Where to start? It really took me awhile to figure out what I wanted
to do for 2 extremes. I really wanted to pair something up with Eraserhead.
Mostly because I wanted a good reason to watch the movie again and I thought it
would be the perfect movie to double team with something light. I figured no
other movie comes close in tone, subject matter, or really anything for that
matter. I decided to follow it up with Wizard of Oz. Nothing says clean, good natured, family fun like Wizard of Oz. What follows is my experience and I was
surprised by the results to say the least.
I kicked things off with Eraserhead. One of my all time favorites.
This is a movie that pulls you into it's world and doesn't let you go.
Everything about it creates a mesmerizing world you can't look away from. Even
if you really want to at some points. And this time was no different. Without
getting too pretentious I love the way this movie affects you, it creates this
feeling of dread and uncertainty that are always just under the surface. You
don't really know why , but it's there. I bring this up because it's the
number one factor in what came next.
I fired up Wizard of Oz , a movie I've seen a million times, thinking I
knew what I was in store for. This movie is a classic of old school Hollywood. An endlessly
upbeat, positive movie with a message of overcoming odds and learning to
appreciate the important things in life. On the surface this is as far from the
bleak world of Lynch as possible, but as I started watching it seemed different
this time. That same sense of dread carried over changing what the movie meant
to me.
It all starts from the black and white scenes in Kansas. It's almost like another chapter
starting in a larger story, linking the two movies. A story connected by
dreams. For me Eraserhead has always been a terrible dream brought to life.
Our time in Kansas
feels like the bridge between the nightmare of Henry's world and the magic of Dorothy's
time in Oz. The wind swept farmland a perfect counterpart to the industrial
wasteland of Eraserhead. Two sides of a coin.
The switch to the garish Technicolor world of Oz is an abrupt splash of
color and happiness that provides a temporary sense of comfort. One that
quickly dissipates. I began to see the darkness in Oz. I'm not just talking
the Witch and her terrifying monkeys. It's the little things. A
"good" witch manipulating a scared little girl into murdering her
enemies, an entire race of little people trapped in the middle of a conflict
they can do nothing about, and it's all kicked off with a brutal death.
Even Dorothy's friends she meets along the way hinder her just as much
as they help. Bringing her down with their problems and desires. All paving
the yellow brick way to the Emerald
City. The seemingly
perfect center to the world of OZ, overseen by a great and powerful wizard.
The most obvious case of things not being what they seem, as he is revealed to
be nothing more than a normal man, and a conniving one at that. A man that has
to be bullied and pushed into even the slightest bit of help. And in the end
he reveals the way home has been in her possession from the very beginning of
her increasingly pointless journey. One last fuck you from the
"good" witch.
Before this I always wondered why Dorothy was so anxious to return home
to the bleak dust bowl that is her Kansas
home. Why leave the magic and wonder of OZ for a quiet life of poverty and
hard work? After seeing OZ in a different light, looking below the surface, I
understand. Something isn't right and it's only a matter of time before it
continues to grow more and more sinister. I'd get the hell out of there to, with
a quick "fuck off" to that piece of shit lion for good measure.
When I first started thinking about this double feature I had no idea
what I was going to write. What would I have to say outside of "shit be
crazy, yo!"? I never anticipated how different a movie can be with a
different frame of mind. Both movies seemed to flow together like two parts of
a fitful nights sleep. For me Lynch's movies have always forced me to look a
little deeper, just under the surface, to begin to understand them. And applying
that to a classic I've seen a million times gave me a whole new experience. A
journey between two worlds of dreams and hidden meanings. The strangest part
for me was that by the end of this, it didn't really seem all that extreme to
watch these back to back. It made sense in some strange way, no matter what's
on the surface it's all shit underneath.
- Jacob VonKlingele
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