What we knew about the island is what we perceived about the island. Perceptions are reality unless the perceptions are deceptions. Then our perception is wrong.
What do we truly know about the island?
It looked like a tropical island.
It had palm trees, beaches, ocean currents, a reef, volcanic mountains and bamboo groves.
It also was "moving" away from the freighter. Daniel's rocket experiment data proved it.
It also "vanished" without leaving a massive void in the ocean space which would have created a massive tsunami. Instead, it was just a ripple on the ocean's surface.
So we have something that looks like an island but acts like a . . .
Space ship.
A portal to another dimension.
An illusion.
Something else.
We were also told that the island needed "protection." Protection from what? It seemed that human beings could exploit the power of the island's core for evil purposes, but we never saw anyone actually harness that power. We saw individuals turn the frozen donkey wheel, but that exercise merely teleported those turners off the island. The Dharma Initiative drilled into the electromagnetic pockets in an attempt to harness the energy, but the only things that happened were time traveling bunnies and The Incident.
Like nature, the island seems untameable by human hands.
But the entire series undercurrent was the need to find an island guardian. In the first instance, Crazy Mother killed a Roman woman to steal her new born sons. She took those babies in order to have one of them replace her as the guardian of the island. That role went to Jacob. And after Jacob killed his brother, he sought to replace himself. He brought hundreds of candidates to the island to match wits with the apparent dead spirit of his brother, MIB. But the goal was the same as Crazy Mother: to give up the burden of the guardianship. The role went to Jack for a short period to re-set the island cork and rescue Desmond from the light cave; but then it was transferred to Hurley, who also did not want the job.
But what exactly was the job? Ben said it was anything Hurley wanted to do; he could make up his own rules.
Ben also remarked that the island was like a Magic Box; if you wished hard enough, your dreams could materialize.
So, it is possible that the real connection between the island and human beings is the runaway, uncontrollable dreams of human beings that the island could actually give them - - - if there was no governor - - - something to stop someone from becoming a god.
We were told that Hurley merely wound down the island, shut down the air drops, and went to the sideways world church reunion. But there is a huge gap in between these activities. First, the sideways world is in the after life. Second, if Hurley was alive on the island, how did he get to the sideways world if he was an immortal guardian? Did he have to trick someone into taking over his island guardianship in order to escape the island's hold on him?
It would seem so. Unless Hurley's grand wish was always to have a group of close friends, a woman who truly loved him, and a place where everyone could come together in peace and tranquility. Then his Magic Box moment would have been the sideways church reunion.
Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
One of my main criticisms about character development in the series was the treatment of children, and in some respects, mothers.
Children were used mostly as disposable props, and mothers were insignificant to evil cast-offs.
The first island mother we encounter is actually in the last season: Jacob's mother. She is a shipwreck victim found by Crazy Mother. Crazy Mother earns her title by killing the Roman woman after she gives birth to twins, Jacob and MIB. So, the precedent set is that motherhood on the island is cloaked by homicidal kidnapping by a deranged island guardian.
Crazy Mother further complicates the bonds between mother and child by lying to Jacob and MIB. She tells them they can never leave the island, which puts MIB on the track of rebellion. Rebellious children will get their penance in the series. In MIB's case, death and soul imprisonment in a smoke monster is his punishment for killing the woman who killed his natural mother.
The island's other birthright was Rousseau and her child, Alex. Rousseau's research vessel was shipwrecked on the island. Her crew is killed and turned into zombies by the smoke monster. Rousseau evades the smoke monster and gives birth. However, the Others led by Widmore and Hawking do not like outsiders. Widmore gives young Ben a mission to kill Rousseau and Alex. Having regrets about his own childhood demons (his father cursed him for killing his own mother during childbirth), Ben kidnaps Alex instead - - - treating her like his own daughter. In some ways, Ben continued the tradition of Crazy Mother.
