MULTI-VERSES

One of the bothersome aspects of LOST was its backhand use of Time to distort the plot lines.

Most people consider a time line as a lineal progression of events in a daily second, minute, hour grid. Ancient people felt that time was a cycle that progressed like the seasons.

One science fiction genre is the parallel universe. It is trope that allows a writer to "alter" present reality but mask it with the all the familiar settings of our current world.

Multiverses is the plural of a parallel universes. In some fictional mythologies, every action one does in real life affects and changes the pathway and development in an alternative universe. And since there are trillions of daily decisions, there are almost infinite parallel universes based on the outcomes.

A basic example of this change is this:

You are in Universe A at a stop sign. Your plan is to turn left to go to the store. But if you turn right, you suddenly alter the decision to create a Universe B. In Universe A you get to the store and buy your goods. But in Universe B you drive into a gas station, to be shot and killed during a botched robbery. In Universe A you go home to your family. In Universe B your family comes to the morgue, setting off a series of unintended consequences. In Universe B, your spouse can either remain single or remarry a close friend, which creates a new Universe C. In Universe C, the second marriage complicates the relationships between your children, splitting them onto various destructive paths in other universes. It is an avalanche or domino effect.

One theory about LOST is that the show's premise is that of multiverses. The continuity errors between shows and seasons are not errors per se, but the effects of previous actions.

If one breaks a part the show, one can find four different parallel universes:

1. The Pre-Flight 815 World.
2. The Post-Crash Island World.
3. The O6 World.
4. The Sideways World.

The Pre-Flight 815 World seems to be the "real" world in the context of the characters' background stories, and how they came to Sydney, which was the focal point of change. There was something in the preboarding that altered the normal time line to create the post-crash island world. Perhaps it was the airline not putting Christian's body on the plane. As a result, the normal universe created a second parallel universe where the plane lands safely in LAX. However, there is an alternative explanation that the pre-flight world was actually part of the sideways continuum.

The Sideways World where Flight 815 did not crash could be considered by some to be the first or "real" world view. This is because in normal course of events, planes arrive at their destination. In the sideways world, people go forward with their lives unaffected by the flight events. (This is problematic for some viewers because that would infer that the real world began as an afterlife setting.)

Some event on board the plane, such as Bernard going to the back cabin, altered the normal universe event line, which in turn caused a parallel universe to be created where the plane crashes on the island.  This can be considered true because in the sideways universe, Ben was seen as an Sydney airport employee, which would be impossible since he was on the island at the time of the plane crash unaware of Flight 815.

Once the second world, the island, was created, it spawned two more parallel universes.  The island world seems to be a "closed" system since it was difficult for outsiders to find. The barrier could be considered the border between universes. Some scientists believe that time and space (or Einstein's concept of space-time) can be the separation fields between universes. The next universe created would be the O6 world which had different events and outcomes than the sideways world.

Since each universe is self-contained, the timing of the life events can be different. This is the only way to logically explain why Aaron and Ji Yeon could be "born" both in the sideways world and in other worlds. On the island world, Sun was found pregnant on the island and gave birth in the O6 world. However, she had to be far along her pregnancy in the sideways world because in that time line (a few weeks) she gave birth to her child in the hospital.

When the show runners talk now about asking the big questions like life or death to help temper the complaints about the show's direction and conclusion, that seems like a throw-a-way bone to fans. It does not help explain the apparent inconsistencies in scripts and seasons. The bigger question is whether the multiverse theory is the best foundation to help understand the show's big premise.

THREE CHOICES

In the continuing LOST universe, there are three basic choices a viewer has to make (during the series and upon reflection ten years later) of what they believe happened to the plane passengers.

As the human beings are falling from the sky after Flight 815 breaks a part in mid-air, something will happen to them.

One option is that the human beings miraculously survived the plane crash.

Another option is that as they were falling, they went through or were diverted into another plane of existence, possibly a spiritual realm, but they were still physically alive.

Final option is that the passengers fell to earth and did not survive the plane crash. It was their souls that carried on in an after life which looks real.

One: alive on earth.
One: alive somewhere other than earth.
One: dead in the afterlife.

COVER STORY

In 2010, LOST's showrunners made the following comment in regard to the mysteries of the series:

I think there’s this essential human desire to have a unified field theory. But there is no unified field theory for Lost, nor do we think there should be. Philosophically we don’t buy into that. The great mysteries of life fundamentally can’t be addressed. We just have to tell a good story and let the chips fall where they may. We don’t know whether the resolution between the two timelines is going to make people say, “Oh, that’s cool” or “Oh, fuck those guys, they belly-flopped at the end.” But the fact that we’re nervous about it and that we’re actually attempting it — that is what we had to do. We had to try to make the dive. - - - Carlton Cuse

Fans who support the final conclusion to the series have jumped on this philosophy. They claim that    the producers having to provide a basis for every mystery is not only bad writing, it’s not true to life. 

They believe that even though the mysteries shown in LOST should have a plausibility within the universe of the story, the mysteries do not need to be “tied together.” The concept is that there is no unified theory to anything. They think scientists will conclude that in life and our universe, there is no grand unified theory. It is futile to think otherwise. 

If one accepts this philosophy that LOST mirrors life in that there is never going to be a unified theory to explain the mysteries of life (or the show), fans are only left with the vague, unfilled vision.  The TPTB that hyped and worked on the story lines abandon the show's viewers to their own devices;  to wonder and philosophize and speculate to what they had invested six years in watching the story when the show's creators tell us that mysteries, as in life, cannot be addressed. 

I have to reject TPTB's premise. It is an excuse. It is a cover story. It is a con.

The art of writing a narrative or epic tale is based on a time-tested formula: a beginning, a middle, and an end. In the beginning, we have characters who are confronted with problematic situations (conflicts). In the middle, we have those characters trying to come to terms with those conflicts. In the end, we have those characters have those conflicts resolved, for good or ill.  

In 1972, sociolinguist William Labov isolated the historical elements of storytelling that applied to all cultures throughout time: 

1. Abstract - How does it begin?
2. Orientation - Who/what does it involve, and when/where?
3. Complicating Action - Then what happened?
4. Resolution - What finally happened?
5. Evaluation - So what?
6. Coda - What does it all mean? 


The LOST's creators gave us a weak resolution, nothing to evaluate and no coded principles to find out what it all meant. In some respects, it would be like Jules Verne writing his novel, Around the World in 80 Days, in one sentence: After accepting the wager that he could not make it around the world in 80 days time, Phineas Fogg left for the train station to begin his journey. The End.


LOST began with the riveting tale of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island. A diverse group of people would need to band together in order to survive and to be rescued. The complication was that they were not alone - - - people were spying on them, kidnapping some of the survivors, played mind games, and killed many people. The survivors had to confront the hostiles in order to live, but many died in the process. The initial story could have concluded whether any of the survivors were rescued in a Robinson Caruso way. But instead, in order to pad the story line, TPTB added layer upon layer of secondary backstories and more conflicts (Others v. Dharma; Ben v. Widmore; Jacob v. MIB). TPTB also brought in not only the big question of "where was the island?" but "what is the island?" If you are going to add smoke monsters, Egyptian temples, reincarnation, and time travel, people will want a reasonable explanation for those elements in the conclusion of the story. 

TPTB wanted to make LOST a grand, epic, "different" adventure story. But to believe at the beginning they needed no unified theory to any of the story elements that they would film defies common sense in the writing craft or common courtesy to the viewers. They were more engrossed in wild plot twists than the actual premise of the show. The sideways world was just another twist they used as an escape hatch to give viewers a "happy" ending with no answers. It is like a child going out Trick or Treating to be given instead of candy, a travel bottle of mouth wash. Yes, it could be worse: a razor blade in an apple. It is all a matter of perspective, which itself was lost at the end of the series (apparently by design).

