Lost in a Forest
Twin Peaks and Jungian Individuation
Ed Moorman
In the David Lynch- and Mark Frost-created TV show Twin Peaks, a northwestern town has fallen into disharmony following the brutal killing of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. Special Agent Dale Cooper works through the process of individuation through attempting to solve the Palmer’s murder. The town of Twin Peaks is in danger of falling prey to the darkness that lurks in the symbolically significant surrounding forest, but just like in Jungian theory, nature offers hope and answers to those who learn to listen to it. In David Lynch’s method and thought process, and in the characters and events of Twin Peaks, the unconscious is a mystery to be mined to restore balance.
Each episode of Twin Peaks is introduced by the Log Lady, a woman in large glasses who clutches a log. The Log Lady speaks in cryptic messages to the viewer, and proclaims her deep spiritual connection to nature. Jung believed that dreams “originate in a spirit that is not quite human, but rather a breath of nature” (Jung 36), and thus dreams speak in the symbolic language of nature. The Log Lady’s log sees things that humans do not realize; it is her version of what some tribal groups refer to as a “bush soul” (Jung 6), a kindred soul alive in an animal or tree. In the first episode of Twin Peaks, Cooper is only at the beginning of his road of individuation. He is still struggling away from the attitude of those whose “contact with nature has gone, and with it has gone the profound emotional energy that this symbolic connection supplied” (Jung 85). When Cooper meets the Log Lady at the Double R Diner, the Log Lady approaches Cooper, having overheard him speak about Laura Palmer. She tells him, “One day my log will have something to say about this. My Log saw something that night.” Cooper asks what it saw, and the Log Lady offers her log to him, saying simply, “Ask it.” When he sheepishly stares at the log, she says in disgust, “I thought so” (“Traces to Nowhere”). She is disappointed in those who are too proud to listen to the language of nature. But Cooper learns and grows in his connection to his unconscious throughout the series, driven by the quest to find Laura Palmer’s killer.
Cooper undergoes the process of individuation throughout the series, and learns to listen to many voices instructing him through symbols. In the episode “Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer”, Cooper reveals that upon awaking from a dream one night, he “realiz[ed] that I had subconsciously gained knowledge of a deductive technique, involving mind-body coordination operating hand-in-hand with the deepest level of intuition” (“Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer”). He performs this technique in attempt to find the next direction to go in the investigation relying entirely on his intuition, which Jung calls “an irrational (i.e., perceiving) function” (Jung 49). Working in this way is part of Cooper’s strengthening of his connection to his unconscious. He is surrounded by characters that refer to this way of thinking or are representative of dream elements themselves. One of the men Cooper works with on the case is Deputy Tommy “Hawk” Hill, commonly referred to as “Hawk.” He is Native American (of what tribal nation is never stated), and thus drawing a connection to a culture that strongly values dream symbols and the language of nature. The forensics expert Albert Rosenfield is depicted at first as a gruff, disagreeable person but later on reveals his spiritual side. Cooper is visited in dreams and visions by many figures who speak in nonsensical messages that Cooper has to decode. They often appear to tell him of things that will happen in the future; Jung reminds us that “There has long been a general belief that the chief function of dreams is prognostication of the future” (Jung 66). A little person known only as the Man from Another Place appears to Cooper in a recurring dream location called the Red Room. He speaks backwards and introduces Cooper to a woman who is Laura Palmer, and says, “This is my cousin, but doesn’t she look exactly like Laura Palmer?” (“Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer”). Very soon, Laura’s cousin Maddie, who looks exactly like Laura (she is played by the same actress, Sheryl Lee) enters the show. In the episode “May the Giant Be With You,” the Giant appears to Cooper in a vision as Cooper lies bleeding being shot. He instructs Cooper to “Think of me as a friend,” and tells him that “The owls are not what they seem,” and “There is a man in a smiling bag” (later revealed to be a hanging body bag, the zipper appearing as a smile) (“May the Giant Be With You”). Besides Cooper’s individual muses, the entire town of Twin Peaks is connected through the Collective Unconscious.
