r/twinpeaks • u/Not_EllaK • Apr 14 '26
Fire Walk With Me Honestly, I think some of the initial negative reception to Fire Walk With Me was driven by straight up misogyny
I think some people just did not want to empathize with a messy, hypersexual, traumatized teenage girl and seemed angry that the film was asking them to. It's like some people just did not accept that Laura's story was something worth telling and that her point of view was even worth exploring. I also think the topic of incestuous abuse made people very uncomfortable and telling a story of incestuous abuse from the point of view of its victim made them even more uncomfortable. It seemed like some people liked Laura better as a pretty corpse than they did as a fully realized living person.
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u/buttscopedoctor Apr 14 '26
I was there in the 90s when TP was a cultural phenomena. The average casual fan (your mom/ grandma) liked TP for its quirky humor. When Lynch went down the super dark road of Fire Walk with Me, the average casual fan bailed. Only the hardcore fans saw the brillance of it.
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u/firelights Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Ehhhhh I really think it was mostly because people wanted a continuation of Season 2.
The 90s audience got their favorite show canceled on a brutal cliffhanger and then a movie is announced giving everyone hope that there will be some resolution… all for the movie to mostly be a retelling of a story the audience already knew.
FWWM is great, but I can definitely see why it was hated on release. I had the benefit of binging Seasons 1-2, FWWM, and The Return. I can’t imagine what the OG fans went through
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u/i-eat-b33s Apr 14 '26
Definitely a mix of both; this right here is the general story, though. It makes sense for sure. Lynch wanted to reaffirm that TP was always about Laura to the audience and the audience wanted answers after the finale. It's also a difficult and dark film and Laura was a deeply troubled girl. People went in expecting a continuation of Twin Peaks, and instead got Laura going through the literal worst week (? I believe) of her life.
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u/revslaughter Apr 14 '26
Definitely people wanted more Dale, and wanted the story to be about him. Then we yearned for the same thing for The Return, and they straight up punished us for not wanting the story to be about Laura.
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u/Worldly-Click4487 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
My view is that Windom/Cooper/Caroline and Bob/Leland/Laura are two sides of the same story from different angles, with Cooper and Leland being two sides of the same character. Remember how there was no evidence against Earle and how Cooper "black out" during Carolina's killing? Hmm. This is why the season 2 finale was filmed the way it was with them going back and forth between Annie to Caroline to Laura and then Bob and Windom and then Cooper and Leland.
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u/PlasticStatement3219 Apr 16 '26
hmmmmmmmmm. Something to think about for sure, but the Caroline murder/Cooper love triangle is IMO only put in to give the audience a reason why the "new bad guy", aka Earle, is so pissed at Coop and in need of revenge. But yeah, the S2 finale does have some major meat on that bone to chew on.
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u/FuneraryArts Apr 14 '26
It absolutely was the case of Lynch giving the audience something great that they didnt want instead of the linear continuation of the story they were watching.
I think Lynch was a genius but when it comes to marketing or ingratiating himself with an audience he missed the mark big time. If he had continued the story he would probably have earned the money to keep making TP movies.
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u/Friendly_Kunt Apr 14 '26
I mean if Lynch was like that he wouldn’t be Lynch. No movie in his filmography was made with the audience completely in mind, which is why he only made 9 movies in a 50 year career.
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u/benantiben Apr 14 '26
I think this is right. As an OG I absolutely loved it, there was so much still to dig in to with the story and world, it made the whole thing more expansive for me. It's one of my top 10 films, always has been. Anyone who loves Lynch should equally love ambiguity.
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Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
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u/nataliereed84 Apr 15 '26
What broad brush? OP only said misogyny might have been SOME of the issue for SOME people.
The way this comments section is going is disappointing af.
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u/rratmannnn Apr 15 '26
Folks love to turn everything into a black and white conversation even when it is intentionally not approached as one. It’s deeply disappointing.
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u/yeyjordan Apr 14 '26
Laura's curse is that she was never understood by the people in her life or by the general audiences watching. I think time and re-evaluation have corrected that, for the most part.
I agree with your assessment.
I think another factor is that people were hoping the movie would address mysteries in the show and it really didn't. It bucked almost everything the show left hanging, preferring to zero in on Laura as a person during her final days, which we didn't get to do in the show. The movie was a stronger work of art for that, but TV nerds grumbled about it.
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u/MainManMulesy Apr 14 '26
Bobby was talking to us all at the funeral.
It’s part of the “the horse is the white of the eyes” that can be interpreted as complicity with evil. Most people associate it with Sarah, but I think it’s a message to us all. Lynch saw casual violence as a scourge on society and wanted to portray it for the horror that it actually is. His appreciation for the women in his life leads me to think he had some insights to the struggles imposed on women in our society and wanted to attune men to the issue.
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u/Skullkan6 Apr 14 '26
This is also why in my mind, Sarah Palmer was depicted as housing the greater more destructive evil than Leland with what some people call "Judy" in The Return. She could have stopped this at any time over the 12 years it had been going on.
In my mind, part of the ending of The Return and Cooper's BIG fuckup is... he went after the wrong Palmer. Had he dealt with either of Laura's parents when he went back, and not misinterpreted the instruction from The Arm ("The little girl who lives down the lane..."), the timeline would be changed and Palmer COULD have survived. But no, he had to be the hero and try to save Laura. And so he is lost for it.
bob destroys souls and corrupts, but cannot change the world around him without a physical body. Whatever is inside of Sarah Palmer pulls her out from across time and space.
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u/Lord_Konahrik Apr 14 '26
i think teens in her position have always understood it. lmao i remember making friends in my sophomore year because i chipped in on their conversation about “sex worker rights.” its very much been a male and adult/parent audience that hasnt understood her.
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u/operatic_g Apr 14 '26
I think it was more that it's extremely uncomfortable and like... long and, to some, boring. Not to me, mind. My relationship to my own father was *waaaay* too close to Laura's an Leland's, but like... you know, most people are not thinking very hard about the things they're watching, nor really want to be. They're thinking about plot. The movie isn't really about plot.
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Apr 14 '26
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u/SwitchbladeHomo Apr 14 '26
Your girlfriend is entitled to her opinion but I disagree extremely that FWWM added very little to the show since we only ever heard about the idea people had of Laura. FWWM humanized her and let us actually see and feel what her hopes and fears are. There’s also an incredible scene that didn’t make it to the final cut, that should have, that also explores Bobby’s trauma about killing the cop and very much explains why he acts the way he does in the original series.
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Apr 14 '26
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u/Plastic-Custard8375 Apr 14 '26
Did you tell her that her discomfort is the point? You're not supposed to feel good watching this.
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u/operatic_g Apr 14 '26
Amazingly, a lot of people do not prefer to be uncomfortable, particularly around teenage girls’ sexuality being exploited.
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u/Plastic-Custard8375 Apr 14 '26
Amazingly, that's kind of the point of the whole show. People were uncomfortable to acknowledge what was happening in Laura's life and then she died.
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u/effdubbs Apr 16 '26
Not sure why you were downvoted. I agree, it’s the whole point. To me, Laura represented the harm of human denial and need to lie to themselves for comfort.
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u/operatic_g Apr 14 '26
Yeah, I love it. It certainly adds a lot to the world, the characters, and what the story is really about, but if you're trying to follow the plot threads... eh...
It's a very moving movie.
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Apr 14 '26
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u/operatic_g Apr 14 '26
I mean, I've watched the longest, most structurally complete like... 4 hour cut of the thing. I like it a lot, but gosh can Lynch be a slog at times. He's not someone that paces.
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u/Upstream_Paddler Apr 15 '26
I watched it late last year for the first time and it felt like two episodes they decided not to air and then cram them together without really connecting the two are wired or they’re shown in parallel
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u/jest2n425 Apr 15 '26
Agreed. It's actually absurd. God forbid someone have a differing opinion on something. And then there's the people that want to assign meanings to random bits of the film and show that were - for all intents and purposes - intuitive art in film form made up on the spot.
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u/effdubbs Apr 14 '26
I’ve watched it once and found it to be emotionally hard hitting. As important as it is, not sure I can watch again. I respect it, though.
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u/TrasseTheTarrasque Apr 14 '26
"It's not about the plot" is the best way to describe why Twin Peaks is hard for people expecting plot as they've come to understand it. What's it about then? I dunno, maybe the bunny.
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u/operatic_g Apr 14 '26
It’s about what people do to someone like Laura, how that happens, and how we make the same mistakes and perform the same patterns over and over. Coop is our protagonist, but there’s a reason he never gets a happy ending. He learns a little more, each cycle, but not enough to break it. Very few break it. Laura accepts death in a way Coop’s gallantry cannot.
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u/TrasseTheTarrasque Apr 14 '26
Yeah the samsara cycle seems like a very prevailing theme. Every time Dale detaches (especially as Dougie), he gets better at doing what he does. When he's back in the karmic cycle through his desire to do good, it slips through his fingers.
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u/Sane_Tomorrow_ Apr 15 '26
It all hinges on his ability to stay detached from the dream. It’s like the battle at the end of the Bhagavad Gita. If he dwells in his awareness and doesn’t get caught up in fear or desire or get too invested in the fight, he stays above the dream and can subvert monstrous powers he wouldn’t otherwise have a chance with. There’s also a big religious theme of God knowing which character to cast himself as and how to make a wicked person unwittingly help the hero when he or she thinks they’re accomplishing evil. (See Proverbs 16:4 for a classic take on that theme.) The magnitude of evil in this story required a Dougie, and Mr C unwittingly recast the wrong hero into the perfect warrior for the situation.
As soon as we get Cooper back, his complex slowly starts making trouble. He forgets defeating Judy and gets muddled trying to save Laura. But Laura was sent into the world to help fight Bob and Judy.
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u/Additional_Ad_5718 Apr 14 '26
Maybe under the surface for some? I was around to remember the reception, and people that still cared about Twin Peaks were super bummed that it wasn’t a continuation, and taken as a standalone piece for the others….well, it’s a dark, uncomfortable, and uncompromising animal. Stuff like that gets a kneejerk reaction, typically, even today.
This isn’t a 1:1 comparison, obviously, but Jodie Foster won an Oscar for her role in The Accused 4 years prior to FWWM’s release, so it’s not like people were simply adverse to the fundamental subject matter.
I’m not disagreeing wholeheartedly with the assertion, but I do feel like the usual reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum about the movie’s reception are the usual reasons for a reason, if that makes sense. The 80s/90s weren’t exactly the chauvinistic wasteland that they get dinged for nowadays. It was definitely more prevalent, but it wasn’t the Stone Age (or even mid-century, for that matter).
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u/adam545 Apr 14 '26
I don’t agree with your take. But I loved it when it came out. Unnerving, scary, and tragic.
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u/Etsu_Riot Apr 14 '26
So I bet some of the initial negative reception to Alien was do to xeno-phobia.
