Thursday, January 22, 2009

Lynch Week- Hear The Call of Eraserhead


by Jacob Shoaf

For the past five or six years, Eraserhead has been my go-to response when anyone asked what my favorite film is (and I’ve forced viewership on as many of those askers as I could). I won’t bore you with the details of my long history with the film (though feel free to ask about the French douchebag involved with my first viewing), but I do hope that I can impart at least some of the aspects of my admiration for this film to you which might enrich any subsequent viewings.

For those of you hoping that my talking about this film will finally shed light (distant screams) on what it’s “about,” then I’ll go ahead and apologize. After thirty-something viewings, I’m still not sure that I’m anywhere close to pinning down the narrative. If anything, I usually come up with a new theory every few viewings based on what I emphasized during the film (this time’s emphasis was circular shapes and characters being submerged into liquids). Feel free to theorize in the comments section.


With the exception of a planet which may or may not be within Henry Spencer and an alley which may or may not be beneath a stage in his radiator, there aren’t any open spaces in Eraserhead. Brick walls and generic industrial visages surround the characters. The closest thing to an open space in the film is the alley where Henry steps in a mud puddle. But as he’s surrounded by large buildings, this is hardly an open space. Lynch turns the industrial landscape into a nightmare world. By relegating the majority of its scenes to Henry’s apartment, he strikes something of an agoraphobic tone with the film. Once Mary and the “baby” (AKA-fetus) move in with Henry, he’s only seen outside one more time. From that point on, he hardly leaves his room. And the pressure closes in…

Particularly amazing in the film is its use of sound. Eraserhead is filled with typical urban noises one would expect from such an environment. As Henry walks to his apartment at the beginning and to the X residence for dinner, it sounds like he’s walking through a steel mill. This is a constant reminder of the industrial hell that Henry calls home. Some of the film’s sound effects are also particularly disconcerting. When Henry arrives at the X residence, he’s seated in the living room with Mrs. X and Mary. This is the only view of the room we get for about a minute, but the entire time there’s a sucking sound that’s barely audible over the industrial hum. It’s not until several lines into the scene that the source of the noise is revealed to be a dog suckling its pups. Another off-putting sound effect is heard when Henry and Mary are trying to sleep back in his apartment. There’s a shot of the window which shows the brick wall across the way. In the upper-left corner of the wall, a light is shone onto the surface. There is, of course, the omnipresent hum but it’s accompanied by distant screams as the light is put into place on the wall. When the light pauses, the screams stop. But when the light recedes, the screaming picks back up with the light’s movement. I don’t attribute any particular symbolic weight to this screaming light, but it certainly does add to the film’s already creepy tone.


In the post-dissection/giant fetus head scene, there’s a deep ambient tone that accompanies the image. In a theatrical setting, it’s the equivalent of the bass at a concert being felt in your organs. The film’s drone sounds like it’s made up of a discordant organ tone, some more industrial hum, and the diegetic sounds of the scene (namely the rapidly shifting location of the giant baby head and the light bulb blowing). It is loud and low creating a deeply unsettlingly feeling which would go well in just about any of the film’s contexts, but its use around the dissection scene and thereafter creates something of a transcendent yet terrifying effect. The same also goes for the film’s last shot. When The Lady in the Radiator embraces Henry (in the bright white light), it’s accompanied by what sounds like a large choir holding a beehive while their tea is slowly coming to boil. Particularly disturbing is when the film crescendos with silence. The sound builds and builds but then abruptly switches to an auditory lack as the film cuts to black. Listening to silence and staring at darkness after such opposed extremes seconds earlier is both daunting and a relief. It’s not until the credits finally come up and the muzack begins that an enormous burden is entirely lifted from the viewer allowing them to relax.

The choral sound combined with the white lighting during the embrace give the scene a heavenly feel, but the entire time there’s that undertone of the other unpleasant noises building up. This is something like a variation on the ‘seedy underbelly’ motif that regular Lynch viewers are used to. In Blue Velvet, he shoes us the Pleasantville-esque suburbia and then the camera digs into the ground to find the bugs and corruption below. In Mulholland Drive Lynch shows the bright lights of LA from afar before taking the audience into their realm and revealing the hideous things they contain. This use of the motif is slightly different in that it’s entirely auditory and that it takes place in the last shots of the film. So while the oppression of the city environ has been exposed for the entirety of the picture, these noises refer to Henry. The image may look angelic, but there’s a harshness to the soundtrack that conflicts with what’s shown.

About a year ago, I was able to see a 35mm print of Eraserhead at a midnight screening at the Kentucky Theatre. Seeing it in such an ideal manner allowed me to consider one of my Cinematic Meccas pilgrimaged to. Despite the ass who gave a yell and fist pump at the fetus’ first appearance, I still consider this to be my favorite cinematic experience. If the chance presents itself for you to see a print of the film at midnight (or anytime for that matter), I can’t implore you enough to do so.

