META-FAKERY
C. Sheldon Torne characterized and belittled the bug-eating robin at the end of “Blue Velvet” as being “in the classic Hollywood reconciliatory pattern,” and therefrom reiterated Champlin’s characterization of the film and director as “sophomoric” (Calendar Letters, Oct. 12).
Let’s clear this up.
The robin is fake. Get it? It has obviously stiff, mechanical movements, as if it were, appropriately enough, designed by Disneyland engineers. It’s as fake as the father, recently felled by a debilitating stroke, suddenly showing up barbecuing in the back yard.
It is, among other things (several of which begin with meta -), a put-on “classic Hollywood reconciliatory pattern” ending. Make no mistake, Lynch, in this movie, is a master with an intricate, unique, manipulative and sophisticated vision, and he knows exactly what he’s doing.
The end of the movie is a dark joke (“Blue Velvet” is, after all, a comedy) which is, if you get it, very funny and profound.
RYAN BOEREMA
Mission Viejo
Only good movies
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