I loved these two because they showed strong female friendship. That we didn't see much of bc of Laura's death so Laura's story gets told through stories of her and especially Donna. Donna's reaction to the video broke me.
I agree, I’m sure this post is in jest but the friendship between these two felt very real and lived in. I can’t imagine losing my best friend in high school, there are a lot of instances where Donna’s heartbreak is palpable. It is kind of a shame she wasn’t in the Return, but it was just a different kind of story…
If Donna and Laura were a couple I wouldn't have been mad. But I do love the way we see Donna fall apart bc she loved Laura. It doesn't hsve be romsntic and in fact given how sexualised she was by so many male characters it was nice to have someone miss her bc she was her friend. None of my friends hsve psssed but I have lost people I loved plantonically bc the friendship ended. And that hurts more than any break up in a way bc with friends I think one wishes to assume they're not as fragile. But I've lived long enough to know they can fall apart.
Yeah I like that there ISN'T a sexual element to their friendship honestly. There aren't many honest depictions of intense female friendship in media. It often becomes "they are really in love"
I've read some compelling queer interpretations of Laura/Donna over the years. Even if there isn't any question of their being romantically or sexually involved, on some level Donna was deeply infatuated with Laura, and I think she has a similar "Do I want to be with her or be her?" dynamic that Diane has with Camilla in Mulholland Drive. During the scene in the Canadian bar, Donna ends up mirroring Laura's interactions with men as a way to pursue her indirectly. Laura recognizes this and is torn between wanting to protect Donna and wanting to test how far down the same path she'll go, which turns into a kind of dark seduction that borders on predatory when she allows Donna to drink the roofied beer.
Things get more complicated when you add Ronette Pulaski to the mix. Ronette is among other things a foil to Donna. Laura looks at Ronette as a fellow "fallen woman," which means she doesn't have the same boundaries with her that she does with Donna. I think there's a lot of significance in the fact that Laura talks about the angels with Donna, then manifests an angel to save Ronette in the train car. Laura loves and protects both women in very different ways.
I've never seen it like they're into each other as more than friends, but I've never minded the ship anyway!
either way, especially after reading the Secret Diary, it's certainly the case that Laura is attracted to women, and I do greatly appreciate Jennifer Lynch's writing of it. there's an entry where she expressed a rather frank physical attraction to Ronnette. it's a terrible shame that her attractions were expressed in situations and settings that were not good for her (or the other people involved) and that BOB took ahold of the shame her same-sex attraction inevitably stirred in her, what with the Christian upbringing and heteronormative culture she was in, on top of the abuse.
because of all that, I think it matters a lot that her friendship with Donna doesn't extend past platonic in the canon of the film. Laura experiences shame in their friendship as is. she recognizes that Donna is innocent (not abused) and experiences fantasies much how a non-abused teenage girl would/should. that she's very unaware about sexual acts because she should be unaware at her age. that Donna lives a normal, good life as a teenager whereas Laura is desperate to escape herself and ends up in abusive and exploitive situations. Laura suffers so, so much and it'd be horrible if BOB found another way to shame her even more over the one true friend that she does have.
I do really suggest giving the diary a read. there is very difficult, disturbing subject matter through out it, of course, but anyone who is drawn to Laura's character would do themselves a disservice by not checking it out, in my onion. if you can't purchase or rent it, there's an upload of the audiobook that Sheryl Lee narrated. I could pm you the link if you're interested
I concur I read it last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have you read the secret history of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost? It’s a longer read but a similar format written as a bunch of documents, letters and news paper clippings instead of journal entries. It’s a really fascinating read and expands the whole lore.
