Episode 148: Mythos of the Moment: On 'Twin Peaks,' Season 3

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2023

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks has been a touchstone of Weird Studies since the podcast's inception. Back in 2018, Phil and JF recorded Episode 1: Garmonbozia while still reeling from the series' third season, which aired on Showtime the year before. Now, in preparation for their upcoming course on Twin Peaks, they watched the third season again and recorded this episode. Their conversation touched on the virtues of late style in the arts, the divergence of knowing and understanding, the fate of Agent Dale Cooper, and the dream logic of the _Twin Peaks _universe. Last change to sign up for The Twin Peaks Mythos, a 4-week Weird Studies view-along starting June 8th, 2023. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia. Support us on Patreon and gain access to Phil's podcast on Wagner's Ring Cycle. Download Pierre-Yves Martel's new album, Mer Bleue. Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! REFERENCES Symposium at Lily Dale, July 27-29, 2023 David Lynch and Mark Frost (creators), Twin Peaks David Lynch (dir.), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy? Chris Carter (creator), The X-Files Erik Davis, American scholar, lecturer, and journalist Thomas Ligotti, American writer Stephen King, American writer Joshua Brand and John Falsey (creators), Northern Exposure James Elkins, Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings David Lynch (dir.), Mulholland Drive Robert Aickman, English writer of "strange stories" Manuel DeLanda on signification vs significance Weird Studies, episode 105: Fire Walk With Tamler Sommers Kyle McLachlan interview in Vanity Fair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:03.3	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:20.8	For more episodes or to support the podcast,
0:23.3	go to weirdstud. This is Phil.
0:54.0	The Oxford Canadian Dictionary defines mythus, Hi, welcome to Weird Studies. This is Phil.
1:05.5	The Oxford Canadian Dictionary defines mythus as, one, a myth or body of myths, and two, a narrative theme or pattern.
1:11.7	Presumptuous, though it may be, to try improving upon the wisdom of the Oxford-Canadian dictionary, I have a third meaning to venture. A mythus is a modern fiction that does the work
1:18.5	of myth. There are plenty of modern fictions that take quasi-mythic forms. Pretty much any superhero story does. But while Lovecraft's
1:30.4	Kthulhu mythus is mythic in the sense that it is full of gods and diamonds, it is a
1:36.4	mythus because it can act upon the world as myths do. Myths don't merely represent a world to our passive minds. They enlist our minds
1:48.5	in making a world real. Myths attract followers, and while the Cthulhu mythus began life
1:55.5	as Lovecraft's invention, his creations have been elaborated by August Derlith and many others.
2:02.3	Myths blur the line between the real and the imaginary.
2:05.9	What begins in the collective imagination ends up escaping into the world.
2:11.2	Lovecraft's fictional Necronomicon, for example, has spawned several real grimrars.
2:17.4	A myth cannot deliver its psychic payload,
2:20.7	unless it is to some extent believed. There is always something hyperstitional about myths.
2:27.6	The more than ordinary psychic investment they demand is paid off in their transformation of
2:33.3	reality. You might object that myths can only
2:36.7	affect transformations in your mind, not reality. I might retort by saying that a myth is precisely
2:44.4	that which reveals an intimate relationship between mind and reality that goes far beyond what
2:50.3	we moderns conceive to be possible.
	...

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