Courtenay Stallings - Lauras Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks

Lauras Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks

2020 Courtenay Stallings

All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without the authors permission is strictly forbidden. All photos and/or copyrighted material appearing in this book remain the work of its owners.

Book designed by Scott Ryan

Cover and back cover designed by Natalie Rulon

Front cover photo by permission of ABC Photo Archives ABC/Getty Images

Back cover art by Jill Watson

Back cover authors photo by Amy T. Zielinski

Edited by David Bushman, Elizabeth Smith

Photos of each interviewee courtesy of each person

Published in the USA by Fayetteville Mafia Press

Columbus, Ohio

Contact Information

Email: fayettevillemafiapress@gmail.com

Website: fayettevillemafiapress.com

Follow the Publisher at

@fmpbooks

ISBN: 9781949024081

eBook ISBN: 9781949024098

All photos are for editorial use only. Lauras Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks is a scholarly work of review and commentary only, and no attempt is made, or should be inferred, to infringe upon the copyrights or trademarks of any corporation. All photos from Twin Peaks: The Return are courtesy of Showtime. All photos from films are publicity shots from the studio that released the film.

___________________________________

For Laura and Sheryl and women everywhere

Dear Laura

Laura, Laura, Laura

A ghost of me, you are

For one who did not want to live

You are never very far

A soul lost deep in trouble

You gave my art a name

But if I did it all again

I might not do it

quite the same

Pulled down from heavens ethers

You arrived to share my life

I instilled your death with purpose

you left me with your knife

I take it out from time to time

Run fingers down smooth blade

Is my destiny the same as yours

Or do I Just Simply Fade?

Dear, sweet Laura

My doorway into death

Alive and yet not living

In this play

I am your guest

I offered you myself to use

In expression of your light

And in exchange

Was tricked quite well

When you rewrote my rites

Fair, you say

Do I not agree?

Your fame

After all

Did rub off on me

It isnt what I wanted tho

or wished for

Had I known

I wanted back my freedom

my existence

as my own

but you my friend

had different dreams than mine

and lifetimes later

we are stuck in time

lingering on

in this story of ours

Caught somewhere between

My earth

and your stars

As an image is reflected back to us on the surface of still water, so too is the character of Laura Palmer a reflection of the millions of women and children who have suffered in the hands of abuse... a collective ocean of suffering.

My hope is that expression of this pain becomes a great river of healing waters with the connecting energy of beautiful streams, branching creaks and winding tributaries reaching out to quench the thirst of those still in need.

Courtenay, the women of this book, and all of those Ive met along the path of my life who have so bravely dared to tell their stories

are the ever-flowing droplets that keep these waters flowing.

May Lauras story continue to offer strength to the wounded who witness it.

You are not alone.

______________________________

Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse, and Domestic Violence

In the following pages, you will be encountering a number of topics that you may find uncomfortable and difficult, particularly if you are a survivor of sexual abuse or domestic violence. If the discussions in this book make you feel uncomfortable, thats perfectly normal. Its OK to stop reading. Its OK to take a break. Its OK to talk to a professional counselor or even your friends about it. I chose to engage directly with the topic of violence against women because it is at the heart of the Twin Peaks story, of Laura Palmers story, but I understand that the topic is difficult for many, especially survivors.

A portion of all of the proceeds I receive for this book will be donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). RAINN does incredible work to support survivors. It is a great resource.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault: report, seek help, and practice self- care immediately. For more information, visit www.rainn.org.

______________________________

Introduction

It encompasses the all. It is beyond the fire, though few would know that meaning. It is a story of many but begins with one, and I knew her. The one leading to the many is Laura Palmer. Margaret Lanterman, The Log Lady

I want to be haunted by the ghost. I want to be haunted by the ghost of your precious love. The Pogues

This book is a ghost story. Ghost stories by their very nature contain supernatural characters who haunt. In Twin Peaks, the character Laura Palmer is dead yet she livesas some form of her proclaims in the liminal space of the Red Room in Twin Peaks. Laura functions as a ghost within the canon of Twin Peaks and outside of it. She haunts us, the viewers. Ghost stories help us express our fears, anxieties, and resentments over societal restrictions. The ghost is the ultimate outsider, an absent presence, all-seeing and yet unable to partake of life in any meaningful way.... Whatever women repress, ghost stories suggest, will eventually come back to haunt if not them, then those who colluded in keeping them downtrodden. A ghost story is about exorcising repression. Its allowing what is dead, what is forbidden, to speak. This book is a ghost story. This is Lauras Ghost.

In 1990, the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, cocreated by David Lynch and Mark Frost, opened with a murder mystery when a beautiful homecoming queen, wrapped in plastic, washed up on a cold and rocky beach. Laura Palmers death triggers a small town to face its fractured self. David Lynch and Mark Frost pitched the idea for the show, which was originally titled Northwest Passage, in 1988. Mark Frost said, We knew it was going to be some kind of serial about the murder of a homecoming queen, and the first image we had was of a dead body washing up on the shore of a lake. Art imitates life.

Initially, Laura Palmer was a MacGuffin who functioned as an object in the story that would serve to reveal how the small town of Twin Peaks was not so innocent after all. On the surface, Twin Peaks appeared to be the new nightly soap opera, a sort of twisted take on the nighttime soap that was so popular in the 1980s. Shows like Dallas and Dynasty accrued high ratings but were waning in fandom by the time Twin Peaks arrived. However, Lynch and Frost were telling a different kind of story here, subverting the usual formulas of television in a way that would inspire other groundbreaking shows in the future, like