But how did the writers treat Rousseau? She was still shown as a caring and protective mother, at first, but then morphed into a psychotic crazy person obsessed with revenge and loneliness. And when she finally gets reunited with Alex, Rousseau dies. You cannot even say Rousseau's death was to protect her child, because Alex is captured by Widmore's men and quickly executed because Ben did not give himself up. Ben's decision was another black mark against how parenthood was shown in the series.
The relationship between Eloise and Daniel was also messed up. As I have theorized about the sideways world view, Eloise tried to keep everyone in the dark about the island memories in order to keep Daniel from "awakening" and leaving her in their after lives. This mixed-up reasoning was caused by Eloise killing her time traveling son prior to his own birth (which opens a hallway of unexplained paradox doors). In an unexplainable time loop, Eloise forces her son to become an advanced theoretical scientist in order to unlock the unique properties of the island, including its time travel component. We can question Eloise's motivations as being less than motherly since she would have had some understanding that she was going to sacrifice her son in order to allegedly protect the island. There was a strong undercurrent of selfishness that put aside any honor or respect for other people's lives, in order to create some purgatory "loophole" in the sideways world; her perfect marriage and family dream.
Claire's pregnancy and motherhood was also fraught with dark undertones. Claire, as a young woman, did not have the street smarts to keep herself from getting into trouble or realizing that her boyfriend could bolt at the mere thought of responsibility. Likewise, Claire wanted to discard her own responsibility for her child by putting him up for adoption (not in Australia but far, far, far away in America so there would be no chance he'd ever find her.) It seems this selfishness was caused by resentment with her stormy relationship with her own mother, for whom she severely injured in an automobile crash. It is easier to sever the ties that bind than to work out one's family issues.
And when Aaron's adoptive parents change their minds in the sideways world, Claire is in a panic. She is lost and confused because now she is fully accountable for her past actions. She does not want to be a mother. She does not want to become her own mother. In the island realm, Claire turns into Rousseau, a crazed person after her child is taken away from her. Claire turns to the darkness of the island to follow Flocke in the quest to kill off all the candidates. The series shows mother-child separation as the pathway to manic behavior.
And then, the final straw in this murky soup of mother and child relationships is Sun and her daughter. Sun abandons her own child to return to the island not knowing whether Jin is alive or dead. In fact, she saw the freighter blow up with Jin on board. There was no evidence to justify Sun leaving her own child for a wild goose chase to find Jin. And once she finds Jin, she is unbelievably trapped in the sinking submarine, instead of demanding her motherly instincts to protect her child from losing a parent, she allows Jin to stay and die by her side. (Jin as much at fault as well; he decided death was better than being a single parent.) Such an end is baffling contradiction considering Jin and Sun desperately wanted to have a child throughout their marriage - - - and when that miracle happens, they throw away their parentage like table scraps into the garbage. Sun's decisions left her daughter with a life as an orphan which is the most unmotherly thing she could have done.
The only protective mother-child relationship on the island is still mixed-up. The best protective parenting skills shown in the series was flight attendant Cindy's adoption and caring for Emma and Zach. She took them under her wing and protected them from harm. She may have been a Ben operative from the beginning, but she was independent enough to leave the temple with Flocke in order to save the children from certain death. So, the parenting lesson of the show is that strangers make better guardians than natural parents?
Children were used mostly as disposable props, and mothers were insignificant to evil cast-offs.
The first island mother we encounter is actually in the last season: Jacob's mother. She is a shipwreck victim found by Crazy Mother. Crazy Mother earns her title by killing the Roman woman after she gives birth to twins, Jacob and MIB. So, the precedent set is that motherhood on the island is cloaked by homicidal kidnapping by a deranged island guardian.
Crazy Mother further complicates the bonds between mother and child by lying to Jacob and MIB. She tells them they can never leave the island, which puts MIB on the track of rebellion. Rebellious children will get their penance in the series. In MIB's case, death and soul imprisonment in a smoke monster is his punishment for killing the woman who killed his natural mother.