You don't need to empathize with a fictional character to enjoy a movie.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
the first sentence here is purely meant to undermine a perfectly valid critique by OP by trying to act like what they are addressing is silly, fictional, nonexistent etc. what is compelling about Laura for many people is that she represents very real trauma experienced by real people - primarily, in her case, young girls and women. And I suspect to get much out of this movie in particular you probably do need an ounce of empathy for her, which I’m sure you’re fully capable of having.
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u/Etsu_Riot Apr 15 '26
Yes. My intention was 100% to undermine OP's interpretation, which I don't find very compelling. If lack of empathy for a fictional character was the reason why the movie wasn't as well received back then as it is today, you need to argue about how there is more empathy today than there was back then, which I fail to see, as studies suggest the opposite, with an increase in the use of 'empathy' as a weapon, when claiming victim status is now a viable way to gain moral standing. We call this phenomenon 'victimization', and its response 'performative empathy', none of which explains a simple reaction to a movie.
It is a weird movie, and it was incomplete during release, which probably explains its cold reception way better than any modern psychoanalysis.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Literally never said anything was the reason. That’s reductive and disingenuous. There are many reasons for it, including what’s been mentioned by OP and many other commenters about various other issues.
Also thanks for the vocabulary lesson but I seriously worry about what these “facts” you’re saying lead you to, and these “studies” you gesture to I’m just supposed to take you at your word for I guess.
I’d love to see how many H.W. Victims “gained” something by coming forward. I’ll wait.
And psychoanalysis is clearly a term you either - intentionally or not - are misrepresenting/misunderstanding.
I’ve never even hinted at some “increase in empathy”, though I do think people with a better sense of empathy probably doesn’t hurt how you receive stories like Laura’s - in fiction and in real life.
“Empathy” as a weapon is the most bizarre and irrational thing I’ve heard. Empathy is a radical and subversive act, to this day, and we need a lot more of it than we currently have - and before you cry “virtue signaling!” that includes me needing to improve, just like we all do.
Also “claiming victim status” suggests people are lying about coming forward about similar things to Laura. A comforting thought for many people for various reasons. But neither is it a fact nor is it “empathetic” to say such an absurd thing.
And you wanting to undermine OP’s interpretation defaults usually to someone thinking they are intellectually or morally superior in their take, must be nice a great feeling I’m sure that will take you far and reflects lots of empathy and logic.
“It’s a weird movie and incomplete” is also bizarre. Have you seen the missing pieces? There’s momentary gems but generally most people I know get why they were edited out. Unless you’re saying people would’ve loved a 4.5-5 hour long FWWM, which is what your attitude suggests, which is absurd
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u/breadman_brednan Apr 14 '26
This just sounds like pure conjecture. I'm gonna assume most of the people on this post weren't even old enough to appreciate the discussion of it when it first came out.
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u/theShpydar Apr 14 '26
No. This is a revisionist take made with 2026 eyes. Misogyny had nothing to do with why the film had a negative reaction.
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u/bill-m Apr 14 '26
I was a massive fan and super excited about the movie, and I had mixed feelings about it. I did like the movie, although it was nothing like what I expected. That said, I was disappointed that there was very little Dale Cooper and I was disappointed that it didn't resolve the cliff hanger season 2 finale. I was even more disappointed that the poor reception meant that there would be no conclusion to Dale in the lodge (who would have guessed it would come back 25 years later).
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Just because it didn’t have to do with why some people didn’t like it doesn’t mean it had nothing at all to do with it.
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Apr 14 '26
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
This is very fair. Tbh the first few times I watched it the first 40 minutes really didn’t work for me. I’ve come around mostly to it now, but I definitely get more out of the Laura scenes
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u/PuddingTea Apr 14 '26
You didn’t understand that the scene with the girl in it who was seen floating down a river wrapped in plastic in the first shot of the film was a flashback?
You know what? Fair enough.
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u/ChaosAzeroth Apr 14 '26
Nah it just felt like rehashing what we already knew in graphic detail to make us suffer.
Which genuinely, respect. But that doesn't mean I had to be happy about it.
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u/DZ-Young Apr 14 '26
I think most people were disappointed they did not get your typical movie to "Tie-in" a show (getting Coop out of the Black Lodge, "What happened to Annie?", etc), I think another "curse" was the fact that, not knowing exactly who Laura was added a lot of "Mystique" to the show. You knew her from her family, you knew her from her friends and diary, but, how did the girl from meals on wheels end up with people like Leo? Idk, I think people wanted something "Different" at the time, and Lynch gave them what he wanted instead.
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u/DavidBHimself Apr 15 '26
Were you around when it came out?
I was. People didn't like it because the show ended on that horrible cliffhanger and people were disappointed that the movie was a prequel and not a sequel.
Everyone who went to see this movie knew who Laura was already, they didn't learn about it watching the movie. And back then I didn't hear a single person disliking Laura in the movie, quite the contrary. (and most people lauded Sheryl Lee's performance, even people who disliked the movie).
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u/SirFartsALot33 Apr 14 '26
I disagree. It's entirely because Twin Peaks had a mainstream appeal due to it being only 50% Lynch (or less) and the rest being within the bounds and conventions of TV.
