Sample Abstract: TWIN PEAKS

This is an abstract I recently submitted for a scholarly journal. It will probably be altered and refined before the final essay is completed. But this gives some idea of the kinds of topics one can apply to a close reading of a narrative television show.

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 “These old woods”: The Mystical, Pagan Landscape of Twin Peaks

The setting of Twin Peaks, a small town surrounded by evergreen forest, mountains and waterfalls, is a natural landscape described by many of the characters as both peaceful and invigorating. Dale Cooper is instantly charmed by it and decides to buy a house there. But its beauty is more mysterious than bucolic. The woods are associated with mystery, transformation and, at times, evil. The local law enforcement have been part of a secret society for years that also meets in the woods: the Bookhouse Boys work to keep the peace, but their meetings are clandestine and they embrace the mysterious qualities of the landscape to gain insights for their cause. Sheriff Truman says the woods contain “a darkness, a presence.” There are extra-dimensional locations that play a prominent part in the narrative: most notably, the Red Room, the White Lodge, and the Black Lodge. The Black Lodge is described by Deputy Hawk as being part of the Native American mythology of his ancestors. The entrance to these locations is a kind of portal located within a grove of sycamore trees in Ghostwood National Forest, known as Glastonbury Grove (a reference to the dual realms of Avalon, the legendary home of King Arthur). The grove’s portal may only be entered, it is said, “when Jupiter and Saturn meet.” As well, Margaret the Log Lady brings Cooper a jar of a sticky black substance from a pool at the entrance to the grove, said to be a portal to the Black Lodge. Many of the denizens of Twin Peaks seem unaware of the mysterious nature of their surroundings, but certain characters function as adepts who help unlock the meaning behind the mysterious events that surround the murder of Laura Palmer. This essay will explore the ways in which the pagan and occult qualities of the landscape directly affect the actions and beliefs of the town’s inhabitants and visitors, making it a key element in the narrative trajectory of the series.