From TWIN PEAKS.





The greek goddess Diana with a Deer.



I've never been sure how the deer (or buck) applies to TWIN PEAKS, what it implies or represents. Deer symbolism I find on the internet is so comprehensive and general that it could apply in any number of countless ways. so I'm not sure how it applies to MULHOLLAND DRIVE. But I do like to think it was 10 bucks that visited Coco before Betty's arrival.

Or maybe I've just been watching too much of that new HANNIBAL tv show.

Anyway, 10 bucks says you're Betty.

I always thought this scene with a deer head was the one of the most unusual and affecting images from Twin Peaks, something about the massive size and the stillness of the head on the table.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7bpff-VO4

"Diane" is an almost otherworldly presence in Twin Peaks (by means of Cooper's recorder). Likewise the forest is a major element to the story, as well as timber and logging.

Also, this theme of "woman in trouble" from Laura Palmer, to Mulholland Drive, to Inland Empire: Artemis was a goddess that women called out to in times of trouble, (esp. difficulties in childbirth, apparently).

I really like this cluster of symbolism, about the mystery of forests, ancient divinities, all things feminine. I kind of feel this is what Cooper was tapping into with his intuitive, dream-centred detective methods, as opposed to Albert's ultra-logical & abrasive approach, or whatever style Chet Desmond utilized.

Glad to see you back kmkmiller, I like your posts.

well it's nice to be back.

I'm still trying to get a better handle on Deer symbolism, in the bible the deer is an unmistakably clear symbol of goodness, sure-footedness, and gracefulness. how that relates to TWIN PEAKS seems fairly clear because the recurring images of antlers and felled deer sort of adds to the overall loss of innocence that permeates the entire show.

In order to tie this into Mulholland Drive I have to remind myself of how Fred in Lost Highway is a sort of Orpheus figure. But somehow an Orpheus figure who is not only on a journey to retrieve Euridyce from Hades, but also, due to Lynch's and Gifford's twist on the tale, responsible for Euridyce's descent into Hades in the first place. He is the killer Orpheus. No one ever imagined Orpheus kneeling there in the bodily debris of his beloved Euridyce. So maybe something similar is going on here with the Diana mythologies.

Gonna keep mulling this over. I forgot about that scene from the pilot, btw. thanks much for adding!

kmkmiller wrote: an Orpheus figure [...] responsible for Euridyce's descent into Hades in the first place... maybe something similar is going on here with the Diana mythologies.

That's been on my mind too since reading the section on Roman Mythology on the other half of this very website: http://www.mulholland-drive.net/studies/mythology.htm

It says on that page that in The Aeneid version of the myth, the goddess Diana, had foreknowledge that the warrior Camilla was fated to die, and sent a nymph to slay anyone who hurt Camilla.

It's fascinating, to me, how in Lost Highway, Fred is, as you said, a sort of Orpheus-figure who is himself responsible for sending Eurydice to Hades, but furthermore that he's suffering from a badly divided psyche (his splitting headaches) as he is trying to hide this knowledge from himself.

Likewise fascinating that the sleeping Diane seems to send Betty, like the nymph in the myth, to help Camilla/Rita find out who hurt her, and paradoxically she is searching for herself.

I think this is a major theme in Lynch movies, from Leland Palmer, Alvin Straight, and I think most powerfully in LH and MD, of people who are severely split within themselves, and the truth about what they've done is kind of dawning on them through the cracks in their minds & lives.

............

As for the deer-theme, there's also the scene from The Straight Story, with the woman who's hit so many deer, and then Alvin roasting her kill and noticing all the plastic deer watching him as he eats. Kind of has a similar theme in it I have read - some people have said to watch right before she hits the deer, she speeds past the lawn-mower just before - maybe suggesting she has more culpability in the dead deer than she admits to herself (but it doesn't look like she's going that fast to me).

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Deer, eh? Or is that Deere?



I'm assuming a lot of it is nodding towards the Disney animated film 'Bambi', since David also made this commercial for the Sony Playstation 2, called ... errr, "Bambi".



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btw, bet that code opened one of the phone booths back in the day on DL.com



TP = Twin Peaks?

So, Twin Peaks 054318?

Ah, John Deere, hadn't thought of that :)

I can quite figure the TP number: at first I thought the 318 might refer to Cooper's hotel room in the Great Northern, but I checked, it was 315

Another deer reference though - I believe the original town in Fire Walk With Me is called Deer Meadow.





http://www.intwinpeaks.com/2008/05/real-fwwm-woods.html

Deer Meadow. Twin Peaks' very own evil doppelganger.

Excellent shout.

So I'm still trying to figure out why?

Why deers?

I have to think about this some more.

The only "dear" in the MD pilot script on a quick search.

WALLY
I'm Wally Brown. Your Aunt is a very dear
friend of mine so it's particularly nice
to meet you.

I'm watching through Twin Peaks again at the moment, and have notice a lot of deer imagery - not so suprising, as hunting seems to be a big part of life in this town. One particularly striking deer image though is the ornamental gun rack above Cooper's bed though - two deer hooves holding a riffle. There seems to be the same sort of rack in the Packard lodge, with a mountain goat's hooves holding a rifle up below it's mounted head. Seems kind of creepy if you reflect on it, an animal's body parts being used to display the weapon that killed it, also kind of a mildly funny piece of black humour.