Lynch's primary subject in Slot Machine is social pressure that compels people to conform to a prescribed mode of behavior and the tendency to categorize. "People will always have an interest in labeling," he has observed. "It's not necessarily malicious, it's just a way of managing the world. It helps the world deal with the individual." And then, indicating his own strong feeling about this phenomenon, he adds, "But it does nothing for the individual." The characters in Slot Machine are part of a well-organized effort to begin the process of labeling at a time when they are or should be in the midst of exploring and constructing an individual identity in an attempt "to be more than the label says." Although he is sympathetic about their predicament, Lynch presents and measures them in terms of how much they have given in to the...