Maybe this will make me an enemy of the film-loving-intelligentsia, but I’ve never been into David Lynch. I’m more than fine with weird, offbeat films. I enjoy avant-garde sh-t and experimental filmmaking and storytelling. But it’s always seemed like David Lynch is just weird without a purpose. I don’t even think he’s a storyteller in any kind of sense: he’s an artist, for sure, and I would consider him a highly evocative and talented director. But he’s not a storyteller. Anyway, Lynch has a new interview with The Guardian, and it’s a very long piece – you can read it here. His weirdness sort of lulls you after a while until you realize that half of it is performative. David Lynch admits to mainlining coffee and a pack of cigarettes every day, and you know he’s probably watching Vanderpump Rules and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. As I was being lulled by the weirdness, this jumped out at me:
Politically, meanwhile, Lynch is all over the map. He voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and thinks – he’s not sure – he voted Libertarian in the presidential election. “I am not really a political person, but I really like the freedom to do what you want to do,” says the persecuted Californian smoker.
He is undecided about Donald Trump. “He could go down as one of the greatest presidents in history because he has disrupted the thing so much. No one is able to counter this guy in an intelligent way.” While Trump may not be doing a good job himself, Lynch thinks, he is opening up a space where other outsiders might. “Our so-called leaders can’t take the country forward, can’t get anything done. Like children, they are. Trump has shown all this.”
You know what will make me sad? If we still have to argue with Bernie Bros about whether the Trump presidency has any kind of silver f–king lining. I will be so upset and so angry if we still have to hear from these Bernie-supporting a–holes about how they just couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because she was equally as “evil” as Donald Trump. I keep hoping that all of the Bernie Bros will come to Jesus as they watch as babies are ripped from their mothers’ arms and as children are being forced into cages and white supremacists march in American cities and kill innocent people. But I guess so many of those dudes are still stuck in their little bubbles of privilege, like David Lynch. “No one is able to counter this guy in an intelligent way.” FFS.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I love old Lynch. But if he can’t say something useful… Than just drop it and meditate, whatever it is that he does.
He’s cancelled.
Which for me means nothing has changed I never liked his movies, or his myopic non diverse universe he occupies.
Agree, Cleo2…so many cancellations lately – my To Watch list has gotten shorter.
just in case anybody was wondering,
david lynch’s signature is on the Polanski petition.
http://www.indiewire.com/2009/09/over-100-in-film-community-sign-polanski-petition-55821/
as is Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Darren Aronovsky….NOBODY has asked these men about it. Wish David Lynch was asked.
It sounds harsh but…I can’t wait for these old white men to shuffle off their mortal coil. They inch closer everyday, Trump & co. included – thank god.
I’m probably a terrible person but I had a similar thought this morning as I passed an old white dude in a truck with a trump sticker on it. The old farts are doing their level best to ruin the world before they kick the bucket. Brexit, Trump… the world will breathe a sigh of relief when the last baby boomer leaves this mortal plane.
I mean I don’t disagree, but to insinuate that this is an old white male problem is just … not true. It ignores the 53% of white women that voted for Trump. It ignores the YOUNG white males who marched in Charlottesville with tiki torches. It’s not old white men alone, and our problems will not be solved when they die, and merely waiting for them to do so is no substitute for doing the work like getting people registered to vote and lobbying our legislators for things that will help us vote, clean up our environment, ramp up regulations on banks and corporations, etc. I know that’s not what you were saying, hon, but I always bristle at the “they’ll be dead soon” thing because that ignores all the young men that have terrorized my community for decades.
Hey Aud!! I’m a Boomer, and I DETEST that orange turd along with every single one of my peers! We are the generation with the time and often the money to oppose this jagoff, please don’t wish us all dead! Lol, I am only 57, hike every day, work as a therapist, love my kids, dogs, cats, friends, and am aghast at what is happening in the USA. I am a dual citizen and live in Canada, but I am WITH you!!!
Yikes. I definitely don’t wish you dead. Sorry for my insensitive comment, guilty.
He will never be personally affected by Trump policies, so yeah for him Trump will go down as the greatest president cos ya know he upsets the status quo, Trump is doing nothing more than upholding the status qui if you are white (generally male) and rich.
Also tax cuts for the rich which am sure he is not to pissed off about.
You’ve said it.
Absolutely spot on.
There were a lot of people who didn’t vote for Hillary because they wanted to show off.
They hate Trump’s policies, supposedly, but couldn’t be bothered to stop him with their vote.
I find him a confused, eccentric and bewildered man. David Lynch is just a migraine that would take you days to get rid of. That’s all.
Perfectly said!
Oh, shut up with the “disrupting” nonsense, you fool.
Yeah, that was like a needle scratch for me, too. Very Bannon-esque.
The Germans thought the same way about Hitler and we all know what happened back then….
Half the time lately I feel like I’m losing my mind. I read the news and cannot imagine that any intelligent individual could continue to support this administration. Yet, they do. WTF am I missing?