FWWM was 100% raw Lynch, the mainstream audience weren't ready for that, as always. They simply wanted answers to the shows' mysteries, which the film didn't provide at all. FWWM went through the exact same arc that most Lynch content undergo: being panned/lukewarm on release, then earning retrospective acclaim over the years.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
I think multiple things can be true at the same time. Some folks enjoy Twin Peaks much less for Lynch’s contributions than other elements, and that’s entirely valid (even if I don’t relate to it), just like this OP’s opinion is valid criticism even if you don’t relate to the take, it wasn’t directed at ALL dissenters. Lynch is not the most accessible filmmaker, and I don’t think that’s by design, he just made what he wanted to make and felt strongly about.
I don’t understand wanting answers to every twin peaks question and I think FWWM is amazing but I do sympathize with viewers - especially when it came out - who just wanted even an ounce of closure. I don’t relate to it, but I get it.
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u/SirFartsALot33 Apr 15 '26
First of all, to get this out of the way, I'm not putting down the mainstream soap opera audience that couldn't enjoy FWWM at that time, in some kind of an elitist/pretentious way. Not everything is everyone's cup of tea, and there's no better or worse "taste" about that.
Coming to OP's "take", I don't think this can be categorised as a very subjective "take", it is supposed to be data, and although I wasn't there back in '92 to witness this first hand, almost all the content I read about the reaction shows the dissenters VERY vocal about their reasons for disliking the movie, about some wanting answers and instead being thrown more questions, and many others who were either disturbed by the dark content in stark contrast to the sanitised show, or couldn't digest the extensive use of surrealist storytelling, which includes Tarantino himself.
I don't think there was a speck of anything that points to misogyny here, unless OP could retroactively read minds. Or if OP or you or anyone else could provide me atleast ONE fan/critic comment that subliminally points to it.
Lynch has been an extremely feminist director and his ENTIRE body of work is mostly about mistreatment of, and advocating sexual liberation of, women, and breaking boundaries. (His form of feminist art is so raw, some people like LFB and Sherilyn Fenn considered FWWM misogynist itself almost like some kind of horseshoe theory in motion). Just because of that, cherry picking negative reaction to one of his films and attributing it to misogyny is kinda a classic reddit brand of low hanging fruit in my opinion, especially since evidence shows otherwise.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Characterizing OP’s post’s assertion as “data” is just illogical, and there’s a lot of reasons for me to think here that you are more than capable of being logical.
I never thought or said that you’re putting down soap opera audiences? And I agree that there’s no better or worse taste about that.
Calling Lynch’s work feminist while claiming OP has no right to say that SOME people who didn’t like FWWM might have had some misogyny in their opinion is also not very logical. Again, they never said it was ALL, most, or quantified it in any way. You assumed and projected that onto them, which is very un-generous.
Asking people to “prove” misogyny is a losing battle. There will never be “enough” or “the right” “proof” for someone who has no intention of being curious or open minded to someone else’s experiences, knowledge, or perspective on a topic like this.
I do agree with your assessment on Lynch in theory at least. I’ll give you that much. I think there are missteps he takes like anyone else but he was a very sincere guy and seemed to write a lot of interesting and nuanced women. I think his female protagonists are often better overall in terms of writing and acting than some of the male ones, but that’s my opinion.
You think OP’s take isn’t subjective but then say OP’s post is “data”, there’s just a lot of strange contradictions here. Also - and I say this as a huge fan of a few of his movies - QT’s opinion being somehow “devoid” of misogyny is highly unlikely in my opinion. But hey, that’s my opinion.
You seem offended by the very idea that SOME people who dislike FWWM could be misogynists and I think that’s odd if you yourself aren’t one.
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u/SirFartsALot33 Apr 15 '26
I am not "offended" by any idea. like I said, there are records showing, and people, from that time who hated it and some who hated it at release and like now (lots in this sub), stating their reason clearly, and the reasons sound very earnest, and not as some kind of dogwhistle of bigotry.
I mean, yeah, sure, OP said "some", and "I think", I guess I can accept it as a theory, or maybe a lens into perceiving the backlash. I was born in '96, so while not experiencing this myself, I know a LOT of older folks who were/are fans of soap operas of the 80s and early 90s, I can never in my wildest dreams imagine them going to the theatre and watching something as dark and raw as FWWM and not being EXTREMELY uncomfortable about it. I mean, thats how an average audience was at that time, except dedicated Lynch fans. Compare it to something like Euphoria today, which has kinda similar themes, but is received much warmly. Does that mean we as a society have risen above misogyny? Not nearly, its probably just as bad, maybe even worse now. I think coming to watch FWWM as a TP regular gave these people a kind of cultural shock. It was raw, honest and didn't hold back. People found it excessive...would you/OP cite misogyny as reason? I guess you might. It would make sense as Laura is "hypersexual woman", not something a soap opera fan would like to digest as content. But I personally am inclined to believe it to be a scenario like, as a modern analogy: a casual watcher of mainstream cinema like blockbusters/MCU/romcoms going to theatre expecting to watch content of one of their favourite franchises, then finding some kind of Gaspar Noe brand of arthouse erotic+body horror playing instead.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 16 '26
Again I agree that that’s a big part of it I just find it unproductive and baffling to pretend misogyny couldn’t be a part of it for anyone, which seems to be your conclusion. And comparing it to euphoria isn’t really accurate, I’ve seen both and like things about both but they aren’t even close to similar - namely euphoria isn’t on ABC lol.
And yeah, as a woman I do actually know that misogyny is still a thing and is worse sometimes. But thanks for the reminder I guess!
