Celebrating Twin Peaks (1990-2017)
Twin Peaks (1990-2017) cultural legacy still persists after 35 years
Twin Peaks (1990-2017) was so well-beloved that it came back for a third season nearly thirty years later. How much the fans adore it has not changed after all this time.
Photo courtesy of Pacific Title and Art Studio/Wikimedia Commons
“Diane, 11:30 a.m., February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks, five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line…” is one of the most iconic lines from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s influential masterpiece Twin Peaks (1990–2017). Spoken by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper into his tiny tape recorder, it is not even the first line spoken in the show, but it is a line that has transcended the screen to become a catchphrase for fans around the world.
It has been more than 35 years since Twin Peaks (1990-2017) first aired on Apr. 8, 1990, yet the series, like much of Lynch’s works, have continued their influence on both culture and fandoms. As AS USA puts it, the show is “considered by many devotees as one of the greatest television series ever made with its unique blend of mystery, surrealism, and dark humor.” Its legacy has only deepened in the decades in both its original run and through its 2017 revival.
When Twin Peaks (1990-2017) first aired, it would blend a mixture of mystery, eerie surrealism, and macabre that can only be described in a term that people have coined as Lynchian, after the creator of the show himself, David Lynch. To quote David Foster Wallace, according to Artsemerson: “[Lynchian] refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former’s perpetual containment within the latter.”
The series disregarded a straightforward narrative in favor of a dreamlike approach, where its symbolism, atmosphere, and emotions drove as much of the story plot as the search for Laura Palmer’s killer. What started as a mid-season network drama became a lightning-in-a-bottle moment for television, and it proved that audiences could embrace ideas of ambiguity and that serialized storytelling could be an art form in its own right.
Twin Peaks (1990-2017) is cited by many to be a cultural movement that shook network television enough to start off a golden age of television. It was a show willing to take risks and turns even if the network, and some audience members, did not enjoy it.
Strangely, despite the anniversary of the show's release date being Apr. 8th, it is not celebrated as widely. Instead the date that resonates with fans is the in-show date of the show’s main catalyst, the death of Laura Palmer on Feb. 24. This marks her early death as well as the date protagonist Dale Cooper steps inside the world of Twin Peaks alongside the viewer.
This in-show date has become a de facto anniversary, celebrated by fans worldwide. That choice underscores how deeply fans inhabit the series world itself, celebrating the timeline of the story as if it were real. In fact, Snoqualmie Valley, Washington, where many exterior scenes were filmed, has embraced this tradition as a local celebration referred to as "Twin Peaks Day” by local government officials.
While many cannot pack up for a weekend and go to Washington, closer to Geneseo is Rochester’s very own bookshop, The Unreliable Narrator. The independent bookstore hosted its own Twin Peaks Day anniversary, showcasing a mini-marathon of the show, as well as displays of many of Lynch’s books, both Twin Peaks (1990-2017) centered and not. The store even themed itself to look like it belonged in the show itself.
It is the continued celebration of Twin Peaks that speaks much to its legacy and lasting connection that audiences feel to the world it created. What began as a network television experiment has become a continuously shared cultural event, a legacy which is marked each February by fans who still find meaning in its characters, themes, and atmosphere. Whether in Washington State or at a local bookstore in Rochester, these celebrations show that Twin Peaks (1990-2017) is more than a series—it is a lasting cultural impact that has brought people together through its legacy.