Brain damage.
(Is what you’re missing.)
Being a rich, white dude without an ounce of empathy for those that are not.
A lot of famous, successful people are dumb outside of their bubble of what made them famous and successful.
And everytime we hear something like this, dozens of private conversations occured where dumb and successful people congratulated each other on their opinions. That’s the obliviousness.
This!!! I don’t expect highly successful/talented people to be smart or insightful outside of their sphere and particularly not if they’ve been wealthy for any amount of time. It tends to cloister people and warp their sense of most people’s reality.
Even if they started out with little.
The headline about Trump going down in history as the greatest president made me burst out laughing. Yeah, I don’t think so.
Maybe Lynch is just wondering out loud? Whatever the case may be, being a “disrupter” doesnt make Trump a great President. It just makes him a disrupter. And a really self-serving and frankly un-American disrupter.
It is amazing people start every idiotic political comment with, ‘I’m not a political person’.
Privilege at it’s stupidest.
Right??? THANK YOU!
Uhh, what the fuck? I didn’t expect that of him. Can we still count on Kyle Maclachlan? <3
I don’t think the Bernie folks will have that come to jesus moment given that Bernie came out this weekend and said he did not support abolishing ICE (which really, at this point, why not? they’ve been uncontrollable long before Trump and have shown their true purpose).
Sanders has a LONG voting history of going with the Republican hard-liners regarding immigration…and he made it possible for nuclear waste being shipped from his state of Vermont to a poor Latino community…It AMAZED me during the election…seeing all those Latinos supporting Sanders…as if they had done not a SOUPCON of research about his horrible voting record…
Sanders was never properly vetted. The media was so stuck on vetting Hilary’s every move that they glossed over the issues that Sanders isn’t so great on. Had he won the primary, he would have been in for a rude awakening at the scrutiny he would have received. He’s only still a poster boy because he didn’t win the primary. Those of us who bother to research him can see how problematic he is on major issues for the left.
What the HELL? Well, I used to like him.
I read the whole interview this week-end. I came out of it with the same impression I have when I chat with 55 year+ old white men. They are not great parents – his take on kids is that as an artist you have to be “selfish” as if artists had to work longer hours than restaurateurs or doctors etc. They have incredibly problematic relations with women and go to great lengths to say something clever about the most painfully obvious political horrors, such as this inanity about Trump possibly being the greatest.
THIS.
times a million, @slowsnow
Exactly. His present wife is 30 years younger (blecch) and he talks about he can’t be bothered with paying too much attention to his young child they had together. He comes off a narcissistic self involved “artiste” spewing a lot of BS.
Too much LSD.
I’m on the Mobile(AL)Progressives FB account. It’s mostly sensible people, but there are a few berniebros who pipe up. They’re still repeating that same old, stale sh1t. I really hope, before it’s over, they are seriously harmed in some way by the Dicktator’s polucies.
Seriously, who is he? Could someone give me a few names of the things he has done? Thanks in advance.
Arguably the first tv series that completely changed the way we watch tv, Twin Peaks. Also, the films Sailor & Lula, Mulloland Drive, A Simple Life, Inland Empire amongst others.
So we expect him not to be like the same old white privileged male, but no luck.
Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive are a few of his, IIRC. He’s an oddball. I don’t think I’ve understood anything he’s done.
IMDB.com will have everything he’s done. He seems to like working with Kyle MacLachlan (sp?), Laura Dern (yay!), Justin Theroux (boo!)….he’s prob the reason Justin believes himself to be hip & edgy 🙄
I’m trying to remember what I say Lynch in…I thought he was a f_cking loon.
I think he does tv shows and movies that are supposed to be surrealistic. However, I personally found them to be just a bunch of cheaply executed nonsense trying to pass as deep. Pretty much like (at least) half of Murakami’s work.
Jan Svankmajer is closer to what I consider an artist in that genre.
Yes. You said it! These people who sit back from their bubble in a high tower and look down on everybody else because they’re not affected by what’s happening… sure have the luxury of acting like there’s a silver lining or that this is all some sort of harmless thought experiment. It’s surprising how many people have their heads up their asses. I would have thought at least 80% of the people would have empathy and the ability to think about others. But I think I was wrong. I think maybe only 70%.
Please don’t ruin your weird appeal for me, David, by being the definition of a Basic Dick.
I’ve been tracking him since before “Blue Velvet”…believe me…he’s a basic dick…
He’s a raging misogynist. MRA style.
‘“While Trump may not be doing a good job himself, Lynch thinks, he is opening up a space where other outsiders might. “
I agree that Trump forcibly opens up a space for outsiders to step in by his impressive incompetence & petulance. His gross bigotry, wholehearted embrace, support and outright encouragement of blatant, violent acts of racism will not perversely put him in history books as one of the greatest presidents of the USA. 💩 is 💩 His behavior showcases the worst of our country and encourages people to behave similarly.
Setting a house on fire, watching it burn to ashes, not calling the fire department and encouraging such behavior makes you an arsonist not a great person.
