Often mentioned in any critical analysis of David Lynch’s 21st century opus is its thematic and narrative debt to Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. Often eschewed from critical discussions of the film is its kinship to Robert Altman’s 3 Women, and their shared use of female doubles and fragmentary and seemingly contradictory narrative strands in order to explore themes of repressed identities, dream logic, and feminine psychology. The central point of my paper will be that these films not only attest to the legacy of Bergman on the greater American art cinema, but that a greater understanding of both film’s techniques and their intended purpose can be derived from a comparison between the two.
My point will not be to argue that Lynch’s film somehow owes some level of creative debt to Altman’s, but rather to posit that the film’s similarities are derived from not only a shared influence of Bergman, but also a similar fixation on dreams as a means to understand greater human psychology. When viewed together, these films speak to the continued systemic trauma endured by women within American cultural spaces, and the dream as the ultimate narrative space through which to derive greater psychological analysis, despite how seemingly contradictory that may sound given both film’s deliberate inscrutability and narrative contradictions regarding their feminine subjects.
Preliminary Sources
-Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
-3 Women (Robert Altman)
-Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
-The Artist and the Multitude are Natural Enemies (Interview with Altman conducted by F. Anthony Macklin)
Interview with Altman done during the production of 3 Women. He touches on the film’s origins, and describes his creative process at the time of production.
-3 Women: Dream Project (David Serritt)
Criterion essay on both the circumstances (both immediate and cultural) under which 3 Women was Made and released. I hope to build on some off Serritt’s observations to make my final argument.
-An Oneiric Fugue: The Various Logics of Mulholland Dr. (Andrew Davies)
Davies does an excellent job summarizing the film’s internal logic, and analyzing its psychological precision. I agree with much of his analysis, and will build on it for purposes of general comparison.
-The Visualization of Memory in David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (Sam Walker)
Though this essay touches on memory as a root for trauma, which is an essential device for both films. It’s analysis of motifs surrounding the creation and central fallibility of identity will be crucial to analyzing both films.
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Film Theory 2020 Blog 
3 replies on “Final Paper Proposal”
Zak-
This seems to be an excellent topic for a paper. Exploring the shared Bergman influence on Lynch and Altman is a very productive approach.
But Persona and Mulholland Dr are very Dense films. I have not seen the 3 Women but knowing Altman I would imagine it is quite dense as well. This subject could fill a book, and that for an 8 or pager to not feel surface level I feel you need a specific thesis. You mention the use of dreams as well as the collective trauma of women, and it seems to me that it would be best, as this paper is relatively short, to focus in depth on a specific aspect of this.
But I don’t know specifics of your game plan, and I may be wrong.
This is a great topic. Best of luck.
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Zak,
This is a fantastic start! Here’s my feedback on what you have:
1. I think that these films work perfectly together for comparison. I believe– like you said– it’s difficult to think about Mulholland Drive outside of the context of Persona, yet somehow 3 Women has been oddly absent from these discussions. 3 Women has, of course, been discussed in the context of Persona, but I think that to take two films who stem from the same influence and talk about them in context with each other is a great idea. What you have here about identity, dreams, and female psychology is fascinating, also. I’m intrigued by this idea of the dream space as a place for filmmakers to explore female trauma. Your sources seem really useful, as well, and very fitting to your exploration and your argument.
2. While I think it’s extremely necessary to discuss 3 Women, Mulholland Drive, and Persona together, I am unsure about a comparison between 3 Women and Mulholland Drive that discusses Persona only in terms of its influence on the two. I know you said that you will explore more comparisons beyond the Bergman influence, such as dreams, between 3 Women and Mulholland Drive, but I don’t think that the idea of Bergman influence will guide you paper in any significant way analytically speaking. I think that maybe you should position 3 Women and Mulholland Drive as the central comparison of your paper and could briefly discuss them within the context of Bergman influence, or something along those lines, but I don’t think that it needs to be, or should be a central argument of your paper– instead, focus on what you mentioned here in terms of narrative, themes, and structure.
Overall I think you have a great start here, and I think that the richness in the comparisons between each of these films will help to guide you in the right direction. Good luck going forward!
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Hi Zak,
1. Your thesis is clear and argumentative, and your selection of the films is very on target. I like your observation on the similarity of film techniques between Mulholland Drive and 3 Women, and the visual parallel you show us is a very accurate example. Why filmmakers choose to make the visual representation of dreams as their narrative space is a really promising topic worth further and deeper exploration.
2. I find that you’ve mentioned a great number of themes and topics, such as repressed identities, dream and memory, systemic trauma, American art cinema, Bergman’s influence and even feminism. I would suggest that you focus on one or two of them to make one main point of your paper. Now the prospectus seems to have breadth of ideas but lack depth of your argument. Maybe you could elaborate on how dreams are used “as a means to understand greater human psychology” in the proposal to make a stronger thesis statement with regards to mind game topics and theories.
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