Textural Poaching Twin Peaks: The Audrey Horne Sweater Girl GIFs

• Main Author: Jennifer Gillan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bologna 2016-12-01
• Series: Series. International journal of tv serial narratives
• Subjects: Twin Peaks; GIFs; Costuming; Participatory Culture; Textual Poaching; Television
• Online Access: https://series.unibo.it/article/view/6588

This article aims to widen the lens of analysis of participatory culture inspired by long-arc serials like Twin Peaks. It considers GIF creation as a form of textural poaching, a new reception practice involving skimming off and repurposing top-of-the-mind content: the most arresting elements of costuming, set design, and dialogue. This behavior has become more popular as more series rely on textural storytelling and are filled with moments of excess that feel separate from the story. After an introduction to GIFs and GIF creation, it contrasts the impression of the character and series conveyed by Audrey Horne GIFs and the actual dynamics in the “Audrey’s Dance” scene. It establishes that Audrey’s look is most visually aligned with the Sweater Girl type, but as an allusive characterization it creates excess and calls attention to itself. Part of the “cool pop” reputation of the series may stem from the wider circulation of iconic moments of excess especially given that the GIFs detach the images from the series’ uneven storytelling and its challenging surrealist sensibility.