The island's other birthright was Rousseau and her child, Alex. Rousseau's research vessel was shipwrecked on the island. Her crew is killed and turned into zombies by the smoke monster. Rousseau evades the smoke monster and gives birth. However, the Others led by Widmore and Hawking do not like outsiders. Widmore gives young Ben a mission to kill Rousseau and Alex. Having regrets about his own childhood demons (his father cursed him for killing his own mother during childbirth), Ben kidnaps Alex instead - - - treating her like his own daughter. In some ways, Ben continued the tradition of Crazy Mother.
But how did the writers treat Rousseau? She was still shown as a caring and protective mother, at first, but then morphed into a psychotic crazy person obsessed with revenge and loneliness. And when she finally gets reunited with Alex, Rousseau dies. You cannot even say Rousseau's death was to protect her child, because Alex is captured by Widmore's men and quickly executed because Ben did not give himself up. Ben's decision was another black mark against how parenthood was shown in the series.
The relationship between Eloise and Daniel was also messed up. As I have theorized about the sideways world view, Eloise tried to keep everyone in the dark about the island memories in order to keep Daniel from "awakening" and leaving her in their after lives. This mixed-up reasoning was caused by Eloise killing her time traveling son prior to his own birth (which opens a hallway of unexplained paradox doors). In an unexplainable time loop, Eloise forces her son to become an advanced theoretical scientist in order to unlock the unique properties of the island, including its time travel component. We can question Eloise's motivations as being less than motherly since she would have had some understanding that she was going to sacrifice her son in order to allegedly protect the island. There was a strong undercurrent of selfishness that put aside any honor or respect for other people's lives, in order to create some purgatory "loophole" in the sideways world; her perfect marriage and family dream.
Claire's pregnancy and motherhood was also fraught with dark undertones. Claire, as a young woman, did not have the street smarts to keep herself from getting into trouble or realizing that her boyfriend could bolt at the mere thought of responsibility. Likewise, Claire wanted to discard her own responsibility for her child by putting him up for adoption (not in Australia but far, far, far away in America so there would be no chance he'd ever find her.) It seems this selfishness was caused by resentment with her stormy relationship with her own mother, for whom she severely injured in an automobile crash. It is easier to sever the ties that bind than to work out one's family issues.
And when Aaron's adoptive parents change their minds in the sideways world, Claire is in a panic. She is lost and confused because now she is fully accountable for her past actions. She does not want to be a mother. She does not want to become her own mother. In the island realm, Claire turns into Rousseau, a crazed person after her child is taken away from her. Claire turns to the darkness of the island to follow Flocke in the quest to kill off all the candidates. The series shows mother-child separation as the pathway to manic behavior.
And then, the final straw in this murky soup of mother and child relationships is Sun and her daughter. Sun abandons her own child to return to the island not knowing whether Jin is alive or dead. In fact, she saw the freighter blow up with Jin on board. There was no evidence to justify Sun leaving her own child for a wild goose chase to find Jin. And once she finds Jin, she is unbelievably trapped in the sinking submarine, instead of demanding her motherly instincts to protect her child from losing a parent, she allows Jin to stay and die by her side. (Jin as much at fault as well; he decided death was better than being a single parent.) Such an end is baffling contradiction considering Jin and Sun desperately wanted to have a child throughout their marriage - - - and when that miracle happens, they throw away their parentage like table scraps into the garbage. Sun's decisions left her daughter with a life as an orphan which is the most unmotherly thing she could have done.
The only protective mother-child relationship on the island is still mixed-up. The best protective parenting skills shown in the series was flight attendant Cindy's adoption and caring for Emma and Zach. She took them under her wing and protected them from harm. She may have been a Ben operative from the beginning, but she was independent enough to leave the temple with Flocke in order to save the children from certain death. So, the parenting lesson of the show is that strangers make better guardians than natural parents?
Sunday, December 22, 2013
MYSTERY OF CINDY
Cindy Chandler was the middle section flight attendant on board Oceanic 815. She has always been one of the most mysterious background characters of the series.
Her big close up is in the pilot when she is flirting with Jack. During that encounter, she gives him two bottles of clear alcohol (vodka), which Jack puts into his pocket. These bottles would later be used to sterilize Jack's severe laceration wounds to avoid a jungle infection. This is the first tie-back that Cindy is not who she seems.
