TMR 304 : Eraserhead (1977) (Movie Roundtable)

The Mind Renewed : Thinking Christianly in a New World Order · 2023-12-19

01:10:54

“It is a personal film, and no reviewer, or critic, or viewer has ever given an interpretation that is my interpretation.”—David Lynch

For the 15th Movie Roundtable here at TMR we welcome back our good friends Frank Johnson, Antony Rotunno and Mark Campbell for another four-way discussion, this time on David Lynch's cult surrealist "horror" film Eraserhead from 1977.

Or is that perhaps not quite right? Each of us in the discussion loves the film Eraserhead (for various reasons), but I don't think any of us finds it exactly horrifying. Certainly, my reaction is more one of bemusement plus amusement, and the feeling that I'm a fly on the wall inside someone else's nightmare. So perhaps it would be better (for me) to call Eraserhead a "cult surrealist dark comedy nightmare film"? Or maybe that's not quite right either. Perhaps: a "cult surrealist nightmare-that-is-somehow-also-dark-comedy-without-ceasing-to-be-a-nightmare film"? That works for me, but I'd be just as happy to say that this film—which seems as strange today as when it first came out back in 1977—simply defies description.

Join us as we discuss the film's production, ponder its meaning(s)—or lack thereof (?)—and consider what this "dream of dark and troubling things” might have to "say" to us today.

[For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]

The Mind Renewed : Thinking Christianly in a New World Order

The Mind Renewed is hosted by Dr. Julian Charles (UK) and dedicated to understanding the world in which we live from a Christian worldview perspective. We are acutely conscious of propaganda in the mainstream media, and of the bewildering mass of information in the alternative media. We therefore seek to address matters of concern to people (whether they be 'people of faith' or none) in an unsensational and informed fashion, in the hope that truth will be uncovered and that bridges will be built between people through greater understanding. Therefore, whether it be the Surveillance State, the threat of Global Government, False-Flag Terrorism, the danger of New Religious Movements (NRMs), or any other issue too often ignored by the institutional church, The Mind Renewed analyses, interprets and critiques from a Christian worldview perspective.

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