Laura Palmer: A Monstrosity of Multiple Meanings

Cocooned in plastic and bejewled with tiny pebbles, the corpse of Laura Palmer of David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks (1990-1991) counters Julia Kristeva's definition of the abject cadaver. Instead of displaying signs of decay, Laura's corpse mirrors the iconic photograph of her in full Homecoming Queen regalia. Further, Laura echoes Edgar Allan Poe's concept of the female corpse as an aesthetic object, as her beautiful dead body provokes necrophiliac desires; death has not diminshed the sexual prowess of this lethal seductress. As this chapter explains, the confluence of tragedy and beauty proves a trademark of Lynch's, as his films portray 'troubled women.' Laura contains traces of other Lynchian females in trouble as well as elements of an abandoned project on Marilyn Monroe. Simultaneously deceased and ever-present, through doppelgängers, Laura defies logic ans signifies chaos by displaying both a lack of and an over-abundance of meaning. This chapter suggests that the numerous cultural references to written and visual texts such as, for instance, Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz (1939), Otto Preminger's Laura (944), Grace Metalious's Peyton Place (1956), and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962) found in Twin Peaks cause Laura to become a monstrosity of multiple meanings, as evinced by her demonic transformation, warding off Agent Cooper/viewers trying to solve her mystery. Laura's simultaneous invitation to and struggle against the investigation of her secrets further complicate any critical analysis of her persona(s). By containing clues to solving Laura's murder, her corpse embodies her mystery. From beyond the grave, Laura beckons investigators, on-screen as well as off-screen, to solve her murder. Yet, she also guards her secrets fiercely and struggles against additional layers of meaning. Finally, Laura's uncanny harbouring of multiple identities, her housing all these different female characters, has turned her body beastly, projecting the abject chaos within.
Keywords: Twin Peaks, abjection, female body, empty/unstable signifier, Lolita, Peyton Place, Monroe, Poe.