Context

Industrial contexts – 2001 was the first time that two films released in the same year grossed more than $800 million at the box office, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring surpassing the milestone.

The inaugural entries of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film franchises prompted a shift in both the film and literary communities by propelling fantasy into mainstream culture, popularizing young adult novels, and reforming the blockbuster to promote film franchises and cater to fandom communities.

Socio-political and cultural contexts –

This film was part of the post-modern film movement in 1990-2000s, and contains intertextual references, one being sunset Boulevard (1950) which became inspiration for the plot. Though predating movements against misogyny in Hollywood, Mullholland Drive still criticises this in it’s hyper-realistic depiction of Hollywood and parts of the industry.

Popular culture in 2001 saw the beginnings of the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings film franchises, the development of the iPod and iTunes for music, and the release of three major video game systems. The year also saw the release of Mac OS X and Windows XP, as well as the launch of Wikipedia.

Industrial Contexts –

Due to what can be perceived as Lynch’s’ satirical approach on Hollywood within the Film, he often struggled for financing and support from Hollywood studios. Originally intended as TV show, it was axed early on within the weeks of its production. As a result Lynch decided to use the existing film as well as some additional scenes to create his feature film.

How this is depicted in Mullholland Drive can be seen through character Adam, a director within the film, who experiences the hardships and shadowy running’s within the Hollywood system.

Socio-political & Cultural Contexts –

Socio-political –

Emerging during the start to a new millennium (2001), Mullholland Drive brought about a gritty depiction of reality that women face within the Hollywood system. Covering topics such as sexism and misogyny, this early representation would go on to be used within support of the #metoo movement in 2006 where women’s treatment in the industry would come more to light.

Cultural –

Inspired by the European surrealist movement of the 1920s-1950s, the main aim was to unite the conscious and unconscious mind. Categorised as apart of the American postmodern film movement of the 1990’s/early 2000’s the film depicts the character’s world as a hyper-reality. Following a non-linear structure the film within its self contains many intertextual references. The film makes use of its influences such as Gilda (Vidor, 1946) and paintings of Edward Hopper. The Film in itself can said to be influenced by Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950), which also follows a plot of an actress looking for work within Hollywood, on Mullholland Drive.

score: 9/10

Most Memorable Scene/ Key Moment:

I think this scene created the most impact on the spectator, sandwiched in between the very surrealist and often confusing nature of the ‘Silencio’ club, this scene is signposted for its raw emotion. The spectator doesn’t need to understand the meaning behind this sequence but instead shares the same feeling of melancholy and drama both Betty and Diane feel.

Iconic Image:

Industrial context:

Lynch struggled to get funding for his projects in Hollywood due to his bizarre auteur and style. Mullholland drive was originally meant to be a pilot for a TV show, however was scrapped in a matter of weeks, which meant Lynch could pick up the project. The director character and his struggles is a parallel to Lynch’s journey in the industry.

Social/cultural context:

This film was part of the post-modern film movement in 1990-2000s, and contains intertextual references, one being sunset Boulevard (1950) which became inspiration for the plot. Though predating movements against misogyny in Hollywood, Mullholland Drive still criticises this in it’s hyper-realistic depiction of Hollywood and parts of the industry.

Mulholland drive is heavily inspired by the European surrealist movement in 1920-1950s aiming to create films that connected the conscious to to the unconscious mind. The film was also made in protest towards Hollywood through his personal issues with his Mulholland drive tv series being cut weeks into production using the footage made later on when he changed it to be a film, as well as commenting on the me too movement which spread awareness on the mistreatment of women particular within the film industry showing this through Hollywood’s ominous and shady portrayal within the movie itself.

i would give the film a 6/10 i found the film fairly hard to follow and this made things confusing. The use of cinematography made some scene much more entertaining as it gave these scenes added tension. Some if the low hums were very ominous and made scenes unpredictable which is what lynch was after. i think that after watching the film a few times the film would make more sense and i would enjoy it more

my iconic scene would be the scene at the end where the old people attack. the sound was sudden and shocked me and it was a very unpredictable scene.

Overall i am giving the film a 6/10. The film’s best aspect was its cinematography. This enhanced the film and made it seem offputing due to the way it was shot. A majority of the scenes were filmed with Full Shots and a still camera. The rare usage of tracking shots and cuts made the conversations seem uncofortable and heightened tenisons for the auidence.

A downside of the film was that it was extremely hard to follow. The film’s rapid changes of scenes made it hard to find out what the character arcs and conclusions actually meant. On multiple re watches I believe it will be easier to understand.

My iconic scene is the higher ups of the meeting about a directors movie. We see this deformed man with a close up shot which is designed to shock the audience.

Score – 9/10

A memorable scene for me is the one in which the blue box is unlocked and the audience are introduced to Diane, who had previously been known as Betty. This is memorable as the characters are almost complete opposites of one another, sharing the same appearance.

Iconic Image:

I’d give this film a 9/10.

I enjoyed the freedom it had to express itself in weird an interesting ways. The last quarter had me questioning many more things than it answered, but at the same time I felt like I could make slight links between different narrative strands and characters. The cyclical narrative especially really emphasised the different perspective needed to begin to comprehend the film.

memorable moment for me was the assignation of the screenwriter, then the assistant, then the janitor, and I think it added a comedic relief, and the juxtaposition of murder and comedy helped me to understand the unnatural feel of this scene, and the film as a whole.

personal rating: 6/10 liked the use of surrealism in the film as it makes the plot more unpredictable being able to go from laid back to a full on horror within the same minute having a sense of mystery that lets the audience engage with the film making their own theories.

A scene that stuck out to me the most was the ending as it had high amounts of tension as well as summing up the surrealist themes of the film being able to be interpreted in many ways.

iconic image: