Marginalisation and Double Consciousness
A Case Study from
Twin Peaks: The Return
August, 2024
This photo essay explores a scene from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return (Part 3), focusing on the interaction between Deputy Hawk, a Nez Perce Indigenous character, and his non-Indigenous colleagues, Lucy and Andy. By employing theories of double consciousness, internalised colonisation, and narrative tokenism, this study critically examines the scene’s layered implications for Indigenous identity within a predominantly white narrative structure.
David Lynch’s surreal drama, Twin Peaks: The Return, serves as a labyrinthine canvas for exploring complex human emotions and social dynamics. A particular scene in Part 3, featuring Deputy Hawk, Lucy, and Andy, provides a rich text for discussing the marginalisation of Indigenous perspectives in mainstream narratives. Through this interaction, Lynch opens a discourse on how Indigenous identity is often sidelined or superficially engaged in popular media.
Narrative Tokenism
The first layer of marginalisation in this scene is manifested through narrative tokenism. Deputy Hawk, as an Indigenous character, is tasked with a mission that is intimately tied to his Nez Perce heritage. However, despite the significance of this journey, his narrative is quickly overshadowed by Lucy’s trivial concern over a missing chocolate bunny. Hawk’s train of thinking is suddenly interrupted by Lucy’s panicked realisation: “The bunny! I ate that bunny!” This interruption acts as a form of narrative tokenism, where Hawk’s Indigenous identity is superficially acknowledged but not substantively engaged. The focus shifts away from his heritage-related task, reducing his cultural significance to a mere plot device.
Lucy’s Overreaction and Narrative Derailment
Lucy’s overreaction when she mistakenly believes that the chocolate bunny she ate is the missing item crucial to Hawk’s heritage-related investigation serves as a pivotal moment in the scene. Her panic, expressed in the exclamation, “I ate that bunny!” not only redirects the focus away from Hawk’s culturally significant task but also trivialises it. Lucy’s misunderstanding and subsequent overreaction demonstrate how easily dominant narratives can overshadow and derail meaningful cultural discussions. This moment highlights the broader issue of how white-centric perspectives can dominate and marginalise Indigenous concerns, reducing them to mere afterthoughts in the narrative.
Cultural Erasure through Stereotyping
Lucy’s seemingly innocuous question about whether chocolate is used as a remedy in Indigenous cultures not only reflects her ignorance but also underscores an implicit bias that generalises Indigenous practices into a monolithic stereotype. Such moments of stereotyping contribute to the erasure of distinct Indigenous identities and perpetuate a culture of silence around accurate and nuanced representations of Indigenous cultures. This scene highlights the broader issue of how mainstream media often fails to engage with the diversity and richness of Indigenous cultures, instead opting for simplistic and reductive portrayals.
Internalized Colonisation and Double Consciousness
Deputy Hawk’s reflective line, “It’s not about the bunny. Is it about the bunny? No. It’s not about the bunny,” encapsulates the psychological burden of internalised colonisation. This moment, triggered by Lucy’s redirection of the narrative focus, causes Hawk to question his understanding of events. This reflects the double consciousness theorised by W.E.B. Du Bois, where Hawk is forced to navigate his Indigenous identity alongside a dominant, white-centric narrative. The scene poignantly illustrates how internalised marginalisation can lead to self-doubt and the questioning of one’s cultural identity, even in moments of clarity.
Cultural Awareness and Ethical Responsibility
Andy’s silence during the scene is equally significant. As a passive observer of Lucy’s microaggression and Hawk’s discomfort, Andy embodies those who stand by without intervening when they witness the marginalisation of Indigenous individuals. This bystander effect underscores the ethical responsibility that non-Indigenous individuals have to be culturally aware and to challenge damaging behaviours. Andy’s inaction critiques the broader societal tendency to ignore or downplay the struggles marginalised communities face.
The Absurdity of Whiteness Centering Itself
The chocolate bunny, seemingly trivial, becomes a symbol of the absurdity inherent in the scene. Its centrality to the conversation serves as a darkly comic representation of how white-centred narratives can derail and trivialise discussions that should instead focus on Indigenous heritage and identity. The bunny, in its absurdity, encapsulates the broader theme of how dominant cultures often centre themselves at the expense of marginalised voices.
What might initially seem like an innocuous scene in Twin Peaks: The Return is a rich text for analysing the dynamics of marginalisation, tokenism, and internalised colonisation that Indigenous characters often face in mainstream media. Deputy Hawk’s reflective line about the irrelevance of the ‘bunny’ to the investigation is more than just a moment of narrative introspection—it is a potent symbol of how Indigenous culture and perspectives are often trivialised and internalised, demanding a critical examination and re-evaluation within popular culture.
Clinton Hayden is a Wiradjuri Blak queer artist and writer based in Melbourne. His practice spans photography, AI image creation, print media, drawing, and bricolage, exploring the intersections of personal and collective histories. Clinton’s work is deeply informed by his commitment to preserving and promoting Wiradjuri language and engaging with Indigenous Queer Futurism.
