Throughout this report I will analyse David Lynch’s 2001 film Mulholland Drive (starring Naomi watts and Justin Theroux)[1] and how it represents and reflects Hollywood as an unreal place full of unreal people and how it deconstructs the idea of this glamourous image of Hollywood and Los Angeles as a place that is sold too us in mainstream culture. I will be focusing on how he creates a disjointed sense of reality using characters and narratives in three major scenes. These three scenes are; the scene where Betty arrives into Los Angeles, the scene where Adam Kesher is blackmailed into going to the top of the Hollywood hills and the scene where Betty goes for an uncomfortable audition with a group of older men high up in Hollywood.
In the scene where Betty first arrives into Los Angeles (0:17:50), we see a representation of the city that is full of sunlight and blue skies with palm trees in the distance, this denotes to the audience a heavenly and tranquil landscape which is often a stereotyped representation we have through mainstream Hollywood that Los Angeles is a place of constant sunshine and bliss (e.g. In the 1989 adventure/comedy Troop Beverly Hills) Aswell as in Adverts and reality TV shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians. In this scene the dialogue used between the characters she meets whilst leaving the airport (Irene and her companion) an elderly couple, every line is extremely friendly and happy to the point where it seems too good to be true, this is reinforced by the constant smiles on each of the characters faces, with the scene ending on the elderly couple smiling unnaturally in their taxi until a sinister theme is connoted in the subtle dissonance in the orchestral soundtrack. This scene to an extent seems to represent part of the American dream in this way, like a scene in another of Lynches’ Films ‘Blue Velvet’ in which he also has suburban characters acting in an unnaturally joyous and happy way. This type of scene acts as a surface layer to the film which is stripped away to reveal a disjointed perception of reality that breaks down and folds into itself as the film develops.
In the scene in which the character of Adam Kesher (A successful Hollywood Film Director) is blackmailed by an unknown organisation into driving to the top of the Hollywood hills (01:05:00) we see the glamourous elements of central LA swapped around and replaced with a dark and dingy, run down coral, the scene is set at night with only the lighting of his car, setting a darker tone to the mood. The neatly tarmacked road is replaced with one that has been chipped away and run down, the coral itself is very rustic and un kept and has no glamour to it compared with earlier scenes, the leaving behind of his highly expensive porshe on the road can be seen as a symbol of this, these changes in the mise-en scene peel back the original layer of representation from the scene where betty first lands in LA and subverts it with a slightly darker tone, this can be seen in the comparison with the acting and dialogue, which is now more serious and mysterious compared to the overly happy dialogue and actions shared between betty and the old couple. The role of ‘the cowboy’ in this scene and the powerful organisation that lies behind him and a number of other representatives seem to represent a death of creativity in the Hollywood film industry as they pressure him and give him no option but to cast their choice of a lead actress in a film he is directing and instead the main creative decisions are made by a faceless and powerful organisation that controls it, “There’s sometimes a buggy, how many drivers does a buggy have? One? So, let’s just say I’m driving this buggy and if you fix your attitude, you can ride along with me” this quote reinforces this idea. The narrative deconstructs the popular image of Hollywood and shows it in a light that is more realistic and is a visible signifier to representing Hollywood as a place shrouded in corruption behind the scenes of this fantastical un-realistic image that is usually being sold to us.
The final scene I will look at in this analysis of Mulholland Drive is the scene in which Betty auditions for a role in a new film. This scene reveals another subtle layer of corruption and suggests sexual harassment that goes on in Hollywood, as the scene develops it becomes increasingly uncomfortable to watch as betty (the attractive young woman) is slowly groped and kissed by her much older counterpart acting in the scene with her, playing a much older lover in front of a small group of older men (1:14:43). “hey bobby, I want to play this one nice and close like we did with that other girl, what’s her name, the one with the black hair, felt kinda good”. The dialogue also denotes this idea of senior male actors preying on younger female actresses in Hollywood because they have power over them. This scene in some ways relates to the real life sexual harassment issues that have come to light currently in 2017 with the Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually harassing and raping more than 50 female actresses’ in Hollywood[2].
In Conclusion Mulholland Drive as a film subtly deconstructs the glamourous myth of Hollywood and Los Angeles as a place of corruption and scandals, peeling back the layers of the image of a perfect place, a land where dreams come true and stars are made. The three scenes subtly denote this in various ways in the narrative and dialogue Aswell in additional characters. However, Lynch is well known for his films containing multiple meanings and these scenes could also tie into other plots and theories about the film and its characters e.g. that each scene we see at the start of the film is invented inside Betty or Diane’s head. There is strong subtext of themes that look at Hollywood in a critical way in here particularly the business side and in some ways, holds a mirror up to it for the audience to see.
Bibliography
Websites
Mulholland Drive Information –http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/
Harvey Weinstein Case-
[1] Imdb Information on Mulholland Drive
[2] Guardian Website – Harvey Weinstein Case
Scott Clark Artwork 