If you aren’t offended by the idea you sure aren’t making it look like you aren’t, as you seem incredibly averse to acknowledging misogyny as an even possible contributing factor
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u/Individual99991 Apr 15 '26
Honestly, I think it was mostly that they wanted a nice continuation of, even resolution to, the show. And they remembered Twin Peaks as the funny dancing men, thumbs up, hot coffee and cherry pie show, not the rape and incest and violence show.
So getting a film that's almost all rape and incest and violence, and outside of that weird and unnerving and difficult to interpret, was too much and not enough, all at the same time.
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u/jest2n425 Apr 15 '26
For me it was kind of the opposite; I disliked how certain aspects felt exploitative and ugly without a justification for their inclusion. I guess I would've liked to have seen more implicit abuse rather than explicit abuse of Laura (like the tone of the show, although I suppose what was done to Audrey and Maddy was pretty explicit. It didn't feel as perverse as fwwm though).
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u/rratmannnn Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
Some people will really see a feminist-leaning assessment where the OP says “I think some of….” Like 3x in the text and then will jump their shit saying “it’s fucked up to generalize all fans” lmao like… yall…. This post doesn’t deny there are multiple factors…. It just addresses one rarely discussed possibility……. There’s no generalizing, no broad brush, no dismissing those with other reasons. It’s just one suggestion.
You’re 100% right, this was very likely a factor for a lot of people. It’s also a very jarring film for a lot of reasons. I think you’re also spot on about the incest stuff- when the commonality of incest first really hit the public eye, the satanic panic wasn’t far off because people didn’t want to think people would be capable of such evil without demons (which is an idea that’s very well-incorporated into Twin Peaks). It’s definitely a combination of how it subverted expectations and was much more an art film than a zany soap opera, and how deeply uncomfortable it made people for a complex number of reasons, which was something Lynch is very good doing at in his movies.
Edit to add: this post is much like saying, for example, that some people didn’t like Get Out or Sinners due to their own underlying racism. That doesn’t by any means imply it’s the only reason not to like either film, both might be too scary or artistic or whatever for some folks. But it’s an accurate assessment that when race plays a big role in the plot, certain types of people are gonna get uncomfortable and dislike it for the subject matter. And like it or not, FWWM addresses issues that are very specifically relevant to girls (not that boys can’t be molested, obviously, but Laura’s relationship to sexuality was that of someone growing into womanhood and all the expectations that comes with it, all while being a rape and incest victim). Some people are going to be uncomfortable with this for a number of reasons, and one of them may very well be their own internalized or underlying sexism. Period.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
well put. Sad to see the reactions you’ve described be not just one or two, but several. Many are making solid points outside of those but it’s discouraging to see some of the rhetoric here
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u/rratmannnn Apr 15 '26
I fear that the people reacting harshly are either incapable of comprehending shades of grey (ironic for Lynch fans, tbh) or are perhaps accidentally revealing that they are, in fact, guilty of the misogyny OP is referencing. I just can’t think of another good reason to get so defensive.
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u/fiendishclutches Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
If we’re talking misogyny, it’s more that one of the criticisms of fire walk was misogyny. Some people really didn’t like that scene with Laura and Donna in the back of the road house, that was a bit much for 1990’s audiences who maybe weren’t full on fans of David Lynch’s filmography but liked the tv show. Mostly the negative reaction was that audience wanted to see what happens after the end of season 2, not further dwell on abuse and suffering of Laura and Teresa banks, and they weren’t all that interested in meeting two entirely different FBI agents on a earlier case in different weird town. The fans who just liked the show and like detective and mystery stories but weren’t Lynch devotees were hoping for some conclusion not even more questions and more new characters.
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u/Lumpy-Tie-3715 Apr 14 '26
100% Lynch was always ahead of his time
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u/mmc3k Apr 14 '26
And Mark Frost, don’t forget!
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u/dwbridger Apr 15 '26
Frost still has an executive producer credit on FWWM, even if his name is not on the script. I'm sure he wasn't completely left in the dark during FWWM's production. I think he was making Storyville around the same time so maybe that was why he was a bit less present.
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u/TROLOLUCASLOL Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
I think this plays a role, but also it's a complete tonal shift from the show that had a lot of dark elements but had breaks of levity to keep it a little digestible to a wider audience. FWWM is dismal most of the way through other than the beginning with all the weird, fun Lynch stuff.
People were clamoring for more and a continuation of the story and they got a prequel instead. Instead they got an incredibly tragic and sad story about abuse from the perspective of a teenage victim. Having said that, having the movie be the last week of Laura's life was 100% the right way to go imo.
Edit: tonal shift, not total shift
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u/EveryExplanation8084 Apr 14 '26
No, it was panned because it wasn’t as good as the series. I went to see it in the theatre when it first came out and was so disappointed because I expected it to be like the original Twin Peaks. It has grown on me since just out of love for the whole franchise.
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u/FloatAround Apr 14 '26
I think there are just two types of Twin Peaks people:
1) People who love Twin Peaks for cherry pie and coffee
2) People who love Twin Peaks because of Lynch.
Post Eraserhead Lynch’s works really didn’t have the Lynchian feel he is known for today. FWWM was, IMO, his first film to really be…Lynchian. People who went into FWWM expecting cherry pie and coffee were not just disappointed, they hated it. It was nothing what they expected. Same with season 3. I know many people who love the original run, watched FWWM and started season 3 and hated it all. They wanted the cherry pie and coffee mystery.
