Don't know what anyone else thinks about it but his name was discovered around the time of Episode 8.
I've been wondering about that. Someone on here started "guessing" the Fireman name about a month or so ago. That was pretty spot on. Do we think they're really just that good of a guesser, or does someone on here possibly have insider knowledge and is putting spoilers here cloaked as guesses? I certainly hope not.
Firemen also light and control fires. Not only in the old days of coal burning steam engines but today in the forest. Firemen in the forest service often do "controlled burns" to remove undergrowth and prevent out of control wildfires.
This. I was going to bring up prescribed burns. Well said, James.
I think of the Fireman as one who lights white fires and puts out black fires, when needed, in order to maintain a cosmic balance. It also relates to Hawk saying it's the "intention behind the fire."
Don't know what anyone else thinks about it but his name was discovered around the time of Episode 8.
I've been wondering about that. Someone on here started "guessing" the Fireman name about a month or so ago. That was pretty spot on. Do we think they're really just that good of a guesser, or does someone on here possibly have insider knowledge and is putting spoilers here cloaked as guesses? I certainly hope not.
It was inferred from a song title (The Fireman) that was released for part 8.
Here's Pieter's article: http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/theories/carel-struycken-the-fireman/
Did it look to anyone else like the walls in that room of his dwelling (presumably the White Lodge) were wood, like actual tree wood not yet chopped--as though the room were carved inside a giant western redwood??
If he's living in a tree (or something suggestive of it), it matches quite well with the show's fascination with trees, darkness out in the woods, the Great Northern, etc.
Furthermore, it could be a sign that the Woodsmen and the Fireman are enemies. The Woodsmen want to chop down such homes; the Fireman wants to save them.
Eh??
Don't know what anyone else thinks about it but his name was discovered around the time of Episode 8.
I can think of two possible interpretations:
Fireman can mean someone who puts out fires, thereby saving lives and/or property.
Fireman can also mean someone who piles coal into a furnace, in order to make a steam engine go.
Either of them could be valid. He could be in the business of saving lives, or he could be keeping the wheels turning properly. Either way, I think he's a good guy.
You have the choice of interpretations in english.
French translators of the show broadcasted on Canal+, choosed to subtitle "je suis l'Homme du feu" (I am the Man of the fire).
They let us only this option.
Not the other one in english, "Je suis le Pompier" (pompier = the 911 fireman).
So this french translation really pissed me off .
Italian translators have choosen the other option : "Io sono il Vigile del Fuoco" (vigile del fuoco = 911 fireman !!!)
That's interesting. The Spanish sub-titlers, like the Italian translators, went for el bombero (firefighter, exact equivalent of pompier) rather than hombre de fuego (man of fire).
I think the GiantFireman is the one who holds the reins of the world, just like this invisible cosmic force who keeps the sun at the right distance from the earth. Fire is the "most double" thing of this world, we can't live without it but without balance (or the right distance) it kills us. Fireman means the man who has will on fire, while the evil spirits are dependent (gotta light?) and governed by it
That's why the White Lodge has a theather that's aware of all the evil. Like lucifer was born in heaven, everything is connected because the principle is one.
On the matter of Lynch and his closeness to darkness, it's a very similar thing. He is a man, he's like Cooper and like all of us. He needs to be aware and talk us about darkness, for him to find a true endless light (As Hawk said "A man needs to go through into the black lodge in his way to perfection"). And this is the strong relation i see between Twin Peaks and Dante's "Divina Commedia".
Lynch certainly couldn't predict anything happening, having filmed 2 years ago. I solidly feel in my heart that Lynch's role in the cosmos is for good. Nothing bad can come from whatever he touches, and what he makes for us.
To be very honest, I'm less sure of this. Not that I believe that Lynch sets out to make work which celebrates darkness, but I've long felt that he has probably been getting many of his cosmic ideas through meditation. He may have an 'amoral' attitude towards his creations.
Meditation can be fantastic. I feel the creative state and meditation are very close to other altered states of consciousness, as experienced by mediums and psychics. I have a LOT of experience in that realm. You're entitled to not believe me, but white and black magic are real things.