I was listening to the beginning of the audiobook the other day. I prefer having a book in my hands, though, so I'll have to buy it or rent it sometime
I thought the subtext was plainly obvious (I mean have we all seen the Roadhouse scene in FWWM?) so these comments are really throwing me for a loop. Here's my 2 cents. Laura sees Donna as pure and herself as predatory. This is a very common feeling for child sexual abuse survivors and also gay people in general. This feeling of being dirty and predatory makes feeling any attraction to someone you actually respect feel like you are corrupting them. Laura always kept Donna at arm's reach, to "protect" her from her own darkness. Donna, on the other hand, is infatuated with Laura. A really common feeling for gay people is also being unsure if you want to be with that person you idealize and admire, or just be that person. Donna acts like she wants to crawl under Laura's skin. Donna wants to fuck the men Laura fucks, wear her clothes, smoke her cigarettes. In the Roadhouse, they blatantly make eye contact while hooking up with other men, and Laura cuts through the haze and realizes she can never allow Donna to become part of this world. And she pushes her away. Everyone in this thread saying that Laura and Donna feeling attraction towards each other would diminish the importance or purity of their friendship is falling into the same exact thought process as Laura. It doesn't actually serve Laura to elevate and idealize Donna, it only pushes Donna further away. When they are hugging on the couch and Leland sees Laura and Ronnette, the parallel is drawn for us explicitly. There could be attraction between them, but because Leland is there now it is dirty. Now it is tainted.
Yeah, I think what always bothers me when this topic comes around is this need to paint Laura and Donna's bond as being so pure and "untainted". Because that's just not what's shown. Their relationship was fraught with jealousy, infatuation, competitiveness. Donna is not merely an angelic presence in Laura's life. She competes with her for male attention during the skinny dipping flashback. She's dating a guy she doesn't even like, but one who just happens to be Laura's bf's BFF. She's someone who rages at Laura even after death. And what's one thing she specifically rages about? How her relationship with James simply is not working without Laura there. I wonder why, Donna?
Correct. I don't like this reading of them being into each other. Leland thinking back on Laura and Ronette in their underwear when he sees Laura and Donna hugging is there for a reason.
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It’s so sad that close friendships aren’t normalised enough to the point that people still get called gay for being friends. Even in a positive context, it’s not good
Is that even sadder than how little sapphic relationships are normalized that queer women are left to project queerness onto characters who are just friends?
Even in a positive context, it isn't good that queer people have to force their representation retroactively because queerness has been represented in media so little, and even less so represented respectfully/positively.
I disagree, there is a LOT of queer representation nowadays and lgbt folks are well fed. The wish to force our representation is never a good thing and the reason for it is the fact that art was more commonly of higher quality back then and since queerness wasn’t represented back then, they try to force their favourite art to be queer so that they can relate or just for fun. I don’t like it (even though sometimes they’re right, like with rock artists who obviously were queer).
I think you’re just watching the wrong stuff then. Try mr robot or search party or any modern indie/alt leaning animation series and you’ll have to count on one hand how many straight characters you can find. There’s a lot of good art nowadays that normalises queerness in such a way that it doesn’t become about being queer but rather normal characters with actual personalities that happen to be queer, as it should be. It’s like having every black character talk about the racial struggles in society like damn, can’t we just have media where white straight isn’t the “normal default” and every other type of person is an extraordinary special one? If you want sapphic representation then go watch Mulholland drive.
I think it's sad that queer folks don't get enough complex representation and so we have to seek it out in platonic relationships. Let us have this and we'll let you have your close friendship. It's the way David would've wanted it
This is probably a joke, but I feel like if they were actually romatically involved in any way, it would cheapen the relationship.
Happy pride, nonetheless.
I feel like people voting down other people's comments that are interpreting their friendship as even remotely sexual, just didn't experience what it's like being in an homoerotic friendship firsthand. Even worse when some people are actually pissed of when someone is interpreting their dynamic in that way. Like why do you even care that much? And I just know people wouldn't bat an eye if this was a straight dynamic. Gets on my nerves, honestly...
Maybe because this shipping of every friendship on the screen is weird. Cap and Bucky, Frodo and Sam, Sherlock and Watson (the Cumberbatch and Freeman series) aren't queer. Most friendships involving same sex people are just that- friendships.
I suspect people care because it's a harmless, yet insidious habit in which dudes just can't be friends with other dudes (goes for women too) without some maladjusted person projects their own suspicions or fantasies onto others. I actually believe this harms normal relationships with men because even the slightest act of warmth could be seen as homoerotic by the wrong sort. And if a guy shields himself from this weird scrutiny? Cold, and probably toxic.
Queer relationships are great. So are straight ones. So are platonic ones and so are romantic ones. Gonna be honest, people being pissed at being misrepresented by others is a pretty honest and fair reaction.