10 comments:

Tony Dayoub said...

You probably know this but for your readers that don't, I think it's interesting to point out that the ambience and story of Eraserhead stem from Lynch's early experience. He moved to Philadelphia with his young family from the Pacific Northwest and was horrified by both the industrial landscape and his new responsibilities as a father.

Anonymous said...

Tony D., indeed. That's probably something I should have mentioned in the post. Thanks for the addition!

For those who haven't seen the film yet or those that deciede to re-visit it, it might behoove you to pick up a copy of "Lynch on Lynch" (edited by Chris Rodley) or watch/listen to the making-of bonus feature on the ERASERHEAD disc where Lynch recalls stories from that era. I think he might also show one of the deleted scenes there. Speaking of, does anyone know if ERASERHEAD's deleted scenes are in the Lime Green Box or is it just WILD AT HEART's?

James Hansen said...

Pretty sure its just Wild at Heart. I feel like they would have made a bigger deal about other deleted scenes in Nathan's podcast and whatnot.

Joel Bocko said...

I've seen Eraserhead once - it was obviously a brilliant masterwork but also a relatively unpleasant experience - mostly on the basis of that fetus - I don't have too much inclination to repeat. I suppose I will have to someday, and hopefully it will be in a theatrical envrionment where I can fully appreciate its horrors.

Incidentally, I concour with Tony's comment (postulated elsewhere) that Fire Walk With Me (or perhaps the show that spawned it) is THE transitional work in Lynch's oeuvre. Interestingly enough, I tend to prefer his post-Peaks films to his pre-Peaks one. Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Fire Walk With Me all hit me on a level Blue Velvet and Eraserhead and certainly Wild at Heart really don't, though these works are ultimately the more polished (and usually, with the exception of Mulholland, favored by critics over Lynch's later work).

Joseph "Jon" Lanthier said...

This is a great sort of "narration" post of Lynch's masterwork, a film I feel is probably among the finest surrealist tours-de-force of all time (along with the equally patriarchal "Belle du Jour," albeit that film takes the issue from a slightly different perspective. I actually think they'd make a fair double feature, with "Belle Du Jour" first, each fantastically limning the difficulties of masculine ego in the face of waning libido and child-bearing, respectively).

Interesting points about "Twin Peaks" and the Lynchian transition -- I can't say whether I favor old school or new school Lynch more, I think both have their pluses and minuses. But I'll still continue to subject myself to whatever twisted, painterly mess he hurls at the screen -- there's nothing quite like it.

I'll probably regret linking this, but a while back I made a video at youtube entitled "The Biggest Eraserhead fan in the World" that invited more criticism than anything I've ever self-published (probably with good reason). Three points are worth making about it: 1) yes, the citation errors are intentional, 2) regardless of what might be said, I do LOVE "Eraserhead" and 3) this was never meant to be anything but silly. Enjoy (or don't) this meager contribution to Lynch week...

Anonymous said...

MovieMan0283-I really hope it comes to a theater near you soon so you can re-bask in all of the awesomeness. Do you know where Tony posted about "Twin Peaks as transitional Lynch?" The only real Lynchian transition that comes to mind for me is the switch to digital and I'd like to (re)read his postulation in context.

Joseph "Jon" Lanthier-Thanks! I should probably give "Belle Du Jour" another go since everyone else seems to love it more than I do.
As for your video, it is pretty funny. My undergrad friends might wonder how you got the rights to my biography. Also, the opening jingle is quite catchy. Kudos!

Meeg said...

I just watched Eraserhead for the first time (finally) a few weeks ago.

You have to give it credit for being unabashedly experimental. The freaky alien underdeveloped fetus baby was an interesting concept, and good call on the ambient sounds (I remember the hiss of the radiator that would crescendo into like a whistle).

I do have to say though that I'm glad it was only 90 minutes because I don't know how much more of it I could have handled.

And that video is hilarious, I love the musical montage part.

Joseph "Jon" Lanthier said...

Thanks for the comments on the skit, guys. Maybe it just needed to find it's audience? hmm...

Anonymous said...

Meeg-Thanks for reading! My first (few) time(s) watching it went the same way, though that might have something to do with my watching a crappy downloaded copy that was approximately three inches tall on my computer. After seeing DVD versions, I really got into it. And seeing it theatrically, I could have sat there for hours. At the film's premiere it was actually 20 or so minutes longer and at least one of those deleted scenes is still floating around somewhere on the interwebs.

Joseph "Jon" Lanthier-There's another guy who posted a bunch of videos on youtube where he does impressions of Lynch's website interviews. He also has a series called "David Lynch Problem Solver" where he goes around solving problems in a stereotypically Lynchian fashion. His username is "notdavidlynch" and here's the first video of his that I watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRwxTbkg50Q&feature=channel_page
I hope people will enjoy them also.

Joseph "Jon" Lanthier said...

Jacob -- thanks for that link...that kid does a better Lynch than Martin Short!