Ben's Favorite Director and Why

My favorite auteur director is David Lynch. Lynch is notorious for using many of the same themes and characteristics throughout his films. The first one I'd like to highlight deals with his prevalent use of dream sequences throughout his films and TV shows. Dream sequences are often used to demonstrate underlying messages that the protagonist would not normally stumble across. In Lynch's renowned television series, Twin Peaks, Detective Dale Cooper has may dreams where he's able to patch together clues. In these dreams Cooper is visited by other worldly beings that communicate who the bad guy is. Cooper has a dream where he is visited by a dwarf who reveals the true nature of the "black lodge" where all evil lays, and he later finds out that's where Laura Palmer's killer lives.

A second auteur characteristic Lynch employs is through a very unique lighting scheme. For example, in Blue Velvet, Lynch uses blue backdrops and lighting to highlight the good within people, and he contrasts that with red lighting to achieve an evil effect. This can be seen in Blue Velvet when Dorothy is singing the song "Blue Velvet" with a blue atmosphere. She is the good in the film, whereas Dennis Hopper's character is surrounded in a red façade.

The third common theme Lynch often uses is through his depiction of "small town America" with a deeper, darker undertone attached to it. Many of Lynch's classic characters include small town hero's who discover their livelihood is not as simple as it is depicted. This is the case in Blue Velvet as well, due to the classic small town they live in but with a subplot of organized crime, and sexual perversion.

My top Lynch films:

• Blue Velvet - 1986
• Mulholland Drive - 2001
• 'Twin Peaks" (TV show) - 1992
• Eraserhead - 1972