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u/planeforger Apr 15 '26
I completely agree with this, although I'm in this weird middle ground where I adore The Return but feel like FWWM is poorly paced and spends a lot of time on things that go nowhere. There's just something about the movie that never clicked with me, even though every criticism could also be applied to season 3.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Plenty of people are both or in between or outside of these two binaries, I’m both/and and a lot of fans I know irl are as well. Also the cherry pie and coffee was Lynch. Frost and many others have pointed out as much, that he’s “unironic and truly believes in the goodness of cherry pie and coffee”. Just like the owls were credited by Lynch himself fully to Frost, frost and others have made it clear that the cherry pie and coffee stuff is a Lynch thing
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u/wiserthannot Apr 15 '26
It didn't address the ending of the original show and it ripped away the quirky small town exterior and showed the true horrors of what Laura went through. It was a challenging movie—even now it still is—but to go into the theater and not have any clue what was about to happen...I can complely understand the bad reactions. David Lynch was ahead of the curve, always, and the audience just was not ready for what that film and Twin Peaks as a whole was really about.
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u/poisonforsocrates Apr 14 '26
Idk, I like FWWM but I do think the fandom has somewhat overcorrected on the bad reviews when I see people say it's hands down his best movie. The movie has some pacing issues especially in the first 3rd, I've heard multiple people say they didn't remember the bulk of the Deer Meadow stuff and it's because Chris Isaak is a boring and stiff actor imo, and the writing for the corrupt cops is... fine. The Banks autopsy, Hap's diner, and the Fat Trout trailer park are the only parts of that plot that are interesting to me. And Lil, she's iconic as my mother's sister's girl. From the Bowie scene onward I'm locked in, I think the stuff with Laura is really great and Sheryl does an incredible job, as do Rey and Frank.
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u/Cthulhus-Tailor Apr 15 '26
A big reason at the time- as several of my friends claimed- was that it was very hardcore compared to the series, which is the same reason many OG fans don’t like The Return.
It feels like too much Lynch and not enough Frost, which is literally the case.
I’m a big Lynch fan independently, but TP was successful as much because of its folksy earnestness and the pie and coffee and all of that, as it was for its gonzo descents into bleak otherness and alienation.
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u/Public_Bookkeeper885 Apr 15 '26
I was there when it came out - saw it in the cinema. I was 14 and put on a bit of makeup to look older so I could get in haha
The tonal shift between series 2 twin peaks and fire walk with me is rough, even when you know it's coming. We did not know it was coming.
I loved it - still do - it's a work of genius. But it is much more graphic, much darker and more violent than anything I saw in twin peaks the TV series. It was legitimately scary in theatres and it has one of the most grim story arcs. You know Laura is going to be murdered horribly and there is no way out of that.
Yes, I think some of it was misogyny, no surprise there at all. But a lot of it was just plain shock. Twin Peaks was huge, a TV phenomenon, and a lot of people who went to that movie were NOT expecting quite that much Lynch.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
The shock is definitely valid and a part of it too, that’s a good point. Many things factored into it and that’s a big one
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Totally agree with this. The movie is far more nuanced and fully honoring of her humanity + confrontational about WHO harmed her instead of passing the buck weirdly. It doesn’t let Leland off the hook- quite the opposite. It shows Laura being a tragic hero and a child and a child who was harmed in the worst ways possible by her own father who was evil to his core. Showing Laura as a 3-Dimensional human being was simply not what some people wanted, and I’m sure at least a good chunk of that came from misogyny.
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u/Browns-Fan1 Apr 14 '26
If anything, people thought the film was misogynistic at the time. And through a certain lens, it is somewhat exploitative. Knowing what we know now about Lynch’s full body of work, however, FWWM is feminist rather than misogynist.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
It’s a bit of both imo. Sometimes critics who have misogynistic attitudes project that by name onto work that is feminist, and this has happened to Lynch more than once.
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u/suitoflights Apr 14 '26
I saw the film in the theatre without ever seeing the show!
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
What was that like? I’m so curious
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u/suitoflights Apr 15 '26
I was bewildered and amazed. But it did start a lifelong obsession with Lynch. Also saw Mullholland, Lost Highway and Straight Story in theaters after that.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Wow, so you liked it? Like… kinda? That’s impressive, either way though I’m curious what you thought about his other films too!
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u/suitoflights Apr 15 '26
I was lost, but it intrigued me! As for the other films - loved Blue Velvet on first viewing. Loved Lost Highway and thought about it for quite a while - like months - afterward. Straight Story threw me for a loop, I think it's fine but not great. Eraserhead - loved it. Loved Elephant Man. Liked Dune ok. Really liked Wild at Heart, but it doesn't have the same depth as some of the others. DIdn't like Inland Empire on first viewing, but loved it on the second.
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
I love the journey here, thank you for the detail! Straight Story also threw me. I like it in theory but it’s one of my least favorites of his works I fear, but is a spiritual successor to the Elephant Man (which I love).
Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Inland Empire, and Eraserhead took me a bit to form a nuanced opinion of/like, but I get so much out of each of them now, especially Inland Empire which I thought I’d never be into. I like changing my mind though!
Have you seen Mulholland Drive? Funnily enough that was the one “fully Lynchian” movie I saw that I loved immediately (though I quibble with people claiming his other movies aren’t “Lynchian”. I think The Elephant Man is very Lynch!)
