Film Deets:
Director: David Lynch
Screenplay: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Actress: Sheryl Lee
Category: Child Abuse
Themes: Abuse, Recovered Memory, Family Trauma
Why do these screams matter?
Designed to be a prequel of the events that take place in the Twin Peaks series, Fire Walk with Me is a devastating look at the last days of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) before she is murdered. Darker in tone than the series, the film is a difficult one that humanizes Laura’s story by refocusing the audience’s attention toward her lived experiences. It is a narrative decision that directly challenges the “Who Killed Laura Palmer?” mania that rendered her a supporting character in her own story during the television run.
In our first scream, Laura has just realized that the evil supernatural entity, BOB (Frank Silva, who has been raping her for years is actually her father, Leland (Ray Wise).
Because Laura has always attributed the abuse she endures to BOB, she is shocked to realize that BOB and her father are not separate entities. Her scream is a complicated mix of betrayal that a person who should be someone protecting her is the one violating her, shock that what she has always assumed to be true is a lie, and pronounced grief that her dream of a return to the happy nuclear family life she covets is outside of her grasp. Laura’s scream is also tinged with disgust, both as a reaction to her father’s perversions and to her perception that she might somehow be to blame for his actions, the latter of which is an all too common feeling experienced by sexual abuse survivors. As the audience, we understand that Laura is absolutely in no way responsible for the abuse she endures. As a child, she is not able to consent, and all responsibility for the abuse resides solely with the adult. But because her abuser is also her father, Laura’s emotional response to her abuse is an understandably complex one. Researchers looked at twenty-three retrospective studies that focused on the responses of childhood sexual abuse survivors and found that while reactions to abuse are complicated, internalized self-blame can be a common response (Henning et al. 169). For Laura, that self-blame manifests itself in unhealthy behaviors such as drug use, prostitution, and self-isolation.
Admittedly, here is where dealing with the Twin Peaks universe gets a little dicey. While some fans believe BOB is a coping mechanism Laura has created to deal with her trauma, others believe BOB to be an evil, spirit entity who is possessing Leland. Given the film’s exploration of supernatural themes, even more so than in the series, I think we have to conclude that BOB is a real, malevolent spirit. But I also think that using BOB as an excuse to cast Leland as a simple victim of possession is a horrible mistake, especially when we consider the context of our next scream.
Having found Laura and her friend at an orgy, Leland drags the girls to an abandoned train where a fearful Laura realizes she is about to die.
On its face, this scene can be read as further proof that BOB possesses Leland and is responsible for the latter’s reign of terror. After all, it is BOB who bludgeons Laura to death after he is unable to possess her body. But Leland’s words in this scene illustrate that the darkness consuming Leland is not solely the result of BOB periodically possessing him. When he says to Laura, “Your diary… I always thought you knew it was me,” Leland is clearly the one in control. It’s an admission of guilt that seems to suggest his abuse of Laura precedes BOB’s arrival and that perhaps BOB was drawn to Leland because of the darkness and destruction that were already a part of him. Laura’s screams in this moment come from a place of unrestrained fear and grief because she is being confronted with exactly who her father is – he is the monster who has been hurting her for years. When Leland’s screams join Laura’s, the difference between the two is pronounced. While Laura is screaming in abject terror, Leland is screaming as an expression of control. His screams are meant to incite more fear in Laura and to demonstrate his power in the situation, a power that he has been using to abuse his daughter for years.
Works Cited
Fire Walk With Me. Directed by David Lynch, performances by Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie, and Kyle MacLachlan, CIBY Pictures, 1992.
Henning, Marinda, Hayley J. Walker-Williams, and Ansie Fouché. “Childhood sexual abuse trauma-causing dynamics experienced by women survivors: A scoping literature review.” Journal of Psychology in Africa, vol. 28, no. 2, 2018, pp. 168-174.