Her next big event was dealing a drugged out Charlie in the first class lavatory. Charlie was getting his fix when the plane began its turbulence and suddenly broke a part. Charlie wound up with the middle section survivors, but Cindy, who was within feet of him, wound up in the Tail Section camp.
There are two explanations for this major inconsistency. First, she was thrown clear of the cabin section and wound up on the other side of the island, but this is highly improbable. As strange as it seems, in the Other 48 Days, she appears relatively quickly during the initial beach rescues. Second, if she did land with the other middle section survivors, but she left or was transported to the tail section beach. This is also highly improbable because it took Ben time to send his spies to each camp. Another explanation is that Cindy was an Other planted on the plane so she knew her mission prior to the crash landing on the island.
While with the Tailies, Cindy was one of the women allegedly kidnapped by the Others. There was no apparent reason to take Cindy from the camp, except that she became close to the children, Emma and Zach, the real prizes. From the point of her abduction, she made no moves to leave the Others or seek rescue with her fellow 815 survivors. This leads credence that she was different than the other passengers and crew aboard Flight 815.
If she was a plant on the plane, then that would mean that she had some forecast with future events, i.e. giving Jack the alcohol to treat his wounds, or getting to the Tail Section to secure the children for assimilation into the Others community. This would mean that there was an evil intent behind the plane crash, and that it had some "control" over the life and death of certain passengers and crew members. It would also mean that Desmond's failure to enter the alarm numbers into the Hatch computer did not cause 815 to crash. It was a convenient coincidence that the island used to guilt Desmond into staying on the island in order to use the fail safe key.
One bothersome aspect of Cindy's character was her appearance. On the plane (above) she had short, reddish hair. But during the island time, she quickly is seen with long, black hair. Her hair length would not have grown that much in the time shown on the island. And why would she wear a wig in a hot, tropical climate if she was not hiding from anyone. It was one of these little things that does not make sense either for the character or in the context of the whole story line.
When MIB turns into Flocke and begins to terrorize everyone on the island, Cindy is at the Temple with Zach, Emma and another young boy. When it came to a decision to follow Flocke, Cindy took the children with her and left the Temple. Clearly, she took it upon herself to insure the safety of the children.
Which brings into play a similar parallel in island history. A stranger comes upon two children without parents. This stranger then adopts them as her own. Cindy's behavior after the plane crash mirrors Crazy Mother taking control over Jacob and MIB. In an odd footnote, could Cindy have been Crazy Mother? As a smoke monster, she could travel instanteously about the island, taking whatever shape shifting form she chose to adopt.
During the final episodes treks across the island, and the waiting, we lose track of Cindy and the children. Where did they go? They did not go to the Barracks because they were not seen during Widmore's final confrontation with Ben. They would not have gone back to the Temple, because Cindy would not want to have the children see the deadly carnage left behind by Flocke. She never went to the Hydra Station because everyone on the island, except candidates, were killed off by Widmore's men. So where did Cindy hide? Again, this is like what Crazy Mother did with young Jacob and MIB - - - hiding out in their own camp and telling them not to be involved with the Roman villagers.
One aspect of Cindy we do see is that she appears on the flight that lands at LAX (in the sideways world). But we don't see Zach or Emma. If everyone in the sideways world is dead, when did Cindy die? On the island?
There are some who believe that after Flocke's death, Cindy and the children joined the Island's new protector, Hurley, in living out his new era on the island. Except, we have no evidence of that happening. We only get a vague tip-of-the-cap from Hurley that Ben was a good island second-in-command. If Hurley was in charge of the island, why wouldn't he make sure that Emma and Zach were reunited with their parents in LA? Hurley had a strong bond with his family so why would he doom the children to stay on the island? Unless, of course, he could not change what they had become, i.e. spirits in the after life.
