This is definitely
one of the subjects in Twin Peaks that generates significant debate.
Personally I feel pretty strongly about the Blue Rose, so here's my
take on it. The Blue Rose makes its most symbolic appearances early
on in the film, Fire Walk With Me notably in the first half,
which focuses on FBI Special Agents Chester Desmond and Sam Stanley
(Chris Isaak and Kiefer Sutherland, respectively). As Gordon
Cole (David Lynch) introduces Sam Stanley to FBI
Special Agent Chester Desmond, an awkward girl in a red dress
appears; pinned upon the red dress is a blue rose. Shortly thereafter,
Chester Desmond explains the symbolism of her gestures and appearance,
with the exception of the blue rose: "I can't tell you about that."
Naturally, such a twist has created quite a frenzy in the Twin Peaks
community.
It's important to point out another symbolic element prevalent throughout
the film, which I believe to be central to the functions of the Black
Lodge itself. In my view, the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks is the nemesis
of the White Lodge. Whilst they're actual locations in Twin Peaks,
they also seem to represent human capacities, the dark and the good
side in everyone. As with the numerous double entendres in David Lynch's
works, it is the black vs. its opposite, white, good versus evil.
Of course, all this takes places in a most ambiguous, yet also obvious
way throughout the film and the series. The Black Lodge is the evil
side seeking to control and dominate the good and innocent. It is
also a test of the wills. The spirits of the Black Lodge seem ever
intent on capturing innocence, and in Twin Peaks it targets those
within Laura Palmer's triangle. To do this
it needs some kind of vehicle and the validation of success. The vehicle
is BOB, who controls the host body
weak enough to accept his spirit. Bobs' sign of victory is very relevant
to the blue rose.
The first, and probably most important clue to this sign is Theresa
Banks. She is the first murder victim in Twin Peaks and is found deceased,
wrapped in plastic, outside Twin Peaks, exactly a year before Laura
Palmer's death. During their investigation of her death, Agents Chester
Desmond and Sam Stanley visit Hap's Diner. This venue is the antithesis
to the Double R Diner in the series,
as is its owner Irene the antithesis to Norma Jennings. Irene reluctantly
comments that Theresa Bank's arm went dead a couple of days before
her death. Later on they find a recent picture pinned in the kitchen
of her trailer, showing Theresa wearing the blue ring on the same
arm. The pale band of the missing ring is highlighted on her finger
while Sam Stanley inspects her
body at the morgue. Under a fingernail of the same hand, he discovers
BOB's personal memento left under every victim, a cut out letter.
The ring has become a focal point, as it seems the moment Theresa
Banks placed it on her finger, she signed her spiraling death certificate.
To further this point, as the film moves into it's second half the
focus shifts to the last seven days of Laura Palmer. During this time
we witness several events during a particular evening after which
Laura has hung a picture on her wall. She was given this picture by
Mrs. Tremond and her grandson, who are known to inhabit the White
Lodge. This gesture appaers to be a warning to Laura from the good
side and is immediately followed by several key events. That night,
Laura awakes in bed to find Annie Blackburn
lying next to her covered in blood. She is in the condition in which
she left the Black Lodge at the end of the series following Windom
Earle's kidnapping of her. Annie tells Laura to inscribe a couple
of facts into her diary about Special Agent Dale
Cooper's spirits between the two Lodges, after which Laura opens
the palm of her hand to find the blue ring resting in it. As the scene
switches to the Lodge, the Man From Another
Place holds the blue ring up to the camera, as Dale Cooper poignantly
says: "Don't take the ring, Laura, don't take the ring." Again, this
is not only a warning, but also a hint that the wearing of the ring
will set the scene for something ominous, and obviously, victorious
to the Black Lodge.
Further on in the film, most notably after Laura is suspicious of
her father being BOB's vehicle, Laura is driving with her father in
his convertible through Twin Peaks. In what could be one of the finest
examples of Lynchian cinematic creation, the scene takes a twist as
the car's engine begins to heat up, during which time an elderly resident
halts the traffic whilst slowly crossing the road at the intersection
of Sparkwood / 21, and a truck pulls up in the opposite direction,
alongside to the car. The driver, Philip Gerard, or the One-Armed
Man, leans out and begins to maniacally yell to Laura, his words
indistinguishable due to the blaring horn of Leland's car and his
flooding of the engine, complimented by his crazed eyes. On reflection,
we see through Laura's eyes the marking element of the scene, as the
hand of the One-Armed Man is focused upon, revealing again the blue
ring around his little finger. (note: NOT the ring finger) It would
seem, given Philip Gerad's history to Bob (he saw the light, turned
towards the good, and acts as a messenger from the White Lodge] that
this is another warning not to wear the ring.
Finally, the significance of the ring is shown during Laura's murder
scene. Trapped by Leland Palmer (who is possessed
by BOB) in an abandoned train car outside Twin Peaks, Laura and Ronette
Pulaski appear to be the next sacrifices to the Black Lodge. However,
this takes a twist when Ronette, frantically praying by the door of
the train car, is apparently redeemed by the temporary appearance
of an angel. Her hands fall free of their binds and she manages to
escape. The ring remains and as soon as Ronette vanishes, appears
on Laura's left hand, the same arm as Theresa Banks'. Bob gains complete
control and kills Laura. She has given herself to the Black Lodge.
As with Theresa Banks, Bob inserts a cut out letter under Laura's
finger. Imitating the placement of the ring found under the trailer
of the Chalfonds (Tremonds in the series) by Chester Desmond earlier
in the film, Leland places Laura's heart necklace on a mound of dirt.
How does this all link together, you may ask? Just as the White Lodge
has its own symbols, so does the Black Lodge. To symbolise the ring,
as a warning, the White Lodge presents the Blue Rose. Symbolic of
a lure to the Black Lodge, it presents the Blue Ring. Once worn, the
victim is destined to be killed by Bob, or whichever messenger it
sends. Of course, many will also want to draw parallels between the
Blue Rose, the Blue Ring, and Project Blue Book, the term for the
secret project headed by the Air Force, assigned to Major
Briggs, which was chased down by Windom Earle before and after
his turn to insanity. Furthermore, upon finding the vanished Agent
Chester Desmond's old Ford with 'Let's Rock!' scrawled across the
windshield, Special Agent Dale Cooper dictates to Diane, noting the
case was one of Gordon Cole's 'blue rose cases'. These further elements
are still causing much question in my mind, so if you have any ideas
of your own regarding them, I'd be very interested to hear them.