IMO anyone dabbling in the mystical should exercise caution in which doors are opened. I include myself as a creative person.
If you're familiar with "Jodorowsky's Dune," Jodorowsky said he told HR Giger (creator of the aliens in "Alien") that his work was a 'dark art,' but that it had truth in it.
Lynch's work mixes darkness and light, going in deep on the great mysteries.
When the artist comes up for air it's a good idea to focus on the light, as our thoughts tend to attract what we most ponder.
You've left a lot on the table for me to think about. And I do believe you.
OK. As creative people I sense a common wavelength, though you've put a lot more analysis into what's going on beneath the surface, and I've tended to ride my endeavors until the outcome assuming I had the controls anyway, so why worry (hence, a lot for me to think about given your post above).
I feel or intuit that Lynch may be more aware of the mechanics that you're talking about (than I am), and as such is willing his intent--which, again, I feel is an intent to opt for good. I'm not the Lynch scholar that some folks are, but I've heard him speak enough to recognize parallel values across the 3 or so decades that I've attended some of his talks. A warmth is always there.
He's an amiable fella.
I'm glad you found it interesting. I definitely agree that Lynch is exploring the unseen machinery beneath the obvious surfaces of life. He seems to have some interest in Eastern philosophies as well. (I'm no Lynch expert either.)
I've always seen his work as allegorical - examining the endless struggle between the larger forces or light and darkness - in which humans are sometimes agents or pawns of the eternals pulling the levers which make the universe go. Much like Lynch's starman in "Eraserhead."
David Lynch did not write this on his own. Mark Frost is also responsible.
Have you considered that there might be a connection between the Fireman and Prometheus, the helpful Titan who gave man the gift of fire at his own expense? I know there's no evidence that the Fireman is suffering, but he does seem like a kind of benefactor to humanity.
little boy wants to play with fire, so the fireman is here to stop this dangerous game
Well "there's fire where you are going." It may be that simple.
Fire is Bob clearly or Robert dunno...
Perhaps The Fireman is in charge of the fire but uses it for positivity. Bob and his ilk for negativity. Electrical fire with positive & negative aspects.
In Hinduism the god of fire is seen as being the messenger between gods and men. This would seem fitting of the giant/firemans role so far....I would think there are positives to fire not just the destruction but also the spark of fire of life or creation.
As Hawk said... it is not the fire, but the intention on it.
For me, Lynch's main theme has always been the co-existence of the potentialities of good and evil (and sometimes the trouble of disentangling these mysterious inter-dependents) within the same person. The supernatural elements are fascinating and cinematic ways to engage an audience and to communicate. So, The Fireman, reminding here of the fireman waving at the beginning of Blue Velvet, "is a good guy" (like Andy or Cooper or Lucy, etc.) but not because he is incapable of doing harm or misjudging things. His task is to try to put out, channel, buffer, or transform fire-energy-electricity-desire-greed-ill-will.
By contrast, Sarah seems to have taken on or become the evil Mother but blaming demonic possession would be too convenient.
I agree. Him being The Fireman doesn't necessarily mean he is All Good like a loving God.
If he was a pure representation of Good we might expect the White Lodge to actually be... white? Pure white light being the sum of all colors.
The fact that it's black and white suggests to me something else. But a fully white room in a Lynch production would be shocking, and almost unthinkable somehow. Which might be an even better reason to have one.
Or perhaps the Fireman's place ISN'T the White Lodge. Though he does create Laura, who seems to reveal a Pure White essence behind her face.
Or is Lynch suggesting a "Pure White Lodge" does not / cannot exist? That there's no such thing as total goodness? I'm not sure. That doesn't feel quite right b/c I think we have definitely seen the definition of total badness in Bob and Bad Coop, and one would expect the existence of it's doppelganger i.e. Pure Goodness.
Which perhaps leads us back to Andy in his uncomplicated purity of heart.
If he's an all powerful entity, he can decorate his house however he pleases. I ain't going to stop him.
Fire walk with