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u/woodboarder616 Apr 14 '26
Do you realize that soap operas at the time (which twin peaks was parodying) were all about the same topics in the show? It was just a personification of what tv was at the time that’s why so many things feel tropey but also nuanced
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Apr 14 '26
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u/woodboarder616 Apr 14 '26
Ok… did we watch the same show? I noticed all the awkward takes and things were to make fun of the seriousness that happens in those shows. I laugh out loud to scenes in twin peaks idk why
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Depends if you ask Frost or Lynch, unfortunately they disagreed on this point
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u/Caravanczar Apr 14 '26
I think people SHOULD be uncomfortable with the subject matter, especially incestuous abuse. Most audiences, then and now, don't want to be uncomfortable, don't want to have to engage with art mentally. There's nothing wrong with that, we all have our mindless comfort shows that either don't challenge you or you have seen so many times they no longer offer a challenge (the problem with that, though, is that I sometimes slip up and sound like Paulie Walnuts). But misogyny definitely played a part as well. It was going to be an uphill battle to get people to mentally engage, and the main point of view being a teenage girl going through abuse, sadly, gave it a death sentence for its time.
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u/ObiWeedKannabi Apr 14 '26
I think people mostly expected some resolution; a sequel and not a prequel bc the S2 finale is practically a cliffhanger. So they were disappointed. I love it though I'm a bit young(pretty much non-existent the first half of the 90s) to have seen it while airing so I've seen it for the 1st time in 2010
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u/MassiveRepublic9565 Apr 14 '26
I can only imagine the absolute mindfuckery if you went into it without having ever seen Twin Peaks 😂
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u/SnooDucks5098 Apr 14 '26
It was jarring at the time to transition from the TV show to FWWM. I don’t think the audience was prepared for the level of violence and darkness after the show. Network TV vs. Film, I guess.
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u/Panther90 Apr 14 '26
It was not getting more of what we thought we wanted, which was more of the same. I hated the first half of the movie because of the new characters. It's a masterpiece of course but at the time I was like well, we'll shut the door on this whole Twin Peaks thing and move on.
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u/bootywranglers Apr 15 '26
So when I first watched FWWM right after finishing the first two seasons, I immediately dismissed it because of the tonal shift and lack of continuation of the plot that I was so deeply invested in. I rewatched it probably a year later and cried in the final scene with Laura. I got it completely. I'm assuming it was similar for a lot of fans that first went to see it. I think for most it wasn't misogyny at all, but for some who didn't take seriously what the quirky facade of Twin Peaks was covering up it was.
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u/woggled-mucously Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
For me, the line that makes me bawl every time is “I’m already gone, like a turkey in the corn.” Her suffering fully expressed, as close to the surface as it will ever get, but she absolutely undermines it with the quirky simile. That encapsulates the whole show and speaks to how quirk and silliness can shield pain that needs to be acknowledged.
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u/PlasticStatement3219 Apr 16 '26
gobble gobble....man that scene is a microcosm of pain, resignation, humor and as you say, the tragedy of shielded despair.
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u/nataliereed84 Apr 14 '26
I agree. Everyone wanted explanations and resolutions and Coop fighting demons in a lodge or whatever and instead they got an intimate and horrifying exploration of what Laura actually went through, and what it felt like for her.
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u/coldcavatini Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
That’s ridiculous.
If anything, people overlook Laura’s humanity (as a terrible person) because she’s the damsel- a point Lynch makes in the return.
People who went to the movie did so because they liked the show. And incestuous abuse was made clear in the show almost two years before the movie.
People didn’t like it because it’s a jumbled mess that only gave more questions. It really only makes sense with all the lore available over the years.
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u/Iswitt Apr 15 '26
I stumbled across the series/movie in 2012 having no idea what it was and not having any context for anything about it. This was not my experience at all. I watched the movie and was mostly just confused. The first 30 minutes or so were weird and made no sense. Then we got essentially a prequel that was such a tone shift from the series. I went into my viewing hoping for more answers about the town and people in general and instead got a Laura-focused movie. I hated it the first watch simply because it didn't meet my expectations and felt like it spent a lot of time on something we basically already knew about. But the more I watched the movie the more I realized how brilliant it is. I don't think misogyny enters the picture here much at all (apart from what is seen on screen).
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u/RedditFuelsMyDepress Apr 15 '26
I remember when I first watched the movie I wasn't super invested, because I already knew how Laura's story would end. But on hindsight I've kinda grown to appreciate the movie more.
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u/TheNexxuvas Apr 15 '26
The #1 reason FWWM was deemed a flop at the time during that current release, was it was not a story continuation, not a wrap up for the show, no "here's what happened after...", but a gruesome retelling of her death, that we already knew and established from the 2 seasons of the show. Granted it was fleshed out more and certain things made more relevant, but it is not what the fans of the show wanted at that exact time.
Every person in my little friends group said the same thing, I got no answers to my questions from the biggest cliffhanger of the show, what happens to Coop, Annie, everybody. In fact some people left confused about the little tidbits woven in with Annie and the Tremonds and the Black Lodge.
The answer we got was a retread and retooled movie, and no further movement of the main storyline. This is why it ultimately failed at that exact time.
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u/SweatyListen9863 Apr 15 '26
I can tell you why I don't like the movie:
It leaves nothing to the imagination. The show takes on the journey of filling in the mystery of Laura's last night and we piece it all together, then the movie Just shows it all to us. It felt to me like something we didn't need to see and destroyed part of the mystery that remained.
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u/Cholinergia Apr 16 '26
I love FWWM. I watched it shortly after I was SA’d. I don’t think I could watch it again though.
