David Lynch: 'Rabbits' - A Quick Analysis

Meet David Lynch. This guy is the one responsible for surreal films such as Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, and Inland Empire. His style is known for being just flat-out weird. He seems to have his own little world, where nothing makes sense. Nothing is simply explained to us, we have to look at things closely to figure out what they really mean. It’s a world where you won’t survive unless you have an open and artistic mind, essentially.

Look at his hair, you know his movies are gonna be weird.

But today, we’re gonna examine what is, in my opinion, his strangest film, and to be honest, the creepiest movie I’ve ever seen overall. Rabbits.

Starring Scott Coffey, Naomi Watts, and Satan. No joke.

Holy Christ, what is this? This is the strangest thing ever. No joke, I couldn’t sleep after I saw this. It just left me feeling quite disturbed, kind of frustrated and very very confused. To explain it as best I can, this is basically the picture here. It centers around these three humanoid rabbits who live in this small apartment. The place is always dimly-lit, it’s always raining outside, and the characters hardly ever talk. And when they do, it never makes sense.

Just for an example, in the opening we see two of the three rabbits here. Out of the blue, one of them speaks.

Nothing prompted it. And it doesn’t get brought up. She just randomly says it, and that’s it. Then after a while of just silence, the third rabbit comes in. There’s no conversation, no one says hello or anything, he just crosses the room and sits down. And then, suddenly the new guy speaks.

Out of nowhere, nonsensical dialog. Some say that if you write down the entire script of what they say, it can actually be re-arranged into logical conversation. And I will admit, I did try that, but it’s not so simple. By the way if anyone reading this is willing to try that, I would love to hear the result.

But trust me, the dialog isn’t the only worrying thing here. First of all, the general idea. Why are there three rabbits here? Why, of all things, are there three RABBITS, in human clothes, living in a human home, speaking gibberish and staring into space? Also, I should mention that there’s a sitcom laugh track that laughs at the rabbits occasionally, and we hear the sound of cheering and applause when a character enters or does something. There’s also this really disturbing scene where this demon thing appears, and at the end of the film there’s a very scary scene where the door randomly opens and we hear a woman scream, which doesn’t seem to bother the rabbits in the slightest, and they just calmly close the door again and go about their business.

So what’s this all mean? What’s the reason behind it? Well, I’ve heard quite a few interpretations, and some of them do actually sound plausible. I’ll share a few, and then go with my own.

First one, probably my favourite one, these three are souls in Purgatory. Now, I can explain.

The general theory is that these three are people who died and are now in Limbo between our world and Hell. Every now and then, we hear talk of what sounds like a murder story, with descriptions such as sharp teeth, dogs running, and other weird images that suggest a hunting trip. This implies that these three are hunters who died, and so were sent to Hell and are in the process of being reincarnated as Rabbits.

There is the occasional mention of a strange man who is expected to visit them, and the three rabbits constantly ask if he’s visiting. He could be their “boss”, or rather the one who’s keeping them imprisoned in this mundane, lifeless existence.

The demon head thing could be a visit from Satan who is informing them on their stay, and the laugh track could be other souls in Hell mocking them. Note that we hear the laugh track after lines to do with time (“What time is it?”), which implies that this is another dimension, where time is useless. The laugh track is a way of saying “You stupid rabbits, time is pointless and so are you”! We also hear Jane randomly say “I wish they would go away”, and later she says “All day..”. This suggests the rabbits know they are being watched, and that they’re fully aware of what’s happening around them which, again, is all the more reason for them to be excited when their “boss” arrives, hopefully with the good news that they can leave.

Also, the unnerving ending scene where the door opens and we hear a woman scream, this could be another soul entering Hell and seeing the rabbits for the first time. Note the rabbits are not phased by this, implying that they’re used to it, which strengthens the theory that they’re eager to leave this place.

Here’s another theory I heard. I think the other one is better because it has more evidence to hold it all together, but this one deserves a mention as well. This is meant to be three everyday pet rabbits through the eyes of a small child.

This is a child who has these pet rabbits, and, being young and imaginative, he pictures that their little hutch, their “house” is like a human home. He also pretends they’re people, and so imagines them wearing stereotypical grown-up clothes, like mommy and daddy (a suit for the male, and the two females wear either a bathrobe or a dress).

