than merely the subconscious is the notion of a darker, more repressed side that many individuals refuse to acknowledge exists within them. In David Lynch’s film â€Å"Blue Velvet,† the director attempts to explore the psyche of a young man named Jeffrey Beaumont, most notably the clash between his darker side and â€Å"good† side for the first time in his life. Using themes that sharply contrast one another, Lynch provides insight into the character of Jeffrey and the struggle that he is faced with. Jeffrey is in a transitional period of his life, not very old, and is on a†¦show more content†¦The gun on the television is in direct contrast to what has been taking place visually up to this point. The mise-en-scene has been depicting an idealized American town, and yet the image of a gun is used as an allusion to somet hing more sinister lurking within the town, with the interior of Jeffrey’s house perhaps representing the inner sanctum of Jeffrey’s subconscious. From here, Lynch cuts back to the long shot of Jeffrey’s father watering the lawn, followed by a close-up of the faucet where the hose is connected. Suddenly, the cuts are very rapid and the camera cuts between close ups of the hose, the faucet, and Jeffrey’s father, who eventually keels over in an apparent stroke. This is followed by a long shot of a dog attempting to bite the water spraying out of the hose, with a cut to a close up of the dog doing this behavior in slow motion. Slowly, the non-digetic sound of â€Å"Blue Velvet† fades out, giving way to an unintelligible and faint sound which appears to be non-digetic as well. However, the camera zooms into an extreme close up of the grass and tracks through the grass as well, with the unintelligible noise increasing in volume. The shot then dissolves to reveal an entire population of cockroaches infesting the soil, and what had previously been non-digetic sound has now become the loud, digetic sound of the insects’ movement. Immediately, there is a cut to an establishingShow MoreRelatedMovie Analysis : Blue Velvet2152 Words   |  9 PagesThe camera descends from a picture-perfect blue sky to a bed of red roses before a white picket fence, opening with the lush colors of America. A fire engine rolls down an idyllic suburban street as the firemen wave in slow-motion, a crossing guard directs schoolchildren, and a man waters his front lawn, all to the tune of chirping birds and Bobby Vinton’s romantic â€Å"Blue Velvet† song. This could be the opening sequence to a convincing infomercial inviting American families to suburbia, until somethingRead MoreThemes in Blue Velvet3149 Words   |  13 PagesExploring the Dark Side: Contrasting Themes in Blue Velvet The subconscious psyche is one of the most fascinating and almost completely inexplicable aspects of human behavior. Even more intriguing than merely the subconscious is the notion of a darker, more repressed side that many individuals refuse to acknowledge exists within them. In David Lynchs film Blue Velvet, the director attempts to explore the psyche of a young man named Jeffrey Beaumont, most notably the clash between his darkerRead Morepost modernism Essay examples3601 Words   |  15 Pagesother peoples beliefs and lifestyles, it becomes less and less possible to regard one lifestyle or one belief system as the true one. Dominic Strinati Strinati suggests that, post-modern TV and film become preoccupied merely with surface style and imagery, rather than deeper underlying themes, which might relate to the realities of the human condition. Action blockbuster movies dwell on special effects, rather than strong plots and TV drama departs from realist plots of the 1960s (which