“Fix your hearts or die” Remembering David Lynch, revolutionary surrealist director of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive

David Lynch – director of Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, and Eraserhead – has died aged 78, his family have confirmed via a Facebook post.

The post reads: “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole’.”

It closes: “It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”

Lynch, who recieved four Oscar nominations for his work on The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet, revealed in an interview with Sight and Sound last year that he’d been diagnosed with emphysema.

We’ve got quite a few big fans of Lynch and his work on staff here at VG247, so here are some thoughts from them:

Dom Peppiatt

A lot of people probably know David Lynch for the cult movies he made: Wild at Heart, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive. More yet know him for Twin Peaks – without which we wouldn’t have Alan Wake or Life is Strange. But, for me, one of the permanently cigarette-toting director’s most poignant victories was in Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017. In a blink-and-you’ll miss it exchange between Lynch’s unapologetic self-insert (Gordon Cole) and FBI agent Denise Bryson, the director did something sublime: he rallied alongside the greater LGBTQ+ community.

Cole says to Denise: “When you became Denise, I told all of your colleagues, those clown comics, to fix their hearts or die.” It is delivered down the camera, to you, to us. To a US audience embattled with the Trump presidency at the time, that had been enduring a prolonged and organised attack on trans rights in the country. In this one small moment, Lynch – a cis man – stood alongside the ‘alphabet mafia’ and proudly said “f**k you” to its enemies.

Lynch had long toyed with playful expressions of gender and sexuality (if you watch Erasurehead and don’t see that, well, you’re simply not looking hard enough). So much about his work interrogated the expression of self, the portrayal of femininity, the role that sex and shame have in a modern Western world. His work was always quietly revolutionary, and sought to skewer the status quo that so wholly enables whiteness and privilege in a fragmenting America. He was a mainstream director that unashamedly rallied against why we accept things as the way they are, and did it with limitless creativity. He was something really special.

And his work was not constrained to films and TV. Through the alchemy of his creativity and passion, his hand has steered some of gaming’s most prolific directors – Sam Lake and Hideo Kojima to name but a few. Lynch’s keen eye has ricocheted into our medium as much as it has into modern cinema, and the world at large is worse off for his departure. I hope anyone working in film, TV, or gaming will continue to use his work as an example, and that original media in all its forms from here out remembers what can be achieved when you stand for something with integrity, respect, and enthusiasm.

Kelsey Raynor

Like many others, my first experience of David Lynch was watching Twin Peaks as a teenager. My enjoyment of the show soon evolved into a real fascination with its director, whose filmography captures an unearthly, uncanny atmosphere that is really difficult to come by. His work is a testament to his amazing mind; one that has inspired me and countless others.

David Lynch will no doubt remain an unstoppable influence even after his passing. He’s inspired other directors, video game developers, musicians, and even fashion designers to think outside the box and provoke new audiences with Lynchian themes. This will no doubt continue, especially wherever Remedy Entertainment is concerned (Alan Wake 2 being one of my favourite pieces of Lynch-inspired media to date).

While we’re here, I also want to shoutout one of David Lynch’s most unnerving projects: Rabbits. The eight-episode horror web series — if you can find a way to watch it — is short, confusing, and incredibly unsettling. A must-watch for Lynch fans who fancy trying to interpret a terrifying mystery.

Rebecca Jones

I have been, quite seriously, a Twin Peaks fan since I was born. Like the show, I’m a child of 1990, and my parents swear it was the one ‘grown up’ TV programme that was sometimes on in the room for my delicate newborn ears to hear. No wonder I turned out like I did.

My 35-year journey from infant surrealism fanatic to alleged adult games journalist likely couldn’t have taken place the way it did without the ever-reliably weird and challenging background presence of David Lynch’s work. And so many brilliant games – including, but certainly not limited to, personal favourites like Life is Strange, Silent Hill, and Alan Wake – not only owe a huge debt to his singular and eclectic style, but wear that influence as a badge of honour.

Despite, to the best of my knowledge, never directly working on a video game in his life, David Lynch was an undeniable icon of this industry. While his death hits especially hard, I can’t help but imagine that those unmistakable echoes of his work will continue to live on in new stories, art, and games for a very, very long time.

It’s also well worth reading the tributes paid to Lynch by the likes of Twin peaks actor Kyle MacLachlan, who wrote the following as part of a post on Instragram:

“David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath.”