Sentiment, Mood, and Performing the Past: James Hurley's Re-enactment of “Just You” in Twin Peaks: The Return

Abstract

This essay challenges the critical notion of David Lynch as a “trickster figure” in his approach to Twin Peaks. David McAvoy points to Lynch’s employment of “boring” sequences in The Return as evidence of him “trolling” his fanbase, invoking Sianne Ngai’s theory of the “stuplime”—the clash of the stupefying with the Kantian sublime—to argue that The Return’s aesthetic approach is one of self-reflexiveness through boredom and mock sentimentality. However, while Ngai’s theory of the stuplime is applicable to The Return and has parallels with cultural theory surrounding internet trolling, it does not follow that The Return is applicable to the latter theory. This essay evaluates a sequence cited in McAvoy’s chapter—the re-enactment of James Hurley’s song “Just You”—to argue that Lynch’s sentimentality is anything but a façade to elicit reactions from the audience and that The Return’s aesthetic strategy is not limited to concerns of self-reflexiveness.

Keywords

• twin peaks
• re-enactment
• performance
• mood
• music
• internet trolling