O.J. Simpson and Lost Highway
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 1:56 am
"What struck me about OJ Simpson was that he was able to smile and laugh. He was able to go golfing with seemingly few problems about the whole thing. I wondered how, if a person did those deeds, he could go on living. And we found this great psychology term - 'psychogenic fugue' - describing an event where the mind tricks itself to escape some horror. So, in a way, Lost Highway is about that. And the fact that nothing can stay hidden forever."
- Lynch
I'd read the above quote before, but while watching the superb new 5-part ESPN documentary on O.J. Simpson yesterday, I was struck by how obvious the connection really is here. It's not that the film is simply a polemic about O.J. directly, but I do think that looking at it thru that lens is extremely sensible; it's hard to think of another Lynch film that's so heavily marked by a certain real-life event or person as LH. One could analyze it down to even the smaller details, such as Fred killing Renee brutally with a knife, her torso actually cut in half (O.J. also used a knife and attacked so brutally that Nicole's head was apparently nearly decapitated). And of course the biggest reference would be the final scene of the film, Fred speeding maniacally down a California highway while multiple cop cars follow in hot pursuit, sirens wailing and lights flashing. Extremely similar to the infamous Bronco chase right after O.J. got pinned for the murders.
- Lynch
I'd read the above quote before, but while watching the superb new 5-part ESPN documentary on O.J. Simpson yesterday, I was struck by how obvious the connection really is here. It's not that the film is simply a polemic about O.J. directly, but I do think that looking at it thru that lens is extremely sensible; it's hard to think of another Lynch film that's so heavily marked by a certain real-life event or person as LH. One could analyze it down to even the smaller details, such as Fred killing Renee brutally with a knife, her torso actually cut in half (O.J. also used a knife and attacked so brutally that Nicole's head was apparently nearly decapitated). And of course the biggest reference would be the final scene of the film, Fred speeding maniacally down a California highway while multiple cop cars follow in hot pursuit, sirens wailing and lights flashing. Extremely similar to the infamous Bronco chase right after O.J. got pinned for the murders.