There are SPOILERS in this article. If you haven't watched Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks: The Return, and the Hellraiser film, do not read this until you do. But if you have, then keep on scrolling. :)
[Can't find a picture of the box from Twin Peaks: The Return]
(Top picture is the Blue Box from Mulholland Dive; Last picture is the Lament Configuration Box from Hellraiser)
Mulholland Drive graced us with the first box of mystery in the Lynchian Universe: The Blue Box. Strangely enough, Betty (Naomi Watts) and Rita (Laura Harring) go to some theater where a man speaks to the audience, spotlit, as a sax plays behind the red curtain. This man seems like that of the Devil... or perhaps Faust who sold his soul to the Devil for further knowledge and magical powers. On the stage, his presence is filled with mystique and a darkness underlies those very eyes. The voice that carries on after the woman performer's collapse is another odd twist to the scene. The box then appears in Rita's hands at the end of this show.
When Betty wants to open the Box, she's eager. And when Rita doesn't come back from the darkness, she opens it with the key anyway. This leads Mulholland Drive to so many twists and turns that it's almost impossible to follow through as only one storyline.
The purpose of this box... what does it mean? It seems to prove the reality of alternative realities. That the Universe has more realities than the one we're present in, as was soon displayed brilliantly in Twin Peaks: The Return. It also seems like a box that shouldn't be opened since it ended one of Betty's fates badly with the help of the Twinkies. But the common theme in the realities is that Betty's multiple outcomes always end badly, even breaking her heart in terms of her romantic relationship with Rita. This box seems to only bring about pain in one's life. No matter the reality. A cursed box to anyone who dares to open it. I'm also curious... why did Rita want to get it in the first place? Or know of it and its whereabouts?
The next Box is that of Twin Peaks: The Return, the one Deputy Andy solves. This box opens a strange portal in Glastonbury Grove, where it leads Andy to the White Lodge. This seems to be where Heaven is... which does lead others to believe the Giant is God. (see my previous article DEMIURGES & ARCHONS: Are They The Entities Of David Lynch?). I don't have much to say about this box, except that it leads to maybe a blissful outcome. Possibly a heavenly one.
Now let's get to the The Lament Configuration box of Clive Barker's Hellraiser films. This puzzle box will either lead one to pain or pleasure, Hell or Heaven. Both outcomes could happen, whether you solve to puzzle in the path you desire. Most of the time, it leads to Hell, but pleasure still resides with the pain. The Cenobites, including Pinhead, are the guardians within a labyrinth-like Hell within the box. Almost possibly could be the guardians of something bigger in the Black Lodge of Twin Peaks. I don't know if this Hell is connected to the Black Lodge. But where would the souls go if they can't peek to perfection and ascend to the White Lodge? I would assume they would enter a much dark place, damned to be lost forever. Also, the homeless man in Hellraiser seems to be the box's caretaker, possibly a similar role to that of the Devil-like performer in Mulholland Drive.
The tie between these three boxes is that they all have a certain fate involving pleasure and pain. Perhaps combining the powers of the Blue Box with the Glastonbury Box could make a great replica of the Lament Configuration Box. But the latter box could be the King of the three, bringing about a formidable death if solved in Hell's direction.
I'm sure the Barkerian Universe is not at all connected to that of the Lynchian Universe. Still, they have one thing in common: they are both worlds consisting beyond the horrors of our imagination. And the fact that both have their realms and a box to reveal the deeper fears and joy is a great coincidence.
Thank you for reading this article. If anything you want to debate or theorize on this topic, feel free to drop them in the comments.
See you in the trees.
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