ALTERNATIVES

There are a few ways to look at the Island and what it represents in the series.

1. IT IS AN ISLAND.

A real island. A real place. In the Pacific. It is shrouded from observation because of the intense electromagnetic properties (which bends light to cloak it from view). It is a real island with real plants, real animals, and  real weather. It is a natural place with some supernatural elements.

2. IT IS AN AMUSEMENT PARK.

It is meant to "look and feel" like a tropical island, but it is not a natural island formation. It was created by man or alien hands. It could be considered Disneyland with the safety precautions turned off (or for 1970s film buffs a version of Westworld.)

3. IT IS A PRISON.

It is a place where undesirable people are locked away from the real world. We were told that it was difficult to find and difficult to enter. One needed permission to enter (Jacob as the warden). Once you arrived on the island you could not leave.

4. IT IS AN INSTITUTION.

A voluntary form of prison, the island could be a mental institution utopia experiment. People were brought to the island to work out their emotional and psychological problems until the inmates began to run the asylum. The Dharma may have been the original therapists but they turned into a cult.

5. IT IS A PLACE IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION.

The unique electromagnetic properties of the island are not Earthly so the island itself is in a parallel universe. The people are taking to a new realm of existence. This is why they cannot leave the island because the snow globe effect is actually a space barrier between universes.

6. IT IS A MODERN INTERPRETATION OF HELL.

Instead of fire and brimstone, it is a dangerous tropical paradise of demons, tests and judgment.

7. IT IS THE SIDEWAYS WORLD.

There is only one "world" for the characters. Since they end up in the sideways fantasy world (created by themselves) it is a fair assumption that the island was also part of this sideways fantasy world (created by themselves).

8. IT IS A REPRESENTATION OF THE INTERNET.

The island has no physical elements. It is a creation of bits of information contained in a network. Characters immerse themselves into the island like gamers in open MMOs. It is a place where a person's mind becomes free of its body (and the things that would hold back a person's full abilities like a body in paralysis or having cancer). It is a mechanical representation of a real world (which elements such as the smoke monster make mechanical sounds when making an appearance). It plays into the repetitive notion of the characters going on endless missions and dangerous quests.

9. IT IS AN ILLUSION.

The island is a mental illusion or delusion in the mind of an unbalanced person. If the island is a construct of a twisted mind, then the elements of nature and physics do not apply. The fears, phobias, ego and emotions of a person are the true elements of creation. Everything was imaginary in reality but quite real in the mind of a mental or coma patient. Many people thought that the whole series was inside a character's head, such as Hurley. But it could also be assumed that the whole thing was made up by the twisted mind of Jacob.

10. IT IS HEAVEN.

It is a heavenly playground for children who never had a chance to grow up to be adults. There are elements of immaturity, lack of problem solving, lack of applied knowledge and basic emotional attachments in awkward social dynamics which baffle young children who have to learn their way through the culture and social obligations. Without time to develop those social skills as children, their souls would be incomplete. The island is for souls to role play and to learn what it means to be human.