Twin Peaks directed by David Lynch, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape directed by Steven Soderbergh look like clear polar opposites from just looking at the movie and TV posters. While they do both differ in many ways- such as catering to different audiences, themes, characters, filming… they are also very similar in the sense that they are both art films. Both came out during the 90’s, dubbed the era of mainstream film and the indie genre, and both are great representations of these.

Many may say that Twin Peaks is overrated because it lacks the things that large audiences crave. Many sources I’ve read online have said that “Stuff like Twin Peaks turns a lot of people off. Always has, always will.” But I have to disagree, after watching the first episode, I can genuinely say that I will continue to watch the show because it lacks a clear plot line and easy to read emotions. The show is all about artfully crafted scenes that weave in and out of other scenes, while still maintaining the genres of mystery/thriller/drama. The art aspect of the film is clear to see in all scenes but is definitely more dominant in others.

In a scene during the middle of the show, Audrey, a rebellious, sassy teenager who knew Laura, a victim of murder, talks to a room full of foreign businessmen about her feelings surrounding the murder.

Audrey, has a lot of mystery surrounding her. This scene is just a weird scene and I think it is a good example of the kind of TV show that Twin Peaks is. Audrey tells a meeting full of businessmen about her friends murder, but the background music resembles carnival music, and Audrey at times seems to be telling the story in a seductive manner. It’s weird, and it’s interesting to watch, and there seems to be no point to the scene other than to shed light on characteristics of the theme and on what kind of person Audrey is. It makes the watchers curious about her and about the foreign business meeting, and this is how many of the scenes in Twin Peaks are constructed. One of the reasons that the show may have become so popular during it’s time could be because it debuted during a time of rapid growth in cable television. The cable industry grew exponentially in such a short amount of time, the industry spent more than $15 billion on the wiring of America, and billions more on program development. Watching TV during the 90’s was the ‘hip, cool, thing’ to do, and people were spending tons of money on it. It isn’t a coincidence that most TV shows offered during the time. In addition to people spending money to watch Twin Peaks, the show also had to spend money… around $3.8 just for the pilot episode- the money the show made is unknown but that fact that they continued to make episodes points out that the profits must have been worth it.  

Other than being a pioneer in the cable industry, Twin Peaks was also an influencer in film style and genres. A lot of this credit should be given to the director, David Lynch, and the reason Lynch is held up as an American auteur is both that his films feel like no one else’s. Lynch is an expert at setting a specific vibe of a scene, and showing everyones point of view.

In another scene, when the cops are in pursuit of a biker as a potential suspect, the camera shows what’s going on inside the bar. All of the sudden the vibe changes from tense and mysterious, to eclectic and the woman singing on stage is reminiscent of a 70’s singer in a music video. Creating a vibe in an artistic way is really what Lynch masters in Twin Peaks, it’s impressive how he can still have the elements of mystery as well as elements of art. In contrast, Sex, Lies, and Videotape is less about the mystery of things, and more about the human psyche and relationships.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape is an interesting film to say the least. It uses the art aspect as a tool for foreshadowing and to get emotion from the audience. Whereas Twin Peaks used it more for audiences to enjoy the complexity of the scenes.  Written in only a week, Sex, Lies and Videotape is really straightforward- even from the title you can imagine what will be the central theme: cheating, and lying, and documenting. VHS tapes are central to the movie, and important to many of the characters actions and personalities.

The film was received very positively, won many awards, and received tons of praise. In one review of the movie in the magazine Rolling Stone, the film is said to be “dazzling” and “intoxicating”, but to me it seemed more like a group of selfish people doing selfish things, and disregarding others for their own gains. Although, it may have been received so positively because it started an open discussion of sorts on marriage and relationships.

I can agree that the film made a lot of contributions to the indie movie scene and did a great job in bridging the gap between VHS and film. During that time the emergence of VHS was taking revenues away from the film industry, I think part of what made this movie a popular one was because of the popularity of VHS during the 90’s.  A lot of the population felt like VHS was foreign when it first came out, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape took something that made some people uncomfortable and fused it with a film, making it less foreign, and building a rapport with the audience- a way to connect with them and be relatable to them.

Overall, both films experimented with art film style while maintaining their genres which is impressive. They differ in the sense that Twin Peaks is much more introspective without trying to be, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape is much more dramatic than Twin Peaks. They both succeeded at something that wasn’t initially the goal for the film, but in the end both were successful in different industries and with different audiences- and I can understand why after watching both.