Laura Palmer: Intertextual Temptress

Anne Bettina Pedersen

Abstract Simultaneously deceased and ever-present, Laura Palmer of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks (1990-1991) defies logic and signifies chaos by displaying both a lack of and an overabundance of meaning. Laura’s dead body exemplifies her paradoxical nature; cocooned in plastic and bejewelled with tiny pebbles, her corpse counters Julia Kristeva’s definition of the abject cadaver. As this chapter explains, Laura’s dead body echoes Edgar Allan Poe’s concept of the dead female as an aesthetic object, as her beautiful corpse provokes necrophiliac desires. This chapter details how Laura’s body is abused on various levels: through the incestuous molestation of her body, via the violation of the body of text contained within her secret diary, and through the on-screen and off-screen investigations of her secrets. As pointed out in this chapter, on-screen investigators follow clues leading to the solving of Laura’s murder, while off-screen investigators inscribe Laura’s body with various meanings through the identification of the Twin Peaks canon’s numerous cultural references. As a result, Laura becomes a monstrosity of multiple meanings. Several readings of Laura are investigated in this chapter: Laura as a double, Laura as a dead(ly) femme fatale, Laura as a victim of incest, Laura as a nymphet/seductress, Laura as a sexually deviant witch figure, and Laura as a fairy tale feminist. The young girl’s simultaneous invitation to and struggle against the investigation of her secrets complicate any critical analysis of her persona(s). Laura’s uncanny harbouring of several identities, via numerous intertextual references, and the multiple violations of her body have turned her physique beastly, projecting the abject chaos within.

Key Words: Twin Peaks, abjection, female body/corpse, female monstrosity, empty/unstable signifier, Laura Palmer.

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1. Introducing Laura In 1990, two images from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s cult TV-series Twin Peaks (1990-1991) became instant icons: the photo of Laura Palmer as Homecoming Queen, complete with dazzling smile and tiara, and the shot of her corpse, wrapped in plastic, her bluish yet beautiful face exposed. Laura continues to titillate long-term fans as well as new audiences; her murderer may have been revealed, but her enigmatic story still invites (re)visitations to Twin Peaks (the series) and Twin Peaks (the fictional town). In 2015, Lynch, Frost, and many of the original actors and crew members will return to Twin Peaks/Twin Peaks for a third season, scheduled to premiere in 2017. Once again, Laura (played by Sheryl Lee)

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/97890043508�6_0�0 166 Laura Palmer ______will enthral viewers, when a new chapter is added to the story of her life/lives and to the three key texts of the Twin Peaks canon: the TV-series, the 1992 movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,1 directed by Lynch, and The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (1990),2 penned by Jennifer Lynch. The pilot episode of Twin Peaks launched an obsessive investigation into Laura’s psyche and body, as on-screen characters and real-life audiences attempted to unveil the dead girl’s secrets. However, the puzzle of Laura is never solved; she possesses no meaning and all meanings at the same time. Laura’s monstrosity, embodied by her status as both an empty and an unstable signifier, frustrates and stimulates investigators pursuing this intertextual temptress. From the moment Laura’s cadaver is found, it becomes a symbol of the mystery surrounding both her life and her death. The corpse itself provides clues to her murder: the killer has placed the letter R (for Robertson/BOB) under one of Laura’s fingernails. Further, the medical examination of Laura’s corpse speaks of her sexual activities. The show’s title sequence hints at the series’ focus on the female physique: the sign welcoming viewers to Twin Peaks/Twin Peaks features snow-capped mountains – the twin peaks – which have been said to echo breasts.3 In one of Laura’s poems in Secret Diary, she elaborates on the idea of the female body as a landscape. The twelve-year-old girl describes her undeveloped breasts as ‘woman’s hills about to come up.’4 Thus, the text establishes the sexually mature female body as a central motif, which reverberates in the discourse concerning the natural scenery. Consequently, the Twin Peaks canon links women’s mysterious, often even magical and dangerous, bodies to the enigmatic woods surrounding Twin Peaks. The welcome sign reappears when FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper drives into town and begins his investigation of Laura’s murder. Here, the welcome sign opens up for a different interpretation: instead of representing breasts, the mountains may signify the raised legs of a woman (the peaks become knees). The legs are about to be spread for the purpose of entering into and exploring, perhaps even violating, the mystery of the female body – Laura’s body.5 In the series, a still frame from a video of Laura suggests that she encourages the exploration of her body: softly, she whispers ‘Help me,’6 seemingly imploring viewers to solve the mystery of her murder. Investigators/transgressors should be able to enter Laura’s lifeless body and to gain access to her secrets without resistance. Yet, occasionally, Laura warns off on-screen as well as off-screen investigators by undergoing a physical change and becoming monstrous, thus indicating that forced entry into her mystery/her body mimics the molestation she has endured at the hands of the evil spirit BOB/her father, Leland Palmer. Further, Laura misleads those who pursue her secrets: she has created a decoy diary to prevent the violation of her secret diary. Throughout the series, Cooper, Lynch, and audiences endeavour to reach an essential definition of Laura – a TRUTH – often by following clues linked to her sexual activities. For instance, Cooper’s investigation leads to the cabin in the woods, where Laura engaged in group sex