This, a thousand times this. I have NO PATIENCE for idiots who want to make the point that Trump is doing something valuable and beneficial by “shaking up the status quo.” That might work for a (poorly run) (oft-bankrupt) (unproveably profitable) (grifty and questionably legal) family-owned real-estate/terrible mass-market products shilling “empire”, but this level of gross incompetence is not good for institutions as important and vital as our government.
I want a qualified, intelligent, prepared person to be President. I do NOT see any value in having a president who is less qualified than my dog, who has no more experience in policy-making, but at least does not actively wish harm to most of the populace, and who generally conducts herself in a mostly decorous manner with others, some barking and jumping notwithstanding. She’s certainly smarter and has much better manners.
TLDR; The Orange One is a terrible president, will go down in history as a terrible president, and may end our democratic experiment before he’s through. And Paul and Mitch just stand there and watch with their thumbs up their a$$es. I cannot.
Netflix is disruptive. Trump is destructive. Learn these very fine points of discernment, Lynch.
You think rich white men know the difference?
As long as the orange white supremacist goes down the sh*t drain and takes his minions. Now that would be great for history.
Yes, it is safe to say that he will go down in history as….something. but don’t pit the greatest there, the loudest, most stupid, most bizzare even, but don’t equal any of those things to greatness. So ignorant. And I get that someone as Lynch may not be a political guy, this is his right, I may find that low and self absorbed, but I can accept that. But then just say that and not comment on politics exactly because you have no interest in anything further than your own damn nose
Lynch approaches this as a game, an intellectual thing not a reality some people have to live in. The same is true for Sarandon and a few other Hollywood progressives
On a whole I don’t this brand of American progressive very strange. In Europe being on the left, being a socialist tends to mean solidarity with black and brown people plight anti racism amongst many things. In America the left almost seems to align with trump because disruption and anti establishment is more important than considering the black and brown people who are suffering as a result of the current administration.
Judging from that photo, David goes to the same barber as 45 to get his “stoned long haired guinea pig” hairpiece washed and styled…..
Yeah, someone spends a lot of time on that “I’m a wild and creative auteur” hairdo.
Yes, he COULD … but not effing likely!!!
People have been killed in racists attacks since Trump, I can’t imagine anybody justifying it by saying it was necessary so others can realize racism is bad.
Just sayin
I have some grudging respect for the concept of the “useful idiot”, but I gotta say, so far, the Donald has disappointed me on that front, too.
I’m not into this whole devil’s advocate thing. Anyone can see that nobody comes at Trump in an intelligent way because Trump himself degrades the conversation. That’s the equivalent of claiming you have an unbeatable strategy at Monopoly but all you do is throw the board across the room when you start losing. That’s not strategy. His staff literally has to distill information into pictures and sound bites and the only way he knows how to get out of a talking point is to bluntly change the subject. That’s literally the opposite of strategy and intelligence.
Until now I have loved Mr. Lynch’s work. Going forward, I’ll pass. In my estimation, these kinds of rationalizations only come out of the mouths of bigots and misogynists. Moreover, when Americans describe political “disruption” as a good thing, it makes me wonder if they are knowingly aligned with Russian interests.
I seem to recall as story from the production of Twin Peaks that the set-dresser Frank Silva was cast as “Bob” after Sheryl Lee complained that he made her uncomfortable on set.
The only way he’s going down as the greatest POTUS of all time is if somehow half of the entire country can somehow suspend everything they know to be true and find despicable for the next three years…I really don’t see that happening.
Dear David Lynch,
Kindly go soak your head, you idiot.
He certainly can not be serious, this must be sarcasm. Must be.
Ugh!
When I think of anyone describing Trump as great, what immediately comes to mind is a quote from Harry Potter:
“…After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things- terrible, yes, but great.”
🤔
I’m a huge fan of David Lynch. Very disappointed with his comments.
Not being able to counter Trump and his supporters in an intelligent way may seems like a compliment but it’s not. They are immune to any logic or rational argument. They only respond to propaganda.
How the hell does disruption = greatness? I mean if the NK thing works out, then maybe in some small, idiotic, crazy alternative view one could use that as an argument. But when is chaos from leadership ever a good thing? When is corruption ever a good thing? Lynch <— STFU
I get it. Trump has shown how far you can go from business as usual in Washington if you really want to. Hopefully the next president will be a progressive who will do the same.
I’m not a fan of David Lynch as a filmmaker, and I agree with Kaiser that he’s not a storyteller. As for his Trump comment, maybe he didn’t phrase it well but I kind of see a small point in it. Trump will never be a “great” President of course (not even a mediocre one) but what he’s doing will definitely be looked at in the future as a watershed moment in politics. He has disrupted a lot, he has opened up a huge chasm not just in the US but in the world politics. The thing is, we don’t really know now if that will eventually turn into a good thing (once he’s out, obviously). There are other cases in history where terrible governments opened up the door for a really good one after. Here’s hoping.