Narrative

How does Lynch make use of or subvert traditional narrative techniques to tell a story?

By unravelling a seemingly complicated narrative, 

Lynch allows for a philosophical, self-reflexive investigation of the nature of film. The non-linear narrative is used to essentially prevent the viewer from being lulled into the fantasy, and to focus on the mood of a scene, and not the story being told.

This experimental way of directing is linear to surrealism, where the aim isn’t to fully understand everything, but quite the opposite. Lynch does this through the se of flashforwards/backs, in media res, macguffins and ellipsis.