Since the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I have started every day with a nearly identical routine. I wearily drag myself out of bed, make myself a damn fine cup of coffee, check Twitter to stay up-to-date on current events, and then open YouTube to watch David Lynch deliver the daily weather report from the window of his home/studio compound in central Los Angeles. Usually, the weather in LA would be the farthest thing from my mind, as it rarely matches the forecast of my life in the Pacific Northwest. However, Lynch’s daily updates to his channel DAVID LYNCH THEATER have firmly anchored themselves into the ritual of my new everyday existence, providing a few treasured moments of brief serenity from the uncontrollable exhaustion of 2020.
Beginning with “David Lynch’s Weather Report” on May 11th, 2020, DAVID LYNCH THEATER has since expanded to other semi-regular check-ins with David, including segments such as “What Is David Working on Today?,” where Lynch gives updates about his various art and woodworking projects, as well as a nearly month-long mystery surrounding a half-opaque, half-translucent jar which is now used to draw a daily number in “TODAYS NUMBER IS…”. While these short segments may seem trivial and somewhat irrelevant, compared to the importance of continually developing current events, Lynch’s channel provides an essential reprieve by way of small daily rituals that focus on the little things in life worth celebrating. Amongst the gloomy grey skies of an absurd world, Lynch has located a silver lining.
In sharing his daily updates, Lynch recognizes the bliss that can come from habits as simple as checking the weather or creating time to work on a small project. These rituals of the mundane may seem inherently meaningless, but by deliberately creating time for the smaller aspects of life, one can develop daily consistencies to fortify themselves better against the seemingly constant whirlwind of absurdity. Further, through these small and intentional rituals, Lynch encourages us to search for positivity regardless of the current climate. Regardless of the weather first thing in the morning, Lynch always looks forward to “blue skies and golden sunshine” somewhere in the future’s vast expanse.
David Lynch’s ability to locate slivers of boundless positivity amongst overwhelming feelings of dread, horror, and uncertainty stretches far beyond the reaches of DAVID LYNCH THEATER and is seen frequently throughout the director’s formal career. Beginning with 1977’s Eraserhead and continuing through to 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, Lynch’s artistic sensibilities (which are now popularly regarded as Lynchian) are fundamentally connected to humanity’s navigation of an inherently absurd world. This can be seen in almost every project throughout Lynch’s oeuvre — Henry’s (Jack Nance) paternal struggles within a lonely hyper-industrialized world in Eraserhead, Jeffrey Beaumont’s (Kyle MacLachlan) exploration of the seedy underbelly of American suburbia in Blue Velvet (1986), and Betty (Naomi Watts) and Rita’s (Laura Harring) amnesic mystery set in the psychological absurdity of Hollywood in Mulholland Drive (2001). These characters all showcase the director’s unique focus on the fundamental absurdity held beneath the thin veneer of daily existence.
Despite the unsettling nature of these works and the horrible, otherworldly evil that is exposed through Lynchian sensibilities, Lynch relies on small rituals of everyday life to anchor his esoteric visions and remind the viewer of the meaningfulness that these rituals can bring amidst extreme absurdity. For example, throughout Blue Velvet’s extremely dark lens on Americana, Jeffrey’s daily rendezvous with Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) emit a “blinding light of love” against the darkness, reminding Jeffrey that there are fractals of good in the world that are worth pursuing despite the pervasive evil that he has been forced to confront since his return to his hometown of Lumberton. Jeffrey relies on these daily moments with Sandy to prevent being swallowed whole by the darkness of absurdity.
While Blue Velvet provides a good introduction to the ways Lynch presents salvation from absurdity, the director’s most notable uses of ritual appear in his only television project, Twin Peaks (1990-1991; 2017). The series, with two seasons produced in the early 1990s and a third installment made in 2017, follows Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) as he investigates the strange and seemingly paranormal murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in the ethereally dreamy small town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The show is most well-known for its endless twists, strange and unusual characters, and exploration of horrifying evils present in American society. However, amongst the mind-bending absurdity of Cooper’s search for truth, Lynch makes time to focus on the meaningful reprieve found in the seemingly mundane rituals of American life — specifically through Agent Cooper’s iconic obsession with hot, black coffee and delectable cherry pie.
In the grand scheme of the show’s complex narrative and serious subject matter, small cultural obsessions such as coffee and pie may seem extraneous and comically exhausting to keep highlighting. However, Lynch uses these small moments of simplicity to anchor Agent Cooper and the other citizens of Twin Peaks, allowing a break from the absurdity to remind themselves of the little enjoyments of everyday life that give them the motivation to continue on. Agent Cooper understands the importance of these moments, as he explains to his companion Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) in the Pilot to “every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it; don’t wait for it; just let it happen. It could be a new shirt in a men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee.” As these small personal surprises repeat from episode to episode, the characters, along with the viewer, begin to understand that these small cultural rituals, such as enjoying a coffee “as black as midnight on a moonless night,” are the aspects of life that are worth holding onto in times of great uncertainty and pervasive strangeness.
Whether it be black coffee, cherry pie, the daily weather report, cigarettes, music, drawing a daily number, arguing about personal beer preferences, making time for art, or anything and everything in-between, David Lynch encourages his audience to revel in these moments of pure personal positivity. Lynch understands that shared daily rituals allow a much-needed break from the grief and anxiety of the absurd, allowing one to recenter themselves, put life in perspective, and gain motivation to go out and face the world one strange day at a time. So, despite the gloom that pervasively hangs over 2020, always hold onto the solace of your next cup of coffee, your next piece of cherry pie, and your next chance to glimpse some beautiful blue skies and golden sunshine.