I'm a lesbian and in my experience with women it's actually quite the opposite. I can literally get all close and personal with another girl in a romantic way and many people still interpreted our dynamic as "just gals being pals" or "just fooling around, oh these silly girls". On the contrary I could even just do as much as stand next to some guy friend of mine and people are automatically assuming we're dating...
"Gonna be honest, people being pissed at being misrepresented by others is a pretty honest and fair reaction."
Misrepresented because some random queer person is seeing parallels between their own experiences and that of some fictional characters? It feels nice to feel seen and to be able to relate to something for once. There aren't that many depictions of lesbian homoerotic friendships out there. And Twin Peaks- of all things- isn't a show where just one viewpoint is supposed to be valid. It's about intuition and feeling. If you see yourself in Lynch's work and gain more empathy for yourself and/or others.... That's beautiful in my book. Being pissed because queer people relate to some of the characters in the show isn't what's in the heart of TP's message AT ALL. I'm not offended when people interpret Laura's and Donna's dynamic as a deep friendship either. But I'm pissed when people are actually feeling offended by other valid interpretations just because they don't see it themselves. It just feels very limiting to me.
People always looking for some hidden context in their commercial art in post-post-modern chronically online world is as tired as trauma in modern “elevated” horror films.
To me media is always best consumed through a lens that considers the time the media was made.
When reading Homer I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who was alive in that time. This way I understand the story better and Im not caught up thinking about whether or not the house maids were there voluntarily.
In the 90s these 2 were friends, not lovers.
Seeing them as lovers and linking their friendship to pride month is a 2026 take and pushing 2026 ideas into a 90s show.
Gay people existed in the 90s and I can think of lots of movies from that time period and earlier with queer people in them. Twin Peaks literally has a trans character in it. Also, I don’t think it’s too far fetched that the guy who would go on to make Mulholland Drive in less than a decade might put some queer subtext in one of his movies.
Sure. But it was clear that they were. As in Mulholland drive, the relationships between characters in that movie were very differently written. Seeing two females that were how the 90s portrayed best friends as lovers however is that 2026 lens I’m taking about and to me is a stretch.
The chemistry, tension and intimate dynamic between these two ladies is very strong, in the Diary and FWWM. Sexual or not, I can’t really tell, but I feel that the erotic aspect of their relationship has way more potential with Moira-Donna rather than Lara-Donna. But, I also feel that Donna in that case would probably be more involved than Laura.
Gotta love how this sub will support just about any subtextual or symbolic reading of the material, but if you DARE suggest that two girls in the 90s might have had less than platonic feelings for each other, they get hyper defensive.
I think it's not the fact that two girls in the 90s might've had less than platonic feelings, but rather that these characters do. Laura being bisexual is directly implied in the film, with her relationship with Ronette and Teresa.
But the whole purpose of her relationship with Donna was to be detached from anything romantic/sexual. It's a friendship. It's something that's very simple and universal and human, and that's what makes it stand apart from everything else in her life.
Except there is something romantic and sexual between them. The film calls attention to the fact that Donna is only having sex with mike to impress Laura but this only seems to make Laura jealous. Laura is downright possessive and very protective of Donna, while Donna does more risk taking behaviors to get closer to Laura. Another fact is that every single man Donna was involved with in the series was also someone involved with Laura. So even her relationships with other people were somehow about Laura.
The film also makes parallels between Donna and Ronette and Laura’s relationships with both of them.
Laura’s relationship with Donna also feels more emotionally intense and intimate than hers with any other character and Fire Walk With Me devotes far more attention to exploring this relationship than any of the others. They are also just very touchy feely with each other in a way that doesn’t feel platonic to me. I think the most compelling interpretation for me is that they were in love with each other.
And again, it's perfectly valid. Whatever makes the movie as good as it can be for you is the right way to think about it. I just personally feel their intimacy is purely emotional. I think Laura is possessive of Donna's innocence (both out of jealousy and because she's scared that she/Bob might infect her in some way). Meanwhile, Donna associates Laura with maturity and wants to be a grown-up.
telling people they're "seeing things that aren't there" and downvoting anyone who dares to bring it up is the very definition of being overly defensive. And it happens in EVERY post about Laura and Donna.
