The recent passing of director David Lynch has caused many to look back on his films, myself included. Watching “Blue Velvet” (1986), one of Lynch’s most acclaimed films, the first thing I noticed was the bright blue sky, the houses with the white picket fence, the familiar faces of neighbors, and the warm environment of a safe neighborhood.
The opening sequence, consisting of the different aspects of the perfect American dream life, helps build the setting of the film: an idyllic suburban town in which nothing goes wrong. However, as the films goes on, Lynch dives into the horrors behind the facade of the perfect American life. Is the American dream even real, or is it just an illusion? An overarching theme in the film, the question is becoming more apparent in real life as well. One month into Donald Trump’s presidency, it is becoming clearer that the American dream is fiction and “Blue Velvet” is more relevant than ever.
“Blue Velvet” focuses on Jeffrey Beaumont, a college student returning to his suburban hometown to visit his father. Walking through the grassy fields of the quiet town of Lumberton, North Carolina, Beaumont discovers a severed ear. This discovery starts the surreal experience that is “Blue Velvet.”
Determined to figure out who the ear belongs to, Beaumont befriends a police detective’s daughter, meets a lounge singer who is being blackmailed, and gets involved in the criminal underbelly of the supposed picture-perfect town.
The lounge singer, Dorothy Vallens, is a woman forced to comply to the sexual whims of a criminal who inhabits Lumberton, Frank Booth. Booth is a local gangster who is holding Vallens’ husband and son hostage. Scared for the safety of her family, Vallens has no choice but to do whatever he wishes.
Moreover, there is no one that can help her. Booth, a powerful man who has a cop in his pocket, keeps a low profile and makes sure that Vallens has no way out. Stuck in a ceaseless nightmare where she has to accept that she has no independence and can only go where Booth allows her to go, Dorothy Vallens is living a life of constant fear in the name of protecting her family. Interacting with this type of darkness for the first time, Beaumont’s perception of his picturesque hometown is shattered.
Like Beaumont, millions of people’s perception of America is becoming shattered. The United States is the safe, unassuming, picture-perfect country of the world in which anyone, foreigners or Americans, can build a safe, comforting life for themselves.
The idea of the so-called American dream was built upon the notion that America is the land of opportunity and success. However, there is a darkness that is uprooting this view of America and that is the country’s very own governing system. The concept of safety, comfort, and success for all is disappearing under the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump has created a vitriolic movement against immigrants, particularly immigrants who are people of color, and led mass deportations against those who have entered the country without legal permission.
Furthermore, the current president is trying to get rid of birthright citizenship for those who are children of people who have illegally immigrated to the United States. A man that has made his dislike for all immigrants and people of color very clear, whether or not they hold the proper documentation, Donald Trump has created a feeling of anxiety and unease among the immigrant community. Hence, many are going to extreme lengths to protect their loved ones, adopting the same mindset as Dorothy Vallens.
The Trump Administration announced that federal immigration agencies will now be able to make arrests in schools and carry out raids on school campuses. According to the Associated Press, this “new policy on immigration enforcement at schools likely will prompt some immigrant parents who fear deportation to keep their children home, even if they face little risk.”
Education and schooling are crucial for children and their development. Meals provided at schools are one of the primary ways many parents feed their children. Additionally, with the crackdown on immigrants, many even fear going to their local grocery stores.
According to KING 5 News, many immigrants, even those who have entered the country legally, are depending on others to bring them food. People are sacrificing necessary components of life to avoid the risk of their children and entire families being arrested and/or deported. Shying away from any outside interaction, immigrants are prepared to stay shackled up at home to avoid their loved ones being shackled up by immigration officers on the way to an army plane heading to the country they left.
Why does Trump have such a strong agenda against immigrants? He stated numerous amounts of times it is because the people that are crossing the border are criminals. However, as a child of immigrants myself, I know the people who come to this country and why they come. Like my parents, it is to build a better life for themselves, and to ensure that their children never have to experience the difficulties they faced.
Carmen, an immigrant from Mexico who spoke to the Associated Press about the recent changes imposed by President Donald Trump, came to the U.S. under an app called CBP One.
In a Jan. 22 Associated Press story, a Mexican grandmother who now lives in California, Carmen, spoke about the recent changes imposed by President Donald Trump. Carmen’s family immigrated to the United States under former President Joe Biden’s program which allowed asylum-seekers to arrive to the U.S. and apply for permission to stay, according to AP News.
Designed under the Biden administration, the CBP One app was a platform that allowed migrants to legally enter the United States as asylum-seekers. The CBP One app processed arrivals like Carmen’s family and was shut down after Trump’s inauguration.
Trump is purposely making it arduous for immigrants to enter legally. People like Carmen are now considered to have illegally immigrated to the U.S. Returning to Mexico is not an option for Carmen, according to the AP, “her son-in-law was kidnapped two years from their home in Michoacan state, an area overrun with drug trafficking gangs.”
Carmen and the millions of immigrants who inhabit this country are people who only seek safety and security. The U.S. is thought of as a country where criminals aren’t lurking around to take advantage of or control others.
However, “Blue Velvet” shows that there are criminals hiding in the dark that can turn people’s lives into nightmares. Maybe the quiet, safe towns that make up America aren’t that perfect. President Trump’s one month in office and his policies are adding onto David Lynch’s film.
A criminal who has been found guilty of 34 felonies, he is controlling the lives of millions and is making people live in constant fear. We are entering an environment where immigrants are not sending their children to school, not shopping for their own food, and locking themselves in their homes to protect themselves from Donald Trump.
We are entering a society in which I, as a child of immigrants, have been advised by family and friends to carry my passport with me wherever I go as proof of my citizenship, despite the fact that I was born here. Forced to comply to the desires and whims of a thoughtless criminal to protect themselves and their families, President Trump is depriving people the chance of building a life.
It is becoming clear that the idea of the United States being an open and safe country is a facade, and we have our very own Frank Booth.
