Mulholland Drive and Postmodernism

Mulholland Drive is a (2001) drama mystery directed by David Lynch and
revolves around the relationship between the characters Rita and Betty as they try
to solve a mystery and tackle the Hollywood monster in hopes to make it big and
discover the truth about Rita’s past. The film itself can be argued to be very
conflicting and confusing, as Lynch creates dreams within dreams and re-uses
characters in different storylines in order to create a mysterious, yet intriguing plot
that never slows down, but do these features of Mulholland Drive also make the
film Postmodernist as well?
One reason it does its through the films usage of Hyper reality, defined as “a
special kind of social reality in which a reality is created or simulated from models,
or defined by reference to models” (Robinson, 2012) Mulholland Drive utilises this
by placing the film firstly within a fantasy sequence, laced between a few real time
sequences that have happened at different points during the course of the film,
Lynch opens with a car accident, a fantasy sequence that the audience is made to Fig 1, Mulholland Drive, (2001)
believe is the films fictional universe and tells the story from there, making it
harder for the audience to disconnect from what they have previously seen once it
is released that is wasn’t real “It is experienced as more real than the real, because of its effect of breaking
down the boundary between real and imaginary. It is a ‘real’ without ‘origin or reality’, a reality to which we
cannot connect.” (Richardson, 2012). The fictional universe comes in the form of Diane’s fantasy romance,
where she is a naive women called Betty, fresh off the plane from Ontario to find herself in the magic of
Hollywood only to be swept up in a short romance involving an
amnesiac brunette named Rita. Lynch continues to convince the
audience of the hyper reality through the usage of jumping scenes
between a terrible hitman and the failing director Adam Kesher,
making the film appear as if it’s being told in chronological order,
and intwined with the mystery of Ritas amnesia appears as if the
film is actually going somewhere, rather than it all being a fantasy
dream sequence “When I say Mulholland Drive is a dream, I don’t
mean a dream in that hokey, hack-y it’s-all-just-a-dream sense,
where the exhilarating or alarming thing that happened actually
didn’t. I mean a dream in the Freudian royal-road-to-the-
Fig 2, A Fallen Star Over Mulholland Drive: unconscious sense,” (Anolik, 2017).
Representation of the Actress, (2018)
Mulholland Drives hyper reality conforms to Postmodernism through the idea
of creating and presenting a fictionalised reality that the audience can believe to the point where, when its
relieved its false makes it hard of the audience to distinguish the difference between the fantasy and the lie,
the fictional universe in Diane’s mind can be argued to be a critique of the Modernised stereotype of
Hollywood and ambitions, while her reality is the truth for that fantasy, that Hollywood isn’t where dreams
are made of and peoples lives are just as miserable as they are everywhere else.
The second way is through the films critique of the Hollywood dream. As mentioned earlier with Lynch’s
usage of Hyperreality, the film uses this as a way to humanise the Hollywood experience, through Diane's
pain and anger at Camilla, her crush “Diane's fantasy is a number of things. It's obviously a dream of a world
in which her relationship with Camilla was different -- a place
where Camilla loves her and is dependent on her. But it's also a
requiem for her lost career, and arguably an elegy to a lost
Hollywood as well” (Wyman, 2001). The films first criticism of this
through the character of Betty, Diane’s projection of herself where
she is transformed into a naive and talented small town actress, a
stereotype in itself for a lot of famous Hollywood films and
attempts to solve an intriguing yet harmless mystery that allows her
to become more involved with Diane; this simplifies her
relationship with Rita (or Camilla) by taking out the jealousy and
work put into getting a career and living in Hollywood, by isolating
the pair and giving Betty the means to enjoy the experience of
Hollywood, without having to go through the pain and struggle to
make it “Lynch does a great job intertwining the dicier sides of Fig 3, Yes, There’s Actually a Legit Explanation for
Mulholland Drive, (2001)
Diane's character with a wider critique of Hollywood as a business
and the complex relationship between Hollywood as dream factory and its audience. It's possible Lynch sees
consumers of popular Hollywood fare as unable to work out their grievances in their real lives, so they resort
to fantasies of revenge.” (Wyman, 2001).
By doing this, it fantasises the dream life of Hollywood and takes out the work and effort it takes to make a
career there, but the second half of the film brings the audience back to reality and shows the audience what
it’s actually like to live there, emphasis the Postmodern critique of the dream life and a universal experience.
In conclusion Mulholland Drive combines Hyper realty and critical thinking to create a Postmodern look at
the Hollywood dream, it utilises Diane’s dreams and fantasies to trick the audience into think the film will be
lighthearted and fun, before dropping them into a reality wherever the doe eyed main character isn’t happy
and not everyone is a black and white character.
Illustrative Bibliography
Fig 1, Mulholland Drive, (2001), [Film Poster], URL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/,

(Accessed: 14/10/19)
Fig 2, A Fallen Star Over Mulholland Drive: Representation of the Actress, (2018), [Online Image],
URL: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/13761232.0042.107?view=text;rgn=main, (Accessed:
14/10/19)
Fig 3, Yes, There’s Actually a Legit Explanation for Mulholland Drive, (2001), [Online Image],
URL: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/13761232.0042.107?view=text;rgn=main, (Accessed:
14/10/19)
Bibliography
Robinson, A, (2012), Jean Baudrillard: Hyperreality and Implosion, URL:

https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-baudrillard-9/, (Accessed: 14/10/19)
Wang, E, (2016), The darkest depictions of Hollywood in film, URL:

https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/32257/1/the-darkest-depictions-of-
hollywood-in-film, (Accessed: 14/10/19)
Anolik, L, (2017), Inside the Making of Mulholland Drive, David Lynch’s Dark, Freudian
Masterpiece, URL: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/mulholland-drive-david-
lynch-masterpiece, (Accessed: 14/10/19)
Wyman, B, (2001), Everything you were afraid to ask about "Mulholland Drive”, URL:
https://www.salon.com/2001/10/24/mulholland_drive_analysis/, (Accessed: 14/10/19)

Mulholland Drive and Postmodernism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mulholland Drive and Postmodernism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mulholland Drive and Postmodernism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mulholland Drive is a (2001) drama mystery directed by David Lynch and

Fig 1, Mulholland Drive, (2001), [Film Poster], URL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/,

Robinson, A, (2012), Jean Baudrillard: Hyperreality and Implosion, URL:

Wang, E, (2016), The darkest depictions of Hollywood in film, URL:

You might also like