By Daniel Correa
2/19/25
On January 15, 2025, David Lynch, a film director, musician, artist, and father, passed away at the age of 78 from complications arising from his emphysema while evacuating from his L.A. home during the fires that happened recently in Southern California. Lynch had previously disclosed his diagnosis of the disease in August 2024 and revealed it was caused by decades of prolific smoking. While Lynch had quit smoking in 2022, during the evacuation his condition worsened, and his family confirmed his death on Facebook the next day.
David Lynch was one of the most unique directors to ever come out of America. His films are like dreams and nightmares come to life on the silver screen. He injected every piece of art with his trademark surrealism, and the influence he’s had on American Avant-Garde film cannot be understated.
Lynch’s films have left their mark on film history. Eraserhead, his first film, stands as one of the greatest and most ephemeral films of the ’70s, a decade that produced some of the greatest subversive and experimental films of all time. With its depictions of domesticity twisted to surrealism both familiar and distant, Eraserhead continues to captivate audiences with its iconic performances and special effects.
In 1984, Lynch also directed the first adaptation of the Dune books the first film to star long-time collaborator Kyle McLachlan in the lead. While the film has been ruthlessly critiqued for decades, mostly for its writing which is often atrocious due to the film using exposition as a crutch, Lynch gave such a unique depiction of Frank Herbert’s novels that range from interesting to sublime.
Blue Velvet will undoubtedly be Lynch’s legacy. The film had a large impact on pop culture, with its soundtrack of 50’s and 60’s pop songs and iconic villains both being parodied and homaged many times. Making a film about the corruption and rot that lay beneath the perfect American suburb life made during a presidential administration such as Reagan’s was a bold artistic move, and it struck a chord. Not only did the film bring Dennis Hopper back into the mainstream, but it also inspired other filmmakers such as David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, and Donald Glover, creator of the show Atlanta to explore and critique American society in weird and extraordinary ways.
In collaboration with writer Mark Frost, Lynch also helped write and produce Twin Peaks, which has been recognized as being one of the most unique and influential series to be aired on television. Continuing the critique of the myth of the perfect American life that Lynch played the groundwork for in Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks is a surreal mystery-thriller that appeals not only to mainstream audiences but also to those interested in the Avant-Garde. The idea that a TV show as weird and neurotic as Twin Peaks could have the popularity that it had while it aired seems absurd today, but once again David Lynch’s art struck another chord.
Besides his films and television shows, David Lynch leaves us with a vast discography of experimental music, experimental internet shows, comic books, and paintings.
As Tim Lane, the Film Studio head put it wonderfully. “He was hugely influential to my whole generation of comic artists, filmmakers, storytellers, all of them. I am Gen X, so we were coming into our own under the umbrella of David Lynch’s aesthetic.” Even now after his passing, younger generations will have access to his works and will continue to be inspired in making art that can be both beautiful and terrifying in ways that reveal the horror hidden within. The world will be a dimmer place without him, but his works will remain with us in the forthcoming years and generations to come.
Rest In Peace David Lynch.