The same screencap as that shown in part 13 of the analysis, showing the
prostitute, hit man, and pimp exiting Pink's. Note the yellow lettering
and what appear to be green, red, and blue rectangles on the window of
the 'Yellowstone' store across the street (above and to right of center
of photo).
A closeup of the awning and windows taken from the above photo. I said
back in part 13 that one purpose of the coloring in this scene is to let
us know that yellowing, and thus the alchemical citrinitas stage (and therefore the chemical wedding, between male and female*), is being elevated above the other three colors/stages in importance. Closer examination of the colors reveals additional symbolism: The reddish and blueish rectangles are actually magenta and cyan, respectively, so we have the additive secondary colors (the yellow-magenta-cyan), with the green
being the odd one out. It is in fact the importance of green that Lynch is
stressing (in addition to the yellow), as described below.
From Carl Jung's Dreams, page 233:
"The unconscious is always the fly in the ointment, the skeleton in the cupboard of perfection, the painful lie given to all idealistic pronouncements, the earthliness that clings to our human nature and sadly clouds the crystal clarity we long for. In the alchemical view rust, like verdigris, is the metal's sickness. But at the same time this leprosy is the vera prima materia, the basis for the preparation of the philosophical gold. The Rosarium says:
Our gold is not the common gold. But thou hast inquired concerning the greenness [viriditas, presumably verdigris], deeming the bronze to be a leprous body on account of the greenness it hath upon it. Therefore I say unto thee that whatever is perfect in the bronze is that greenness only, because that greenness is straightway changed by our magistery into our most true gold.
The paradoxical remark of Thales that the rust alone gives the coin its true value** is a kind of alchemical quip, which at bottom only says that there is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection. To round itself out, life calls not for perfection but for completeness; and for this the "thorn in the flesh" is needed, the suffering of defects without which there is no progress and no ascent."[13]
*That Jung regards the chemical marriage as a union between male and female, is evident from his Psychology and Alchemy: "Here the supreme opposites, male and female (as in the Chinese yang and yin), are melted into a unity purified of all opposition and therefore incorruptible."
**"That is indeed what men most seek on earth: 'Tis rust alone that gives the coin its worth!"