He also imagines them talking, but since he’s just a little kid and doesn’t understand adult conversations yet, he imagines them talking in complete nonsense, like the grown-ups do. The laugh-track, again, symbolizes the people watching them (the kid and his friends/family, perhaps) and laughing at how silly their little world is.

The weird monster head thing could be the boy’s pet dog or cat that somehow gets into the hutch and attacks the rabbits, and the flash of light accompanied by the scream at the end could be an accident or fire or something in the owner’s house (note the rabbit’s lack of reaction - they don’t understand what’s going on).

Also, note that some rabbits leave the home more frequently than others - Jack leaves constantly, Jane tends to wander out of the room sometimes, and Suzie barely moves from her spot. This could be the child picking favourites - his favourite is the boy rabbit, and so he likes to take him out to play with him a lot. He also likes to spend time with one of the females, but the second female isn’t very friendly and likes to stay where she is, so the child just leaves her there.

The third and final theory I want to look at is that this is meant to be a dark parody of modern pop culture and entertainment, specifically television sitcoms. These three rabbits are trapped in this lifeless world where nothing is happy, nothing is logical, and they’re in complete misery. And yet we can hear people laughing and applauding this. Why? Because that’s what people want to see; suffering.

Think about it. Some of the most well-known sitcoms are based around the suffering of others. Watch an episode of Fawlty Towers, look at the amount of ridiculous stress Basil is put through.

Take a look at Blackadder, look at the shit Edmund has to put up with, and how Baldrick seems to randomly get punched by everyone he meets.

Even animated internet cartoons. Leo and Satan is based around the Devil himself and all the trouble he gets this little child into. Eddsworld sees these four innocent characters and how they constantly have to deal with zombies, demons and vampires, etc. Dick Figures is full of Red being destructive at Blue’s expense, Happy Tree Friends is full of cute little animals being mutilated, the list goes on and on. 

This is you. You sick bastard.

I think it’s apparent that the thing people want to see is suffering and misery. So that’s what Rabbits does; it spits in the face of shows like this and shows them exactly what we’re being entertained by. Now, as for the other elements..

The nonsensical conversations? Probably a take on how sitcoms never make sense. The audience doesn’t care, once the characters are miserable and we get to watch them suffer more!

The demon head? Well, would you be miserable if this massive demon head appeared and started haunting you? Naturally. So throw in a demon or two, and there ya go, suffering! Yay!

The “man in the green suit”? The director of the show, maybe? The one responsible for their suffering, and the one who will ultimately decide when the show has ended and the rabbits are free to go.

The creepy scream at the end? Possibly the viewer’s sudden realization that what they’re watching is pure evil. 
Also, in the final scene, right after the scream, Suzie says "I wonder who I will be next", and Jack says "Do not forget what I have told you". This could be Suzie's knowledge that there's still more sitcoms to be filmed - she could be wondering what her next character will be. Jack, meanwhile, tells the audience to not forget what they have witnessed, and take this event into account.
Note that the show ends right after this scene - meaning the point has been made and the show can end, leaving the rabbits to be at peace for now and the viewer to just think about what they just witnessed.

 
And now, finally, let’s have a look at my theory. My interpretation is actually the most simple, and here it is:

This does not make sense. It is not supposed to.

That’s my thought. This show isn’t meant to make sense. I’m willing to bet even David Lynch doesn’t know what he’s doing. You know what I think? I think Lynch was in the mood to make a film, got a case of writers’ block, and decided “Ya know, it would be a lot easier if the audience were making the stories for me.”

And then it hit him: “I know! I’ll encourage the audience to make their own stories!”

And that’s what he did. He made a film that intentionally makes no sense, then sat back and watched as we, the audience, tried to make something out of it. And it worked! Look at all the forums dedicated to analyzing this.

The demon head? No meaning.

The laugh track? No meaning.

The scream? No meaning.

The cut-up script? No meaning.

The rabbits themselves? No meaning.

No meaning whatsoever.

So there you have it. I am open to correction on this, but that is my theory.

On a reviewer’s note, Rabbits is a very interesting piece and you should really check it out. Just don’t watch it at night. Unless it's 4 AM, you're pulling an all-nighter with a friend, and you need a little something to keep you awake. Paul and I learned that the hard way.