In the town of Twin Peaks, individual characters represent Jungian archetypes; all the characters are connected through the Collective Unconscious; and the town is disconnected, distressed, and full of secrets, just as a person’s psyche is. The strongest archetype in Twin Peaks is the mysterious character of Bob, who is a Shadow figure. Bob is a murderous, animalistic figure who appears in visions to many of the characters (and the very thought of him can strike terror in a viewer who has seen the second season of the show). He is the part of the darkness that has been repressed and ignored in the wholesome logging town. His presence reminds us that “In spite of our proud domination of nature, we are still her victims, for we have not even learned to control our own nature” (Jung 91); the town falls victim to his and other dark influences, because the populace chooses to gloss over the demons lurking underneath. It has been referred to as “a TV show about free-floating guilt” (Rodley 156); the town feels a collective weight for the horror of what happened to Laura Palmer. The people of the town are connected on multiple levels; as the arc of the show follows the myriad characters of Twin Peaks, the interconnected nature of their lives were revealed. And when a particularly horrible event happens in the episode “Demons”, nearly all of the main characters converge at the biker club Roadhouse while the ethereal singer Julee Cruise performs. The Giant appears to Cooper and informs him that “It’s happening again.” In a mounting emotional moment, everyone seems to be aware of the horror that is occurring. Some begin crying without necessarily knowing why (“Demons”). The show is full of horror and hope. “The unconscious… like Nature herself… contains all aspects of human nature – light and dark, beautiful and ugly, good and evil, profound and silly” (Jung 94). Within Twin Peaks, there is the purity and sweetness of Dale Cooper and the horror of Bob, the dead seriousness of the murder and the silliness of an obsession with cherry pie and good coffee. All of this sprung from the fluid mind of David Lynch.
Pauline Kael once called Lynch “a Frank Capra of dream logic” (Rodley, xi), and this is true; of all the great film directors, none are as closely connected to dreams and its language, in both content in method, as David Lynch. Jung believed that “The general function of dreams is to try to restore our psychological balance” (Jung 34), and Lynch searches for balance in his life and work. “We’re all striving for balance, in my mind. It’s the ultimate goal. And it’s such a heavy thing, you know… I think a kind of euphoria comes out of a perfect balance” (Rodley 21), Lynch says. Like Cooper using nontraditional methods to seek Laura Palmer’s killer, Lynch is open to all that might be revealed to him in art making, rather than staying attached to a script or a particular idea. When filmmaking, he is “going with a… subconscious intuition kind of thing. And things unfold… it’s fluid” (Rodley 27). Lynch, when asked about the varied and visceral reactions that his work sparks in viewers, says that “It’s the subjective thing. It wouldn’t strike Bob the same way it strikes Sam and the way it strikes Susie. They’re all coming from a different place” (Rodley 15). This is congruent with the way that Jung viewed dream symbolism; he believed that “the interpretation of dreams and symbols largely depends upon the individual circumstances of the dreamer and the condition of his mind” (Jung 56). Lynch refers to television commercials as “dream breakers” (Rodley 155), in adherence to the ‘continuous dream’ effect that narratives can attain. Lynch feels very connected, as Jung did (Jung 69), with nature and its power; “For as long as anybody can remember, woods have been mysterious places. So they were a character in my mind” (Rodley 162), Lynch says, in speaking of Twin Peaks. The fact that Lynch does not know a thing about psychoanalytic theory (Rodley xi) makes all the stronger case for Jung’s claim that archetypes are truly universal!
The town of Twin Peaks is a psyche unto itself, replete with wounds, secrets, and a chance for hope and redemption. We follow Cooper’s process of individuation as the town reels from the effects of ignoring the presence of the Shadow and not keeping its demons in check. It is orchestrated by David Lynch, an artist whose work is more deeply connected with the unconscious and dream language than any other American filmmaker. “I carry a log… Yes. Is it funny to you?”
Works Cited
1. “Demons.” Twin Peaks - The Second Season. Writ. Mark Frost. Dir. David Lynch. ABC. 10 Nov. 1990. DVD. Paramount, 2007.
2. Jung, Carl G., ed. Man and His Symbols. New York: Dell Publishing, 1968.
3. “May the Giant Be With You.” Twin Peaks - The Second Season. Writ. Mark Frost and David Lynch. Dir. David Lynch. ABC. 30 Sept. 1990. DVD. Paramount, 2007.
4. Rodley, Chris, ed. Lynch on Lynch. New York: Faber and Faber Inc., 1997.
5. “Traces to Nowhere.” Twin Peaks - The First Season (Special Edition). Writ. Mark Frost and David Lynch. Dir. Duwayne Dunham. ABC. 12 April 1990. DVD. Republic Pictures, 2001.
6. “Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer.” Twin Peaks - The First Season (Special Edition). Writ. Mark Frost and David Lynch. Dir. David Lynch. ABC. 19 April 1990. DVD. Republic Pictures, 2001.