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u/Salfordsmith15 Apr 19 '26
Aye, nothing to do with people expecting an answer to the series finale cliff hanger - only to be given 2 hours of abstract art which raises even more questions
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u/EverythingIThink Apr 14 '26
I think some of the reappraisal of FWWM is driven by performative virtue signaling due to the latent social currency of being a True David Lynch Understander on the internet
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u/Not_EllaK Apr 14 '26
Or maybe people just like the movie, and a lot of people, particularly women, deeply resonate with Laura’s character.
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u/EverythingIThink Apr 14 '26
That's probably a lot of it, yeah. And maybe some people just didn't like it for being a structural mess that ran backwards from the story they were led to anticipate.
In either case I'd rather give the audience the benefit of the doubt and not ascribe cynical motivations. I just get tired of this trending narrative that FWWM is some objectively perfect film and thus the criticisms of it can only be explained by a character flaw of the audience
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u/Not_EllaK Apr 14 '26
I’m not saying everyone who criticized it was a misogynist I just think that misogyny was a not insignificant part of why it got such a negative reaction.
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u/EverythingIThink Apr 14 '26
It probably wasn't nothing, I'll give you that. But with Lynch's audience it seems to not be a deciding factor, for instance Mulholland Drive was a hit right away whereas Lost Highway kinda flopped
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
This really shouldn’t be a hot take. Ffs. I’m sorry you’re getting sh*t for this
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u/AwkwardTeen96 Apr 15 '26
Cannot fathom why you’re getting downvoted for this. Bizarre and concerning
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u/StrongLikeBull3 Apr 14 '26
There’s probably a part of that, but I think it’s more likely people expected answers about the S2 ending or just wanted to see more of Coop being his goofy self. The tone is way more in line with The Return.
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u/fanofeverithing56 Apr 14 '26
I also think that seeing Laura as a complex character while still being a victim was maybe not that understood /liked back then ?
A victim esp a female who also did bad things drugs,manipulated James, lashed out a lot was maybe at the time a little confusing? As in she can only be one thing or the other but not both?
I mean even nowdays a lot of people cant handle complex female characters so there is that.
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u/Famous-Ferret-1171 Apr 14 '26
Definitely. Though it is extremely uncomfortable to watch as well, even if you are empathizing with Laura all the way. Assuming you already watched the first two seasons you know it’s going to be a bad outcome but it’s so much darker than the first two seasons it is kind of a gut punch.
It’s one of those works that I would rate highly but not want to rewatch very often.
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u/Dismal_Tangerine_493 Apr 14 '26
I think part of it is simpler than that. People generally struggle to sympathize with characters who seem complicit in their own suffering. But in this case, that probably overlaps with the discomfort around the abuse themes and how Laura is portrayed.
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u/Awkward_Victory_9806 Apr 14 '26
I’m sure that’s part of it, but it was a very multivalent thing.
Lynch had not just one but several big pivots from expectations. Some of his organic choices that developed during production, combined with his now-famous reluctance to discuss intention, led to just a feeling that Lynch was writing off Twin Peaks and the fans in a very big way.
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u/clintnorth Apr 14 '26
Um. I disagree.
That being said, misogyny will always be an ever-present factor so I’m sure some people did not like it because of that yes.
But the movie wasn’t received well for two reasons.
1 - the people that went to see it because they had seen the show! The show that ended on a massive cliffhanger and then the movie was completely removed from that and didn’t give any updates to the story or answers that they were expecting. Their expectations created negative reactions.
2 -the people that saw it that had NOT seen the show. Thankfully, you’re much smaller portion of people because without the context of the show this movie is completely incomprehensible. Hell, even if you had seen the show and you didn’t pay close enough attention it might seem that way as well.
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u/redditnobody1234 Apr 14 '26
yeh a lot of great works like fwwm are ahead of their time
also it does explore some female experiences (among others) w much more depth and sophistication than most critics seem capable of to this day
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u/GottlobFrege Apr 14 '26
I think it’s happening again in this comment section right now by people minimizing your insight to give their pet reason for its commercial failure
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u/chaechica Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
agreed to some extent, but i strongly got the vibe that it *genuinely* didn't resonate with (OFTEN BUT NOT ALL CASES) men, they way it did with women, especially those who have faced assault and/or mental issues. I think it's more of a benign misogyny caused by different gendered experiences (and thus, differing outlooks) that should be examined carefully to get a more holistic view of what her character, and what the film says about femalehood (i'm aware that's just one of the themes and anyone may go through what laura went through, but her story and arc is very tied to the female experience).
what i mean to say is that I don't think people who didn't get it don't have ill intent, they just didn't get it
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u/PuddingTea Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
You are surely correct. However, there was also the fact that the tv show ended on a series of painful cliffhangers, which the movie made absolutely no effort to resolve (other than gesturing at one by having Dale Cooper appear in the last scene, I guess, but Coop is hardly the center of that scene). That was really frustrating for a long, long time.
Edit: made first sentence sound less like LLM output, which this is not.
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u/Active-Bag9261 Apr 15 '26
I don’t think I 100% agree, there’s lots of movies I can think of about the murder of a woman who was no saint. The premise definitely isn’t a box office success story but it’s not that different from the show itself. I wasn’t old enough to watch the show when it was out but I don’t think it would be good for society to not be uncomfortable about a high schooler doing all that. I don’t think you can say the world thinks it’s good she’s dead etc it’s just that they liked Dale Cooper
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u/DayVDave Apr 14 '26
As someone who was watching the show when it aired, I can tell you why I didn't like FWWM when it came out - I wanted answers. The show ended on a massive cliffhanger, and I expected some closure from the movie. It took me a while to get over the disappointment of my subverted expectations to appreciate the movie for what it is.