Let us not overlook the importance of Mark Frost in TP. It was the pairing that made it so good IMO. The right blend of wide appeal (murder mystery) and artistic integrity (Lynch). I have always been more in tune with the artists way, but if it doesn't make sense then it is just an expression. TP was a living breathing world with its own mythology and was hiding inside the guise of a TV show. The result was breath taking.

I think it's because it's his most accessible work. And it's more accessible because it was on tv so certain things had to be toned down and due to the collaboration with Mark Frost. Also, because it's a tv show it allows more characters to be involved and more storylines to happen, so I guess you could say that there's something in it for everyone. Well, not everyone, but that does help reach a bigger audience.

 I really don't think it is more accessible.What is easier to introduce people to: Blue Velvet; Elephant Man; or a two-season TV show with a 90-minute pilot introduction. Obviously, that's just going on length, but in films I think people are willing to put up with some weirdness. There's some strange characters in WAH, but you aren't going to have to watch them for two series. You might not get what's going on in Mulholland Dr. but you can just enjoy the atmosphere for two and a half hours. I think that's harder to accept with a TV show. Anyhow, I have had more success in introducing people to Lynch's films than TP or, God forbid, On the Air.

 Which do you consider to be his most accessible work?I think it's The Elephant Man. It has as its subject something that most people will know about and be naturally intererested in (though I'm not sure how much of that is as a result of the film itself). And though it has some dream-like elements it is basically a linear story. Obviously there are lots of other linear stories like Dune, Straight Story, Wild at Heart etc., but they're too weird, or in the case of Straight Story too slow, for most people. Apart from Elephant Man, I think Blue Velvet deals with issues people can relate to, and even if it has strange characters I think you can always tell what the motivations (however perverse) are behind their actions.
 

Hmmm...It could well be 'The Elephant Man' as you say above...which got me thinking back to when I first saw it...so I thought I'd recant the tale here.

 

I must have been about 13/14 years old or something (I didn't even know who Lynch was then, we watched Dune too)...back in the VHS toploader days, early 80's!  Anyway I can remember watching it with my brother and father (that's what I recall, after the intial complaints of why is this in B&W ffs!) in the afternoon. During the showing I was kinda curled up on a sofa with my hand supporting my head, so they/you couldn't have really seen my face full on etc, at the time this was not intentional...this position was just as well, as during the said viewing I think I could've easily cried my eyes out...literally for most of the film...I was that moved by it!  Obviously being male and in the presence of other peer males...there was no way that I could allow for such a thing to happen (I was young remember) and I had to spend the time stifling my emotions and boy I don't think I've ever been this emotionally affected as much, by any movie before or since!  When I say emotionally affected, I literally mean that my whole body ached (not just the usual sniffles etc) from it and I was having to fight it to stay in control...this was not just some typical syruppy emotional response to a sad tale...because I'd had some of those in general and it wasn't that!

 

The whole experience definitely had a strange affect on me...and one which I was reminded of several years later...by the making of  another movie (Silence of the Lambs) starring one of the cast members from The Elephant Man, that being Anthony Hopkins.  Lynch did such a great job of directing him within this story (the whole movie is a gem, Hopkins was superb) that when Hopkins went on to become Hannibal Lector...I could not accept him as this character in SOTL, I could only see him as Dr Treves (EM) and the net result was that I did not and could not find him in anyway frightening or scary...my psyche wouldn't allow it!  I was always at a loss to understand why folk kept saying how scary Hopkins was in the SOTL...all I saw was a slighty 'pissed' Dr Treves?

Is this another example of just how effective Lynch is at conveying feeling (i don't think anyone can match him) through the medium of sound and image...for me, the more you are able to feel his 'films' the easier they are to relate to and ultimately understand, that is my experience?

 

A strange tale, but a true one.

 

oh btw

Dr Treves/Elephant Man/Hopkins

Hannibal(military tactician)/War Elephant's/Dr Hannibal Lector/Hopkins

I think it's because it's his most accessible work. And it's more accessible because it was on tv so certain things had to be toned down and due to the collaboration with Mark Frost. Also, because it's a tv show it allows more characters to be involved and more storylines to happen, so I guess you could say that there's something in it for everyone. Well, not everyone, but that does help reach a bigger audience.

 I really don't think it is more accessible.What is easier to introduce people to: Blue Velvet; Elephant Man; or a two-season TV show with a 90-minute pilot introduction. Obviously, that's just going on length, but in films I think people are willing to put up with some weirdness. There's some strange characters in WAH, but you aren't going to have to watch them for two series. You might not get what's going on in Mulholland Dr. but you can just enjoy the atmosphere for two and a half hours. I think that's harder to accept with a TV show. Anyhow, I have had more success in introducing people to Lynch's films than TP or, God forbid, On the Air.

 Which do you consider to be his most accessible work?I think it's The Elephant Man. It has as its subject something that most people will know about and be naturally intererested in (though I'm not sure how much of that is as a result of the film itself). And though it has some dream-like elements it is basically a linear story. Obviously there are lots of other linear stories like Dune, Straight Story, Wild at Heart etc., but they're too weird, or in the case of Straight Story too slow, for most people. Apart from Elephant Man, I think Blue Velvet deals with issues people can relate to, and even if it has strange characters I think you can always tell what the motivations (however perverse) are behind their actions.
 
 Although I stand by my opinion, I guess I understand your point of view. I mean it's certainly a debatable subject, but if we look at things in terms of weirdness or linearity, you're definitely right.