MovieChat Forums > Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) Discussion > The film vs. the series (+ watching the ...

The film vs. the series (+ watching the film first)

posted 11 years ago by MovieMan0283part2
12 replies | jump to latest

Conventional wisdom says that viewers must watch the show before the movie. I'd recommend that myself for several reasons, most importantly because it's better to watch the show without knowing who Laura's killer is. However, in terms of appreciating the movie and what it's doing, I've begun to suspect that being a Twin Peaks fan may be a hindrance rather than a help (especially, but not exclusively, for those who haven't seen other Lynch films and only know his work from the series).

I've noticed that criticisms of the movie tend to center around the ways it's NOT like the show, which misses the point. I wonder if Fire Walk With Me would have been more well-received if it dropped some of the plot elements tying it to the series (the attempts to link up to the last episode, and the somewhat irrelevant details meant to resolve threads from the pilot and early episodes), abandoned the "Twin Peaks" part of its title, and just existed as a surreal Lynch film delving into the mind of an abused teenager...which is, essentially, what it is anyway though people couldn't see past the series tie-in aspect.

Some of the people I know who liked the film best never watched the show or weren't that into it. Meanwhile, many who hate the film, or took a while to get into it, are huge fans of the series. Perhaps watching the show before the film is advantageous to the show, but it seems to harm appreciation of the movie which works best as a standalone horror/melodrama. Its mission is entirely different from Twin Peaks.

I'm also curious about those who watched & liked the movie without knowing the series. Anyone out there with first-hand knowledge of this approach? Personally, I watched the show first like most people so I'd love to hear from others who didn't.

Get Lost in the Movies on http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/

[–] Mat-37 11 years ago

I remember an interesting conversation with a friend who saw the movie and not the show. He said it was his favorite Lynch movie.
For me, having seen and loved the show, there's a whole mythology surrounding BOB.
To him, BOB was merely a creation of Laura's troubled mind, a denial mechanism she created, because accepting the truth of how her own father abused her was too much to cope with.

- A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.

[–] MovieMan0283part2 11 years ago

Interesting. Many people seem to interpret it this way, even some who've already seen the show. It's one of the reasons the film haunts me more - the supernatural elements feel more charged with psychodrama, carrying the power of myth and allegory. Actually, on first viewing what troubled me most about the film were the lingering traces of the supernatural; now that we were treating Laura's trauma so seriously, they suddenly seemed disrespectful in a way they hadn't before (except for BOB, which works perfectly as a metaphor). I've since come to appreciate the overall allegorical quality of the film much more (though some of the callbacks to the show still feel extraneous to me - I'm that rare Peaks fan who wants less Twin Peaks in Fire Walk With Me, not more!). I think in Jennifer Lynch's Secret Diary, BOB comes off very much as a trauma-triggered escape device as well.

Get Lost in the Movies on http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/

[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

I saw FWWM after only having seen the Pilot and the first episode and liked it well enough to watch it some 10 more times within 6 months of the initial viewing. Don't recall having any problems with the more obscure elements of the film, including those that the show proper was to illuminate - after all, it's not terribly different from any other later period Lynch film in these regards, anyway. Of course, from the moment the movie arrives back in Twin Peaks, the story is basically linear except for a few surreal detours... and the function of BOB seemed indeed rather obvious. As for the other strange stuff involving the Black Lodge related shenanigans... a detailed understanding of those isn't really crucial to the enjoyment or having a basic handle on things. It's safe to say, for instance, that I comprehended zilch about the Bowie scene initially, but that hardly diminished the power of the scene - in fact, quite the opposite may be true. Mysteries within mysteries... can't be bad. Do not recall ever once regretting having taken the film-first approach to the Twin Peaks universe... and besides, I actually do have the tendency to omit "Twin Peaks" from the film's title. It's better that way.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] MovieMan0283part2 11 years ago

Thanks for the perspective. I keep hearing this from people who saw the film first. The notion that non-fans will automatically hate it seems to be a projection of fans who often, themselves, hate it.

Get Lost in the Movies on http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/

[–] Mat-37 10 years ago

I always advice people to watch the show first, but that's not because they might not "get" the movie, it's just that the movie spoils the series in a major way. The show is all about Who Killed Laura? and in the movie, you see it

I'm a big fan of both the show and the movie (moreso the movie), and I'll never forget the first time I saw the big reveal in the series. I would hate if that had been spoiled for me.

- A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.

[–] MovieMan0283part2 10 years ago

I'm glad I saw the series first for that reason, as well as the reason described elsewhere on this thread - that my investment in/curiosity about Laura from the show made the film's concept all the more exciting.

