In his review of the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, film critic Roger Ebert shares a recollection from the director of this small town mystery where average people have dark, bizarre secrets, “When I was little, my brother and I were outdoors late one night, and we saw a naked woman come walking down the street toward us in a dazed state, crying. I have never forgotten that moment,” (3). In the movie, we are shown a scene of Dorothy Vallens naked in the streets at night. It is this motif, the naked form, which Lynch uses effectively throughout the film to propel narrative and reveal characterization and power relations between characters.
Jeffrey Beaumont is an innocent collegian until he discovers an ear lying in the field near his house. At one point Jeffrey’s curiosity takes him to the home of singer Dorothy Vallens. As he looks around her home for some kind of clue about the ear, Vallens surprises Jeffrey. He jumps into the closet and hides. As Jeffrey watches from his unknown location, Vallens removes her clothes. She is left in nothing but a scanty bra and panties. As the voyeur, this positions Jeffrey in a more powerful position than Vallens, since she is exposed to him more than she normally would be to a stranger. Cinematographically, it also positions us as double voyeurs as we are watching the film and watching Dorothy from Jeffrey’s perspective. This is one instance of how the naked form is used as a visual motif to define character and power relations.
In the unfolding of the scene, Dorothy receives a telephone call. Her lack of power erodes even further in this exchange of conversation, because we see there is someone much darker in nature than Jeffrey who holds power over her. Dorothy is at the mercy of the caller to speak with her son. This robs her of not just her sexual power but her power as a mother as well. Therefore, at this point in the film Dorothy is both physicall
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