The double as the embodiment of evil. Notes on contemporary seriality from "Twin Peaks" onwards

Abstract

David Lynch is a modern version of the Renaissance author and artist: he is able to create and arrange complex audio-visual narratives, realized through different media. The cinema of Lynch is often marked by doubleness: especially in Twin Peaks (1990-91) the double is a figure, a motif and a metaphor. This paper attempts to show that in Twin Peaks the double embodies the uncanny, which lies at the core of Lynch’s work. Characterized by peculiar manifestations of evil forces from otherworldly dimensions and universes, Twin Peaks shows the effects of a wicked possession which can twist human soul and nature. Indeed in Twin Peaks Bob (F. Silva) is the prototype of the evil shape-shifting creature, who enters the dimension and the world of human beings, while Dale Cooper (K. MacLachlan) is the archetypal Lynchian post-modern hero. From a critical and comparative perspective, Cooper and Bob act as models for several characters in contemporary TV series. Among these, The Leftovers (HBO 2014-2017) and The outsider (HBO 2020) actually focus on the figure of the double and of the theme of revelation of evil forces. In a similar way, in a framework of uncanny reality, Twin Peaks, The Leftovers, The outsider describe and “portray” how evil can become “environment, possibility and force” (Wallace 1992: 204).