Directors may undermine their own work to avoid appearing sentimental

Evidence

Lynch constantly, purposefully undermines his own best effects with macabre jokes and little pieces of whimsy. He does this, I think, to escape the charge of tenderness; for here and there we catch him softening toward his benighted creations. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 407

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 407