But yes, watching the series first not only allows a viewer to get wrapped up in the fun of the murder mystery but also to be properly shocked and disturbed when (spoilers) the killer is revealed to be the one person most likely to disrupt that sense of fun, which I think is a really important part of what Lynch and Frost are doing. I know it made me really uncomfortable, and that I wanted to cling to the idea that it was Bob who did it and Leland was just the vessel, but the film mostly closes that escape route. I think that's a big part of why many series fans hate it, but it's also what makes it so powerful - and necessary.

Sheryl Lee has a great quote about this in Brad Dukes' recent oral history, to the effect that the show was a blast and it's fun to talk about but at its heart is something very sobering and serious. For me at least, watching the series first emphasized the weight of this because of the emotional journey we're taken on.

I disagree with those who feel more should be left to the imagination and that Lynch's greatest power is that of suggestion. He IS great at suggestion, as are many other excellent filmmakers - but he's also brilliant at revealing/exposing, as few other filmmakers are.

[–] HarveyManfredSinJohn 10 years ago

Spoilers

You make a really interesting point about Leland because as a fan of the show I felt he was presented as a tragi-sympathetic character who, like you say, was simply the vessel via which Bob was able to perpetrate his evil. However, the film delves further into the incest that led to Laura's murder, and thus explicitly indicts Leyland in a way the goofier, lighter show never did. I appreciate the film on its own terms, as a fascinating but separate entity to the show, but seeing as it's still canonical as far as the world of 'Twin Peaks' goes its exploration of parental abuse makes for a quite sobering experience when viewed in tandem with the series.

[–] MovieMan0283part2 10 years ago

Very much agreed with all of this.

Watching ep. 14 - 16 is really interesting because I think in #14 there's still a sense of Bob really being a "part" of Leland and not just some puppeteer pulling the strings. It's all very ambiguous. Ep. 15 seems more like demonic possession and there are lines in ep. 16 that seem to hammer this home, but even those are more ambiguous than they first appear (I feel that most likely it's the direction, more than the screenplay, that pushes us to think exclusively of Leland as a helpless victim). Then ep. 17 removes all ambiguity in Cooper's speech to Mrs. Palmer although even this is confused (why should Leland express his dying remorse if he wasn't responsible for anything Bob did?). It's like the writers really didn't know how to handle this turn of events, especially as Lynch - while setting some of the groundwork for this conceit - seems to have vanished right after after revealing the killer.

Get Lost in the Movies on http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/

[–] newsfop 11 years ago

I watched the whole series for the first time over the course of a week and a half then immediately went on the search for the movie which I found a couple days later. What I took away from it was that it not necessary filled in the hanging threads left undone by the season finale but rather it made me accept and appreciated them for what they were a little better. Who's to know what happened to Audrey? What's to become of Dale? I don't know. I don't know if I'll ever know. But it serves to show that the person whom the series centered around for so long finally gets her own voice and motives. We see her tragically plummet from grace and finally see her redeemed. It was beautiful to see that final transformation. For that, I love the movie. It's very nice to look at and great at pulling all the right emotions it's looking for.

[–] bluhorn-673-810937 10 years ago

I watched the film in the theater before having any knowledge of Twin Peaks. I guess I just stayed away from TV shows, regardless of who created them. I was a big fan of Blue Velvet, Dune and Wild At Heart though and enjoyed the movie very much. I didn't understand a good portion of it, but it didn't hinder my appreciation of its artistic execution. I went on to rent the show (only season 1) on VHS and enjoyed it very much.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (14789810) 10 years ago

I watched the series then film.

I liked the film more.

The night is dark and full of terrors
http://www.imdb.com/list/rJuB9UoASlQ/

[–] Disardor 10 years ago

I think the people who react most violently with disappointment to the film tend to be big fans of the show, which is to be expected, really. If you go in with expectations based upon having been a big fan of the show, to which the film acts as a prequel of sorts, and it doesn't conform to those expectations, disappointment is natural. A viewer who has no familiarity with the show and simply approaches it as a movie like any other has no built-in expectations and can take it as it comes, either as a movie they don't enjoy or a movie that blows them away and makes them want to explore the series.

Personally I saw the film two or three times before watching the series and did not find that I either disliked the film as a result of having not seen the show or that doing so ruined my appreciation for the series after the fact. Now I consider Fire Walk with Me to be perhaps Lynch's greatest film (I've currently got it in a two-way tie with Mulholland Dr., with Blue Velvet just a hair off from those two) and the show one of his best achievements.