May 25, 2010

From a fascinating discussion between LOST producers Cuse and Lindelof and theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here:

Carlton Cuse: I think there’s this essential human desire to have a unified field theory. But there is no unified field theory for Lost, nor do we think there should be. Philosophically we don’t buy into that. The great mysteries of life fundamentally can’t be addressed. We just have to tell a good story and let the chips fall where they may. We don’t know whether the resolution between the two timelines is going to make people say, “Oh, that’s cool” or “Oh, fuck those guys, they belly-flopped at the end.” But the fact that we’re nervous about it and that we’re actually attempting it — that is what we had to do. We had to try to make the dive.

This is similar to the point I was trying to make in my pre-finale essay “Why LOST Doesn’t Need to Answer Every Question.” To provide a basis for every mystery is not only bad writing, it’s not true to life. The mysteries should have a plausibility within the universe of the story, but they do not need to all “tie together.” There is no unified theory of everything. Indeed, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to think that the search for a grand unified theory is futile.
So what are we LOST fans left with then? A gift that is the same as one of the greatest gifts we have as humans: the capacity to wonder and philosophize and speculate. Some of us need to get over our anger that LOST abandoned any attempt at a “theory of everything” (if that was ever the goal) and embrace the gift, a gift that will live in our discussions for years to come.
- See more at: http://foolishsage.com/2010/05/25/lost-producer-cuse-no-unified-theory/#sthash.lrjvILoT.dpuf

May 25, 2010

From a fascinating discussion between LOST producers Cuse and Lindelof and theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here:

Carlton Cuse: I think there’s this essential human desire to have a unified field theory. But there is no unified field theory for Lost, nor do we think there should be. Philosophically we don’t buy into that. The great mysteries of life fundamentally can’t be addressed. We just have to tell a good story and let the chips fall where they may. We don’t know whether the resolution between the two timelines is going to make people say, “Oh, that’s cool” or “Oh, fuck those guys, they belly-flopped at the end.” But the fact that we’re nervous about it and that we’re actually attempting it — that is what we had to do. We had to try to make the dive.

This is similar to the point I was trying to make in my pre-finale essay “Why LOST Doesn’t Need to Answer Every Question.” To provide a basis for every mystery is not only bad writing, it’s not true to life. The mysteries should have a plausibility within the universe of the story, but they do not need to all “tie together.” There is no unified theory of everything. Indeed, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to think that the search for a grand unified theory is futile.
So what are we LOST fans left with then? A gift that is the same as one of the greatest gifts we have as humans: the capacity to wonder and philosophize and speculate. Some of us need to get over our anger that LOST abandoned any attempt at a “theory of everything” (if that was ever the goal) and embrace the gift, a gift that will live in our discussions for years to come.
- See more at: http://foolishsage.com/2010/05/25/lost-producer-cuse-no-unified-theory/#sthash.yZyUefSJ.dpuf

May 25, 2010

From a fascinating discussion between LOST producers Cuse and Lindelof and theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here:

Carlton Cuse: I think there’s this essential human desire to have a unified field theory. But there is no unified field theory for Lost, nor do we think there should be. Philosophically we don’t buy into that. The great mysteries of life fundamentally can’t be addressed. We just have to tell a good story and let the chips fall where they may. We don’t know whether the resolution between the two timelines is going to make people say, “Oh, that’s cool” or “Oh, fuck those guys, they belly-flopped at the end.” But the fact that we’re nervous about it and that we’re actually attempting it — that is what we had to do. We had to try to make the dive.

This is similar to the point I was trying to make in my pre-finale essay “Why LOST Doesn’t Need to Answer Every Question.” To provide a basis for every mystery is not only bad writing, it’s not true to life. The mysteries should have a plausibility within the universe of the story, but they do not need to all “tie together.” There is no unified theory of everything. Indeed, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to think that the search for a grand unified theory is futile.
So what are we LOST fans left with then? A gift that is the same as one of the greatest gifts we have as humans: the capacity to wonder and philosophize and speculate. Some of us need to get over our anger that LOST abandoned any attempt at a “theory of everything” (if that was ever the goal) and embrace the gift, a gift that will live in our discussions for years to come.
- See more at: http://foolishsage.com/2010/05/25/lost-producer-cuse-no-unified-theory/#sthash.lrjvILoT.dpuf