the NachtKabarett
All Writing & Content © Nick Kushner Unless Noted Otherwise
Twiggy Ramirez, Courtney Love & Manson who is seen wearing a Twin Peaks shirt during the late 1994 'Self Destruct' tour with Nine Inch NailsThe song 'Wrapped In Plastic' is an overt reference to the early 1990's hit TV series 'Twin Peaks' by David Lynch (a longtime influence on Manson) and Mark Frost which still garners an obsessive cult following. Manson has said that one aspect of the song's title was the superficial ideal nature of suburban households who wrap their couches in protective plastic covers to keep their expensive sofa cushions pristine. Literally to keep out the dirt, which can be seen as a metaphor for their isolationist attitudes toward the repugnancy of those who are not part of their so-called "status quo". The irony though, as Manson has pointed out, is that the practice dually acts as the metaphorical aspect of keeping the dirt inside; the lie of the false veneer atop the sordid secrets kept desperately from prying eyes.
Twin Peaks illustrated this verbatim. The series opened with the line, "She's dead. Wrapped in plastic," spoken over the line of a 911 call reporting the discovery of a dead body wrapped in a thick transparent plastic. It was high school prom queen, Laura Palmer, the pride and joy of the town 'Twin Peaks'. As layers of complexity unfold it's discovered that she is not actually the all-American ideal teen dream she's perceived as but that she's addicted to cocaine, was actively working as a prostitute at an over-the-border casino/brothel in Canada and has a polar opposite secret life, that progressively unraveled to become much darker involving an evil entity which persecuted her, from whom she viewed death as being the only solace from.
The series involved continual use of symbolism (both invented for the show and symbolism presently existing, from the Bible, Eastern philosophy, folklore, et al) and many bizarre, comedic elements were employed to counterbalance the heavy nature of the subject matter, including a young transvestite David Duchovny (pre- 'X-Files' / 'Red Shoe Diaries'). It was the sensation that had all of America asking "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" for two years. Who, or what, killed Laura Palmer was ultimately her father who would visit here nightly to rape her in an incestuous tryst. The crux of the series however was not merely this itself but that Laura's father was possessed by an evil spirit known only as "BOB", who originated from a netherworld known as the Black Lodge.
The Black Lodge is a metaphorical alter dimension and has appeared in various Hermetic Western occult literature since the late Nineteenth Century, namely spoken of in Madame Blavatsky's 'The Secret Doctrine' (which Manson cited as having a large influence on Holy Wood) and also appearing in Aleister Crowley's 1917 novel, 'Moonchild.' In Twin Peaks, it is a very real place who's entrance is found in the nearby woods, and who's inhabitants exert their occult influence over the town via the thin veil separating the two.
The series climaxes in episode 29, the last episode, where the show's protagonist FBI Agent, Dale Cooper, is able to enter the Black Lodge to confront "BOB" and the evil within it. Dream interludes throughout the series have shown glimpses into the Lodge including a doppelganger of Laura Palmer who has imparted clues to Dale since the second episode.
The above is an extremely abridged synopsis and investigating the series further (which has been a personal favourite of the this author since the Bravo Network's re-airing in early 2000) is recommended. However, in the final episode when Agent Cooper once again encounters Laura Palmer's doppelganger, as the evil of Black Lodge begins to unfold, the harrowing scream she unleashes was sampled and appears as the opening and closing of 'Wrapped In Plastic'.
Twin Peaks screen capture of an apparition of a white horse seen moments before the murder of Laura Palmer's "twin" cousin, Maddie, is murdered again by Laura's father, possessed by 'BOB'. An example of symbolism used by the series, a white horse has long been a symbol of death when used as a literary device, an allusion which finds its origins in the Bible.
Coinciding, yet inverted, symbolism by Manson in the video for 'Tourniquet' during the Antichrist Svperstar era. A surreal scene in which a floating Manson is accompanied by the other band members in an ethereal, almost after-life reminiscent, setting (which is the climax of the video after something of a dead and decaying Manson is seen prior throughout) with a black horse juxtaposed amidst the apparently fallen souls in this scenario.