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Subject: Re: Blue Box and the key
Date: Oct 28, 2002
Very good analysis...I also used the blue key as the, uh, key, to linking the two storylines together. I thought the box itself is more symbollic than what is inside, as in the mystery is "we don't know what's in the box" rather than "what's in the box." This is also reflected when the hitman tells Diane that when the deed is done, she'll see the key, and Diane asked what the key opened and we don't get an answer. So, in Diane's mind it's the same when they have a key, but don't know what it opens. When Rita does open the box, it fades to black and we find the answer...that it's not what is in the box, but that the box can finally be opened. Not sure if I'm making any sense, but it's as if the journey to discover truth is more important the truth itself, and in Diane's mind, she has been journeying to discover the truth.
The only piece I have totally no idea about is the two men in the beginning of the movie, where they are in the diner and they turn the corner to find "that face" that the one man hopes he never sees again. Since Diane is in the same position in the end of the movie (where she reads the "Betty" name tag) I assumed that she was the man in the beginning of the movie, and that man is one of the hitmen, but in her mind she thinks she is the hitman in that earlier scene?
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Re: Blue Box and the key
I think the blue key and blue box are the pivotal items in the movie that Lynch used to anchor the reality segments to the dream segments. The "real" blue key was the message left by the hitman to signal the completion of the hit. The "real" blue box was something in the drawer next to the gun Diane killed herself with. Lynch is making a movie about how the real world becomes strangely abstracted in dreams, and to make things really weird, he used a final dream of a dying women who had just put a bullet in her brain. Diane's dying brain was refusing to look at reality and was attempting to fade away with a happy dream about how things could have been in a perfect world.
However, her dying brain was also linking with the terrible facts of reality. The abstract blue key was the "hidden" fact of Camilla's death. The blue key shows up with the dream Rita. The blue box is the hidden fact of Diane's own impending death and shows up with the "Death" character behind the wall and given to Diane in theatre of death. When Rita, Betty, the blue key and blue box all end up in the same location in the bedroom, Betty realizes she is dying/dead and "pops" out of the dream. The final scene in the movie begins when Rita puts the blue key into the Blue box and Diane's dying mind realizes the entire truth of what has happened as she fades into darkness.
One of Lynch's biggest clues is the next scene where the cowboy says "Time to wake up pretty girl". The movie then shows 3 separate pictures to tie the sequences together. The first picture is of Camilla dead and the second is of Diane dead - these 2 images are actually the final scenes in the movie within Diane's death dream as she "wakes up" and realizes the truth before dying. The next scene is the reality Diane in her real bed a few days before her death.
The other big clues Lynch puts in to anchor reality and dreams is the sound of the gunshot and the smoke. At the end of the movie when Diane shoots herself, the room fills with smoke which is the "dream" begining. Lynch even superimposes little images of the happy Betty from the first scenes of the movie to help get the "dream" concept across. At the start of the movie, when the dream Rita is in the wreck, there is a loud bang and the smoke appears to show where the reality sequence at the end ties back to the dream sequence in the beginning. When Diane is in the theatre of death and her mind is finally coming to grips with her impending death, the MC says "It is an illusion. Listen." and there is a loud bang followed by smoke. Diane starts to shake in her dream as her body in reality shakes from the seizures caused by her brain injury.
I think the thing that makes this movie so disturbing yet so compelling is the aspect of the journey into darkness - into death, where none of us come back to tell what it's really like.
D
The abstract blue key in the dream was the symbol of Camilla's death
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wow from Rosanna, Jun 10, 2002
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PCP from Kilgore Trout, Sep 1, 2002
Aunt??? from HugeElvis, Oct 14, 2002
» Re: Blue Box and the key « from Lokustian Ocelot, Oct 28, 2002
wow from Rosanna, Jun 10, 2002
Re: wow from Joshua (editor of Offoffoff), Jun 12, 2002
Re: wow from Tashtigo707, Jun 17, 2002
PCP from Kilgore Trout, Sep 1, 2002
Aunt??? from HugeElvis, Oct 14, 2002
» Re: Blue Box and the key « from Lokustian Ocelot, Oct 28, 2002
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