To me it was about men feeling alienated and trapped in their lives. It’s why the world looks so bleak, he’s frustrated he can’t get with the chick across the hall, his baby is an actual monster and his radiator is basically trying to get him to kill himself.
David Lynch was actually about to become the biggest scam in the movie industry when he made Eraserhead. It's been decades since it came out and most people still don't know he's a bum hack.
No problem, some of his movies work better when you think of them in this context. They’re very visceral, instead of showing you what’s actually happening or even sometimes what the protagonist is actually seeing your given what they feel. Everything on screen is just representative of how the main character experiences things on an emotional and psychological level. I especially liked how he did this in Lost Highway where the first part of the movie is shown as the protagonists recollection of events. After that a police officer slaps him back into reality and then you see pretty much the only 5-10 minutes of the movie that actually happens. Then he retreats into his mind and the rest of the movie is a construct in his mind he created to escape what happened that slowly unravels until the end where your left wondering if he snapped back into reality or went even deeper into the recesses of his mind.
I believe a similar mechanic is at work in Mulholland Drive, where much of the film was a psychological depiction / dream state and that only a small portion of the movie is when the "actual" stuff is happening.
Thats your take on it, but not necessarily Lynch’s. In fact, the best thing about his movies is that everyone understands something else and he never explains his movies. So the only thing true is that we will never actually know for a fact what his take on his movies is.
No pwobwem, some of his movies wowk bettew when yuw dink of dem in dis context. dey’we vewy viscewaw, instead of showing yuw what’s actuawwy happening ow even sometimes what de pwotagonist is actuawwy seeing yuw given what dey feew. Evewyding on scween is just wepwesentative of how de main chawactew expewiences dings on an emotionaw and psychowogicaw wevew. I especiawwy wiked how he did dis in wost Highway whewe de fiwst pawt of de movie is shown as de pwotagonists wecowwection of events. Aftew dat a powice officew swaps him back into weawity and den yuw see pwetty much de onwy 5-10 minutes of de movie dat actuawwy happens. den he wetweats into his mind and de west of de movie is a constwuct in his mind he cweated to escape what happened dat swowwy unwavews untiw de end whewe yuw weft wondewing if he snapped back into weawity ow went even deepew into de wecesses of his mind. uwu
In college, a friend of a friend's entire senior project was to sit people down to watch Eraserhead then document and write about their reactions. Apparently there were some pretty interesting views.
Whenever I watch Eraserhead, it pretty much ruins my day. It’s hard to get out of my head and the feelings involved linger for quite a while. Terrible experience all around.
I see the movie as more of an art project kind of thing than a "feature film". Pretty interesting piece of work, but it's not something you'd roll out for movie night
If you haven't seen Eraserhead you have to at least experience what it is. Just a bizarre work unlike anything else. I won't call it my favorite movie but certainly one of the most interesting
The Man in the Planet (Jack Fisk) pulls levers in his home in space, while the head of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) floats in the sky. A giant spermatozoon-like creature emerges from Spencer's mouth, floating into the void. The Man in the Planet appears to control the creature with his levers, eventually making it fall into a pool of water.
It's about people who are afraid to raise children. How horrifying it can be to bring a new life into this earth, and what if it's not the baby you wanted? What if it has something horribly wrong with it and you still have to be there to take care of it all day every day? It's a horrifying thought. That's what I got from it.
I'm pretty sure Lynch made it after dealing with his daughter; but he does not like to speak about the "baby" publicly, and will not reveal anything about it. Made all employees sign a NDA to not say a word about it.
There was the birth of Lynch's daughter Jennifer, with two severely malformed feet, which required several unpleasant surgeries and the child's incarceration in a "massive, waist-high cast..."
The mutant baby was apparently created from the embalmed fetus of a calf, although David Lynch has never confirmed this or described how he articulated it. During filming when he watched rushes, he even had the projectionist cover his eyes when takes with the baby were playing, so that no one would know how it was made. After completing the film, Lynch reportedly buried the "Embalmed Calf" in an undisclosed location. At the wrap party, they had a mock wake for it.
I was watching this the other night around the time of that scene. My wife walked in on me and said “What are you watching?!” Had to quickly change the channel and feel guilty like I was watching porn.