Or is it more reasonable than none of the people left on the island ever left the island. They would have stayed there as the next cycle of guardianship would unfold. Perhaps, Cindy took over for Hurley - - - to train Emma and Zach as the next candidates to take her place. But, that does not answer the real mystery of why the island needs a guardian in the first place.
I think from the circumstances, there is more to Cindy than just being a flight attendant who survived a plane crash. Her ability to stay out of the line of fire was uncanny. Her sudden devotion to the children was overprotective. She never once tried to leave the Others once she was allegedly kidnapped. She knew that following Flocke was the only way the children would survive, but then she took an opportunity to hide them away. Cindy seemed to know a lot more of what the island was and what was happening than the average castaway. But who or what Cindy was will remain a mystery.
Her next big event was dealing a drugged out Charlie in the first class lavatory. Charlie was getting his fix when the plane began its turbulence and suddenly broke a part. Charlie wound up with the middle section survivors, but Cindy, who was within feet of him, wound up in the Tail Section camp.
There are two explanations for this major inconsistency. First, she was thrown clear of the cabin section and wound up on the other side of the island, but this is highly improbable. As strange as it seems, in the Other 48 Days, she appears relatively quickly during the initial beach rescues. Second, if she did land with the other middle section survivors, but she left or was transported to the tail section beach. This is also highly improbable because it took Ben time to send his spies to each camp. Another explanation is that Cindy was an Other planted on the plane so she knew her mission prior to the crash landing on the island.
While with the Tailies, Cindy was one of the women allegedly kidnapped by the Others. There was no apparent reason to take Cindy from the camp, except that she became close to the children, Emma and Zach, the real prizes. From the point of her abduction, she made no moves to leave the Others or seek rescue with her fellow 815 survivors. This leads credence that she was different than the other passengers and crew aboard Flight 815.
If she was a plant on the plane, then that would mean that she had some forecast with future events, i.e. giving Jack the alcohol to treat his wounds, or getting to the Tail Section to secure the children for assimilation into the Others community. This would mean that there was an evil intent behind the plane crash, and that it had some "control" over the life and death of certain passengers and crew members. It would also mean that Desmond's failure to enter the alarm numbers into the Hatch computer did not cause 815 to crash. It was a convenient coincidence that the island used to guilt Desmond into staying on the island in order to use the fail safe key.
One bothersome aspect of Cindy's character was her appearance. On the plane (above) she had short, reddish hair. But during the island time, she quickly is seen with long, black hair. Her hair length would not have grown that much in the time shown on the island. And why would she wear a wig in a hot, tropical climate if she was not hiding from anyone. It was one of these little things that does not make sense either for the character or in the context of the whole story line.
When MIB turns into Flocke and begins to terrorize everyone on the island, Cindy is at the Temple with Zach, Emma and another young boy. When it came to a decision to follow Flocke, Cindy took the children with her and left the Temple. Clearly, she took it upon herself to insure the safety of the children.
Which brings into play a similar parallel in island history. A stranger comes upon two children without parents. This stranger then adopts them as her own. Cindy's behavior after the plane crash mirrors Crazy Mother taking control over Jacob and MIB. In an odd footnote, could Cindy have been Crazy Mother? As a smoke monster, she could travel instanteously about the island, taking whatever shape shifting form she chose to adopt.
During the final episodes treks across the island, and the waiting, we lose track of Cindy and the children. Where did they go? They did not go to the Barracks because they were not seen during Widmore's final confrontation with Ben. They would not have gone back to the Temple, because Cindy would not want to have the children see the deadly carnage left behind by Flocke. She never went to the Hydra Station because everyone on the island, except candidates, were killed off by Widmore's men. So where did Cindy hide? Again, this is like what Crazy Mother did with young Jacob and MIB - - - hiding out in their own camp and telling them not to be involved with the Roman villagers.
One aspect of Cindy we do see is that she appears on the flight that lands at LAX (in the sideways world). But we don't see Zach or Emma. If everyone in the sideways world is dead, when did Cindy die? On the island?
