While Kubrick and Lynch share the distinction of being trailblazing auteurs who broaden the scope of cinema, their bodies of work, style, and world views are vastly different. Kubrick, whose body of work centers around the dehumanization of man, is separated from Lynch whose body of work centers around a character's discovery of self in an amoral world. Thus, it is often found that Kubrick focuses on exterior themes such as man as a symbolic figure, while Lyn

It is the discovery of a severed ear that will begin Jeffrey's adventure into the seedy side of his small town that he never new existed. And it is this discovery for Jeffrey that Lynch places the most emphasis on. Just like Merrick must find his self in the amoral world of the freak-shows, Jeffrey must locate his self and individuality amongst the degeneracy of Frank (Dennis Hopper) and his cronies. What Jeffrey ultimately finds is that he himself, just like the town that he comes form, has a seedy side that he never knew existed. Jeffrey discovers this side of himself through the character of Dorothy (a nightclub singer who Jeffrey follows because he feels she knows information pertaining to the severed ear). In one of the films most powerful scenes, Jeffrey hides in the closet while Frank beats and rapes Dorothy. Powerless to move, Jeffrey watches the abuse. After Frank leaves, Jeffrey comes out from the closet and tries to comfort Dorothy, which ultimately leads to a strong feeling of passion between the two. But instead of making love, Dorothy asks Jeffrey "to hit her," and the following scene is marred by Jeffrey's discovery of something dark and troubled within himself. And while it is this discovery of violence and sadism that Lynch uses to complicate the films "happy" ending, which is so fabricated in its composition that it causes disstanciation from the audience rather than a feeling of closure, it is also Jeffrey's resistance to abuse and denigration late in the film that removes his liminality and places him firmly as a benevolent character.

At this point I would like to compare the different ways that Kubrick and Lynch address the issue of domestic violence and men's abuse of women. Perhaps one of the most notorious rape scenes in film history is found in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. The scene is set in a man's house ironically called "home," and revolves around Alex and his droogs savagely beating an old man and raping his wife. Set to the music of "Singin' in the Rain," Kubrick creates an atmosphere that is so violent and surreal that it causes the audience to wince in pain and laugh out loud at the same time. The scene is so perfectly choreographed and plotted that the "rape," in a sense, looses its power. That is not to say that the scene is not frightening, but the actual rape tends to loose its importance in the midst of Alex's performance. Thus the scene is not centered around the abuse of the woman, rather it is centered around Alex and his dance.

This difference found in the way Kubrick and Lynch shoot scenes of domestic violence seem to correlate with their sense of style and world views. That is, Kubrick is much more concerned with treating his films almost as allegorical and symbolic stories that tie together all people. The individual character therefore becomes a reflection of society. Thus Alex and Jack Torrance come to represent certain aspects of a patriarchal society, and their individual story really tells the story of no one individual, rather a conglomerate of many. Thus Kubrickian film worlds become worlds like no other. His version of Vietnam is unlike any other Vietnam ever scene, the post-apocalyptic world of Clockwork is again a world unlike any ever seen because he is creating films which are allegorical and symbolic-pertaining to this world yet not quite of this world. Because Kubrick's films have this other worldliness quality about them certain issues like the abuse of women lose their power.

One of the greatest contrasts between Lynch and Kubrick is found in their treatment of mankind. For Kubrick, men are often treated as 'machines' who serve a purpose. For Instance, in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Full Metal Jacket the dialogue of the characters becomes so entrenched i

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