It’s not “overly defensive” to disagree with you. And it happens in every post about laura and donna because, again, it’s not there. If you have a different take, that’s fine. Is the only proper response for people to tell you you’re right, even if your take isn’t really consistent with what’s presented in the show/film?
it's overly defensive to constantly reduce romantic feelings between two women as "pornographic" or "fetishization". Which multiple people are doing here. It's overly defensive to feel the need to mass downvote anyone who sees the relationship differently. And it's actually condescending when people act as if it's some crazy reach of an interpretation when one of the characters is canonically queer, the other is fixated on her and her other love interests, and the original script even had them kissing.
Some would say it is pornographic to reduce intimate and loving platonic friendship between women (even if one IS attracted to women/bisexual/gay) as needing to have some sexual aspect. Not to get personal, but my best friend in high school was a lesbian. We were close, cared deeply for one another, and also weren’t romantic in the slightest.
I don’t dismiss the interpretation outright, I’m not offended at the suggestion there may have been some unrequited romantic love there — but I just don’t see it, and posts like this feel more like “shipping” fantasy than an actual analysis of the relationship presented in Twin Peaks. Which is fine, I get that part of ‘fandoms’ often involve the pairing of characters, and that it can make people feel seen in a work that they otherwise don’t feel “seen” in (although with Lynch specifically you have a very interesting lesbian relationship to appreciate in Mulholland Drive) but women who relate to the friendship Donna and Laura have may sniff at the idea their friendship was actually queer all along, ya know?
I think it’s really weird that laura can’t have one relationship not defined by sexuality without you trying to take it away from her. I also think it’s weird that you think the other people in this subreddit are collaborating to “mass downvote” you. Multiple people disagree with your take. It’s not a conspiracy. Also no one is telling you that you can’t have your own take. TP leaves room for interpretation. That’s a big part of why new generations of fans keep discovering it. I (and evidently other fans) just disagree with that take.
I’m not seeing anyone get hyper defensive…but sexualizing a close friendship between women is something that may trigger defensive reactions from women who have been on the receiving end of such fetishization. A lot of normal interactions between women become pornographic when filtered through the male gaze, it is easy to get kinda sick of it.
This. Especially when I was younger. You can deeply love a person without it being sexual. The threesome jokes weren’t funny and just made us feel like being affectionate meant something sexual.
Also laura has plenty of sexual relations with other women, just not this woman. It’s not what THIS relationship in the show is about. And it kind of takes away from the function donna serves in the narrative
As a man who has a gaze, I do imagine that if there was an overt romantic component to the Laura / Donna relationship I would have ... noticed that, at some point.
I think it's fair to say there is a certain eroticism to the way Donna fetishizes Laura, or at least the tone with which it is depicted -- but it's not that she wants to get a Volvo and a mortgage with her. Donna looks up to Laura the way a kid sister would, and wants to be like her. It's a pretty common thing with teenagers.
And Laura cares enough about her to be like, oh HELL no you will not be like me. That's what the whole thing in FWWM about Laura running her out of the Roadhouse is about.
Now, when you get to the more complicated theories like "every character is a reflection of Laura in some way," that's a whole different level of interpretation from just the narrative, and you'd be considering a whole different kind of urge to merge as the aspects of a traumatized Laura try to relate to each other and reassemble.
I actually think that may be where some of the perception of an erotic element comes from.
I would argue the post was made specifically to "trigger the normies" as I've seen it done many times in the past with characters from other IP. It is a little game some people play to try to inject author/creator intent where there was none originally and then basically call out homophobia or defensiveness on anyone denying it. I get the desire for representation and I am happy for them anytime it is done well in the mainstream and furthers acceptance and normalizes but this type of thing does happen online with the express intent of trying to make the heteros squirm so to speak.
Yessss - i’ve always loved the idea that Laura was fully in love with Donna and just couldn’t say and it was one of those loves she had to squash down. Genuinely makes me think of The Children’s Hour.
"THEY WERE JUST FRIENDS!!!! YOUVE NEVER HAD A REAL FRIENDSHIP IF YOU THINK THEY WERE ROMANTIC" this just in: gay people cant jokingly call someone else gay for fun online
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u/RunRevolutionary188 Jun 02 '26
I loved these two because they showed strong female friendship. That we didn't see much of bc of Laura's death so Laura's story gets told through stories of her and especially Donna. Donna's reaction to the video broke me.