“IT’S A FRIDAY ONCE AGAIN:” A TRIBUTE TO DAVID LYNCH
I found out through an email.
It was strange how much the headline affected me — “David Lynch, avant-garde filmmaker, dies at 78.” Minutes before my class was supposed to start I went through a bout of denial, looking up other sources. Variety, NPR, CNN, NBC, Wikipedia. I couldn’t believe this was true.
It was.
Everything felt frozen around me, as if everything was put in perspective. Shock and sadness struck me. The only thing my body could do was audibly say out loud “No” in front of my class, leading to this exchange:
“What happened?”
“David Lynch died.”
“Who’s David Lynch?”
Hours later, as I was rewatching scenes from Lynch’s films and kept seeing countless Instagram stories about his passing, I started crying.
I have never felt this depressed over a celebrity death. Maybe it was the horrible coincidence that I was in the middle of rewatching “Twin Peaks” with my roommates, becoming more interested in seeing the rest of his work. Maybe it was because of the onslaught of bad news happening in 2025.
Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Audio major Avery Ransom was about to go to work when she found out via an Instagram story that said “Rest in Peace, David Lynch.”
“I kind of went through all five stages of grief within 15 minutes when I thought ‘No, that’s not real’,” Ransom said. “And then I was so upset and was just full on sobbing while I was getting dressed for work.”
Joshua Ray, a film critic for KMOV, remarks that the filmmaker’s passing “feels like a family member kind of loss” before going into a broadcast segment on Lynch.
Webster University’s Director of Public Relations Patrick Giblin recommended for The Journal to do an article on his passing. David Lynch’s death clearly means something to everyone, so what exactly was it?
To me, David Lynch was someone whose influence I would see all my life. Before I even started watching “Twin Peaks” in middle school, I saw shows that took notes from his surrealist style.
“Gravity Falls,” as confirmed by creator Alex Hirsch, was heavily inspired by Lynch’s hit show. Even other cartoon shows that students grew up with like “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” “Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated” and “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” evoked imagery from Lynch’s work, including his 1980s cult classic adaptation of “Dune.” Hell, one of my favorite episodes of “Psych” as a kid was the “Twin Peaks” parody.
Later on, I would find out about his other iconic works: his horror films like “Eraserhead” and “Inland Empire”; his mystery thrillers “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Dr.”; his polarized-turned-acclaimed films “Wild at Heart,” “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” and “Lost Highway”; along with his dramas “The Elephant Man” and “The Straight Story.”
Throughout Lynch’s ten films, including shows like “Twin Peaks” and its legacy third season “The Return,” he establishes traits that make him an instantly recognizable filmmaker. A genre-blend of noir and surrealism. A dream-like atmosphere that leads to visuals like an alien-esque baby’s guts exploding from its body or a woman shrieking at a man randomly hiding behind her bed. Blinking lights, “A Woman in Trouble”, and an illogical story that leaves you confused, scared and yet comforted. That’s David Lynch, but also not.
Read the rest of this article at The Webster Journal - https://websterjournal.com/2025/02/07/its-a-friday-once-again-a-tribute-to-david-lynch/