Communication, Networks, and Disruption in Twin Peaks: The Return

The networked mode of existence has become a powerful tool for shaping an imaginary of social organization in contemporary life. As individuals become increasingly connected via communication technologies, we also face a heightened sense of alienation and disorientation. In this thesis I argue that David Lynch and Mark Frost's eighteen-episode television series Twin Peaks: The Return crafts a roadmap though this disorientation. By drawing attention to historical events represented in the series, namely the Trinity nuclear test, I will show the ways in which the series is interested in how specific aspects of American history created the foundation for contemporary notions of communication breakdown. I connect this historical framework to a textual analysis of The Return to argue that the series' aesthetic engagement with intense affects, namely anxiety, is connected to how it represents networked modes of communication.