Theories & Speculation

Moderators: Brad D, Annie, Jonah, BookhouseBoyBob, Ross, Jerry Horne

Hester Prynne
RR Diner Member
Posts: 349
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation (SPOILERS)

Post by Hester Prynne »

It reminds me of the frog-bug from Episode 8.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

Twin Peaks: A new interpretation?

Before I outline my interpretation, I'd like to preface it by stating that, while I am a huge fan of the show, I lack the encyclopaedic knowledge of many who post on this forum. It may be that my interpretation is not new because somebody has beaten me to it, or it may lack validity due to a number of holes or logical inconsistencies that, in my ignorance, have failed to spot. Finally, I do not have a fully fleshed out interpretation, but the bones of one; given the nature of the series and its ambiguities it may be that this is the best we can hope for. That all being said, let's give this a go anyway.

"We live inside a dream"

I take this very literally. My interpretation is that the Twin Peaks universe is a dream. The obvious follow-up question is whose dream. Well, who do we see falling asleep in this series? The answer: the young girl in the 1950s. The young girl whom the frog moth enters. The frog moth that appears to be the creation of Judy. I believe that everything that takes place in the series is in the unconscious mind of this girl who is possessed by evil, and her dreams become the landscape in which good and evil struggle for supremacy. It would certainly explain the 1950s feel that pervades a lot of the Twin Peaks universe.

In this interpretation, I believe that the girl is indeed Sarah Palmer. As we know from season 3, Sarah and Judy are closely linked, and the older Sarah may actually be inhabited by Judy, just as the younger version is inhabited by the frog moth, which may just be Judy in a different form. Why would Judy want to inhabit and try to manipulate the dreams of a young girl? We can only speculate. It seems likely that the nuclear tests of the 1940s opened up a gateway through which Judy could enter our world. It may be that this entity can live within, travel through and feed off other beings' dreams. This has parallels with the simulation interpretation of our own universe, which states that our reality is in fact just a simulation, possibly generated by a computer of an advanced civilisation or even an advanced entity. In this interpretation, we can imagine an infinite number of regresses - our reality is a simulation created by another reality which may itself be a simulation, and so on. Rabbit holes within rabbit holes. Although this is never referred to directly in Twin Peaks, watching the show very much conveys this experience.

It is my belief that The Fireman/Giant stands outside of all this - he is not a creation of the young girl's dream. Like Judy, he is able to inhabit other beings' consciousnesses and is able to manipulate events within the universes created by dreams. He sends Laura Palmer into this universe in the girl's dream to disrupt the plans of Judy and to try to "wake the girl up" - to destroy the universe that Judy has created in her unconscious, sleeping mind. Judy fights back, killing Laura Palmer in this dream universe. The Fireman fights back, helping Dale Cooper in his attempts to save Laura. In this interpretation the young girl's dreams become the battleground between Judy and The Fireman, with a cast of characters in the dream doing their bidding, either knowingly or unknowingly. It is my belief that the Fireman triumphs in the end. Laura (in the guise of Carrie - a character from a dream within the dream?) let's out that terrifying scream at the end of season 3, destroying Judy and waking up the young Sarah Palmer. A happy ending? Well, yes, on one level. It is my belief that the young Sarah Palmer will wake up and be free to continue her life. But... The universe (this universe which is just as real as any objective reality, which is as real as our possibly simulated universe feels to us) of Twin Peaks which existed in her unconscious sleeping mind is destroyed and all the beings within it are too. This is what Laura whispers to Agent Cooper, and this is why he looks so terrified: "When the dreamer awakes, we all die."
User avatar
Jerry Horne
Global Moderator
Posts: 4634
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:28 pm
Location: Private Portland Airport
Contact:

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by Jerry Horne »

"I wasn't there, but I had a dream that night that I was in her apartment . . . I swear to you I wasn't there, I swear to you it was a dream!" - Bill Hastings.
RARE TWIN PEAKS COLLECTIBLES AT ---> WWW.TWINPEAKSGENERALSTORE.BLOGSPOT.COM
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

Jerry Horne

Great quote. More evidence that the likes of Judy, Bob and the Fireman can manipulate/direct dreams, although in Hastings' case, according to my theory, it would have been a dream within the main dream of the girl (who I believe to be Sarah Palmer). The girl is the dreamer and everything within the Twin Peaks universe is played out in her unconscious, sleeping mind. But, as I said in my previous post, just as in a simulated universe (which ours indeed may be) the characters within the dream are, in a sense, as real as anything in objective reality, and they are capable of dreaming too.

I believe that my theory is attractive for a number of reasons, but I will try to summarise the most important of these.

First, it puts "We live inside a dream" at the heart of the explanation.

Second, it explains why Sarah Palmer's house is so important. In the dream it is her literal home. Metaphorically it stands for the home of her conscious mind, the essence of her. It is where she lives in a literal and metaphorical sense. It's why the Fireman sends Laura there - to try to wake her up, to try to awaken her consciousness despite the efforts of the frog moth and the Woodsman (his sleep-inducing "this is the water and this is the well" chant) to keep her asleep, to keep this universe within her mind intact. It is also why the Fireman, through Cooper, needs to get Laura/Carrie back to the house at the end of season 3 - her scream wakes Sarah up, destroying this universe in her mind which the forces of Judy direct and inhabit.

Third, it puts episode 8 at the very heart of the explanation to the series. Given how starkly different this episode is to anything else in the show's three seasons, it seems highly likely that the explanation of what is happening has its roots in the events told in this episode.

