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The strange and wonderful place of Twin Peaks captivated audiences for more than two decades before its long-awaited return to television in 2017. David Lynch and Mark Frost created a land that embodies the politics of American culture. With its focus on small-town America and life outside urban centers, rural and suburban values play a big part in the overall Twin Peaks narrative. More than just a soapy murder investigation or a mysterious puzzle to be solved, Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The Return are metaphors for the political years in which they are set. The Politics of Twin Peaks investigates the show's engagement with American politics and identity. With a close relationship between the two, Twin Peaks is the rare cultural landmark in both film and television whose timelessness is defined by the fact that it can constantly be reinterpreted. Within that sometimes dreamlike Lynchian narrative, Twin Peaks hints at, sometimes explicitly and sometimes subtly, the political fault lines in the United States. In this edited collection, the politics inherent in Twin Peaks is approached from numerous points of view.
List of contents
1.The Nuclear Anxiety of Twin Peaks: The Return
Ashlee Joyce
2 Is it Future or is it Past?: The Politics and use of Nostalgia in Twin Peaks
Amanda DiPaolo
3. Rural and Suburban Lynch: Characterizations of Hard Times in Reagan's andTrump's America
Jamie Gillies
4. Dirty Bearded Men in a Room!: Twin Peaks: The Return and the Politics of Lynchian Comedy
Martin Fradley and John A. Riley
5. Violence, Representation, and Girl Power: Twin Peaks' Female Characters and Third Wave Feminism
Stacy Rusnak
6. The Owls are Not What They Seem: Retaking Queer Meaning in Twin Peaks
Benjamin Kruger-Robbins
7. Zen, or the Art of Being Agent Cooper
Darci Doll
8. The Transmigration of Cooper: Echoes of Plato's Recollection in Twin Peaks
Jean-Philippe Ranger
9. Life in the Black Lodge: The Twin Challenge of Watching Twin Peaks
Shai Biderman, Ronen Gil, and Ido Lewit
About the author
Amanda DiPaolo is associate professor of human rights at St. Thomas University.
Jamie Gillies is associate professor of communications and public policy at St. Thomas University.
