The Lynch Film

Content

1. Introduction
   
2. Technology
3. Iconography
   • Smoke and Fire
   • Electricity
   • Red Drapes
   • Dogs
   • Trains

4. Narrative
   
5. Stars
   
6. Bibliography

I. Introduction

Keeping this in mind, it is easy to see how certain directors create films that fall into their own genre. Hitchcock is an example of this phenomenon; his films share similar aspects of the aforementioned essential parts to genre. If one were to rent a Hitchcock film they had never seen before, they could still have a somewhat accurate idea of what they would be getting.

A frequent misunderstanding of the director genre is the concept of "auteurism." An auteur is a director who writes his own screenplays. While auteurism often coincides with the director genre (as in the case of Stanley Kubrick and the Kubrick film), the two terms are not interchangeable. A director who writes his own screenplays might produce films that are too dissimilar to fit into one genre; likewise, non-auteur directors like Hitchcock have certainly established their own genre. Auteur and genre may be complementary, but not necessarily simultaneous.

This brings us to David Lynch. David Lynch is an established auteur; in fact, not only does he write his screenplays, but he has been involved with every level of his films production at one point or another: sound design, editing, camera work, lighting, casting, special effects, music, etc. His hands-on approach to every aspect of his films has helped to tie them all together with a common thread. Perhaps Lynch is an example of how extreme auteurism naturally leads to the director genre.

It is still necessary, however, to dissect Lynch's films to ensure that there are enough similarities of the four essential parts for his films to classify as a genre.