Fourth, it ties in so perfectly with Lynch's oeuvre. We know how central dreams are to pretty much all of his work. This explanation also has huge similarities to The Wizard of Oz. I wouldn't mind betting that if we could see the sleeping girl's (Sarah Palmer's) reality it would be inhabited by people who look exactly the same as the people within the universe in her mind, just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and just like Diane in Mulholland Drive. It would be bordering on ludicrous if Lynch's longest work did not have dreams at the core of its explanation.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

Worth also mentioning that my theory perfectly explains the Fireman's line at the start of Season 3: "It is in our house now."

We know that Judy is very literally in the house - it seems to have inhabited Sarah Palmer. According to my theory, in which the house represents the home of the dreaming girl's conscious mind, this would also have a metaphorical meaning: Judy is taking a firmer grip on the consciousness of the sleeping, dreaming girl.

The clicking sounds? The sounds that the Fireman plays though the gramophone and the sounds we hear as Cooper nears the end of his Odyssey? They are the sounds of the frog moth. It looks not unlike a cricket, so why would it not make a similar sound? For those of you who have seen and heard the clip of the very low volume clicking sound before Cooper/Richard says his "What year is this?" line, you could even interpret this as being the final pathetic utterance, the muted death throes, of the frog moth. It knows it is defeated. The Fireman, through Cooper, has brought Laura back to the house (the dreaming girl's conscious mind) to wake up the sleeping girl and destroy the universe within that is inhabited by Judy and its various creations (Bob, the Chalfonts, etc). I wouldn't mind betting that if we could step inside the house just before Carrie lets out her liberating scream, the entire cast of the convenience store would be holed up there, seeking refuge there and hoping that their combined powers could prevent the sleeping girl from awakening.

I am beginning to think that, much like some theories in science, this theory is too beautiful not to be true.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

One final (I think) thing I want to say in support of my theory.

The last line that Cooper says in the entire series, indeed it's the last line said by anyone if you don't count Sarah Palmer's call of "Laura" ot Carrie's liberating scream, is "What year is this?"

Why would Lynch choose this line to end on? It's not just there for the unbalancing, shocking effect it has on the audience, although of course it succeeds brillliantly in unbalancing and shocking us. No. Lynch clearly wants us to consider this question. What year is this? He is asking us that question. He is demanding that we think about it. Well, the answer is clearly 1956. The girl is about to awake, ending her time in this dizzying purgatory. The Fireman has won. Judy has lost. But Twin Peaks now is also lost, and so are the very real beings who inhabited it. No more Cooper, no more cherry pie and coffee. Triumph and tragedy in equal measure. A genius, beautiful, almost unquantifiably rich ending to one of the greatest works of art of our age.
chalfont
Roadhouse Member
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:57 am
Location: Norway

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by chalfont »

Well done, TwinBeaks.
User avatar
N. Needleman
Lodge Member
Posts: 2113
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:39 pm

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by N. Needleman »

Not my take on events, but definitely an interesting theory.
AnotherBlueRoseCase wrote:The Return is clearly guaranteed a future audience among stoners and other drug users.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

Thank you, Chalfont.

In my mind, I've cracked it. It all makes total sense to me. As I said above, it feels too beautiful and too elegant not to be true. But I don't claim that this is the only possible interpretation that can work. It works perfectly for me - and hopefully it will for others too - but I would never be so arrogant as to say this is the definitive interpretation.

Now that I have an explanation that I am happy with, I am left not only with a sense of satisfaction, but I also have a renewed and deeper appreciation of the magnificence of Lynch's and Frost's artistic vision.
User avatar
krishnanspace
Bookhouse Member
Posts: 1174
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 5:15 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by krishnanspace »

But how can the Girl in 1950s dream of modern technology like laptops, mobile phones etc
User avatar
N. Needleman
Lodge Member
Posts: 2113
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:39 pm

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by N. Needleman »

Everyone has a take that crystalizes things for them. I loved John Thorne's Deer Meadow theory, even if I never subscribed to it myself. This is equally cool even if it is not at all my interpretation of events.
AnotherBlueRoseCase wrote:The Return is clearly guaranteed a future audience among stoners and other drug users.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

In my interpretation the dream is more like the conscious space (a dimension of consciousness) for a reality to play itself out in. Just like our reality may in fact be a simulation being played out in a computer of an advanced civilisation. Within this space, the dream can play itself out as if it was objectively real, with a fully realised world developing inhabited by people with their own consciousnesses.
TwinBeaks
New Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 21, 2017 9:10 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by TwinBeaks »

Thank you, N Needleman.
User avatar
krishnanspace
Bookhouse Member
Posts: 1174
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 5:15 am

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by krishnanspace »

TwinBeaks wrote:In my interpretation the dream is more like the conscious space (a dimension of consciousness) for a reality to play itself out in. Just like our reality may in fact be a simulation being played out in a computer of an advanced civilisation. Within this space, the dream can play itself out as if it was objectively real, with a fully realised world developing inhabited by people with their own consciousnesses.
That's a good way to put it.Thats what sometimes I believe our lives are.In Sanskrit it's called Maya
User avatar
Mr. Reindeer
Lodge Member
Posts: 3680
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Theories & Speculation

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I’m with Needleman. I’m not embracing this as my definitive approach to the material, but it’s very well thought-out and interesing to think about. Great work.
Post Reply