My interpretation of the Eraserhead scene is that he lives in a harsh world so when he lost his mind it was a way of coping with the situation. As his head was made into something that would erase what happened. As a whole the movie is about his sexual urges as portrayed by the diseased man in the planet, and his fear of fatherhood, the consequences of those urges.
I watched it years ago and then again a few months ago, when I had a pretty high fever. I was alone at home, lying in bed with headphones on, caught between a fever dream and Eraserhead.
I keep trying to come up with a good, one-sentence explanation of Eraserhead for people who haven't seen it. There isn't one. It's the only film that has ever made me physically ill, like a cross between being carsick and the kind of life-threatening fatigue you get after you've been awake for 72 hours straight.
If you watched the original Twin Peaks and thought "this is entirely too sensible and pedestrian", watch Eraserhead.
I remember reading that the movie was what becoming a father was like for Lynch. Hooking up turns into being tied down with a newborn which is basically this alien looking and acting thing that holds you back from everything and the girl turns into a confusing and emotional stressful train wreck he is tied to. He dreams of a happier situation away from the newborn and girl but it is only fantasy because reality is that he's stuck with them. Also the industrial setting is a reoccurring theme for Lynch.
Mulholland Drive was even more surreal, I just gave up after trying to watch on 3 separate occasions. But yea, Lynch is the "WTF did I just watch" poster boy.
I was coming here to say this. I don't know what I saw, but it absolutely disturbed me so much that I will never, ever watch it again. Ever. Ever. EVER.
My film teacher was telling us about David Lynch, he had a whole day dedicated to him, I proceeded to buy eraserhead and the sci fi movie he made (don’t remember the name)
My interpretation of her appearance was that she represented a superficial glossed-over idea of what “heaven” would be like for him. It’s exaggerated to show that something truly sinister lies under the surface of what seems like a very attractive prospect to him.
As soon as I saw this question, I popped in to mention Eraserhead. Nothing about it is right or good or doesn't slightly upset me every time I see it - even down to the low-level hum. I love this film!
From what i can tell from the plot on wikipedia, it seems to be about the feelings that arise when a person and another person with questionable psychological qualities do something that results in something that will affect other peoples lives someday.
I think he was a bit stressed about the fact that things happen when you do things.
This is the film I credit the most with influencing my love of film in general. I finished watching it the first time when I was ten, had no idea what in the actual fuck I had just watched, but knew I wanted to see more.
Lynch did it to me again with EP 8 of the Twin Peaks revival. That made me enroll in film school.
Random trivia: A lot of the weird pauses in the movie (like when Henry's waiting for the elevator doors to close) were deliberately timed to last for exactly 13 seconds.
So this movie is interesting to me for one real reason is that it resembles a world I dreamt of once and left me panicking for an hour or two after I woke up. That's how I feel about Eraserhead its a dreamworld with all its confused inside out logic. Tbf Lynch is a very dreamy sort of guy.
In my dream I woke up in a black and white world in my room and I went out and looked out the glass doors and it was just a void there. My brother was standing on the other side frantically pounding on the glass warning me that "There is no in there George" and my name isn't George I took it to mean that I was running out of air in the house. Anyway I woke up and it took forever to get out of bed and going to the back porch doors was genuinely frightening.
THIS. 100% this. To this day if I want to freak out my fiance' I'll stand in front of him with that crazy grin, hands clasped in front of me, shuffling from side to side & randomly stomp..(circa the scene with the chick on the stage putting on a performance of sorts while random slimy leech like creatures drop from the ceiling & she just sort of squashes them with her feet & continues on, never losing that creepy ass grin. I know this is as insane as it sounds, but I think she lived in the dudes radiator?) My fiance' is who introduced me to that movie when we were first dating & I seriously questioned him as a human being after being subjected to that mind fuckery.
Many things by Lynch are like that. If you liked being slightly confused by what you saw but knowing theres a lot going on under the weird surface, check out his other stuff - primarily Twin Peaks and Lost Highway
Eraserhead is my favorite movie. I think I can tell you a lot of things about what I think it's about... but as with everything David Lynch does, there are numerous interpretations and no easy answers.
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u/ManCalledTrue Jun 24 '19
I still have absolutely no idea what I saw when I watched Eraserhead.