There are some who believe that after Flocke's death, Cindy and the children joined the Island's new protector, Hurley, in living out his new era on the island. Except, we have no evidence of that happening. We only get a vague tip-of-the-cap from Hurley that Ben was a good island second-in-command. If Hurley was in charge of the island, why wouldn't he make sure that Emma and Zach were reunited with their parents in LA? Hurley had a strong bond with his family so why would he doom the children to stay on the island? Unless, of course, he could not change what they had become, i.e. spirits in the after life.
Or is it more reasonable than none of the people left on the island ever left the island. They would have stayed there as the next cycle of guardianship would unfold. Perhaps, Cindy took over for Hurley - - - to train Emma and Zach as the next candidates to take her place. But, that does not answer the real mystery of why the island needs a guardian in the first place.
I think from the circumstances, there is more to Cindy than just being a flight attendant who survived a plane crash. Her ability to stay out of the line of fire was uncanny. Her sudden devotion to the children was overprotective. She never once tried to leave the Others once she was allegedly kidnapped. She knew that following Flocke was the only way the children would survive, but then she took an opportunity to hide them away. Cindy seemed to know a lot more of what the island was and what was happening than the average castaway. But who or what Cindy was will remain a mystery.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
LOGIC PUZZLE
If the series climax was really about the Jacob-MIB struggle, we must examine the evidence of that alleged struggle:
1. Crazy Mother stole Jacob and his brother from their real mother just after child birth on the island.
2. Crazy Mother set down a rule that Jacob and his brother could not harm each other, ever.
3. Crazy Mother forbade them from making contact with the other people on the island (which were the remaining crew from the Roman ship that wrecked on the island with Jacob's mother on board).
4. Jacob's brother went to go live and work with the Romans. He decided that he wanted to leave the island and thought he found a way by digging pits to tap into the island's energy source.
5. Crazy Mother visited Jacob's brother and confronted him on his plans. Jacob's brother refused her demands to return to her camp.
6. Crazy Mother, a middle aged woman, destroyed the entire Roman camp, much in the way we would observe the smoke monster do to the barracks.
7. Jacob's brother was enraged by Crazy Mother's actions, so he confronted her and killed her with a knife.
8. Jacob vowed revenge on his brother, and did so by hurting him near the light cave stream. His bleeding body was washed into the "Heart of the Island" and a smoke monster rushed out - - - and Jacob would later find his brother's dead body in the jungle.
9. Jacob buried Crazy Mother and his brother in a cave ("Adam and Eve").
10. The smoke monster took the form of Jacob's brother (The Man in Black or MIB), but he could shape shift into many forms, including dead individuals.
11. The MIB smoke monster continued to follow Crazy Mother's rules that it could not harm or kill Jacob, so the smoke monster sought out other people to stab Jacob ( like Alpert and Ben). Albert was thwarted because he allowed Jacob to speak to him; Ben had a conversation with Jacob but somehow his stab wound was allegedly fatal.
12. Jacob apparently continued to follow the rule, trying to get other people to kill MIB, including Sayid, but his attempt was thwarted when he allowed MIB to speak to him.
13. Once Jacob was "dead," MIB took the form of John Locke (Flocke) and then tried to recruit people to kill Jacob's remaining candidates.
14. Once Jacob was "dead," the smoke monster convinced Desmond to "deactivate" the heart of the island (by uncorking it) which would free MIB and destroy the island.
15. Jack, who assumed the guardian role, returned to the heart of the island to rescue Desmond and to re-cork the island to stop its destruction.
16. When Jack replaced the stone in the light cave, MIB allegedly became a mortal human being, who would die at the hands of Jack and Kate.
So what were the magical rules that the two "brothers" had to play by?
It would appear that the stone cork in the light cave magically tethered MIB to the island. The cork also kept the island from destroying itself. This means that MIB/smoke monster was a prisoner on the island. That would also mean that Jacob, who could go off the island to recruit candidates, was not so trapped by the island cork. Logic would then assume that Jacob was not a smoke monster. However, we saw Jacob take other forms, such as his child self, before and after his death at the hands of Ben, just like a smoke monster. We also know that Jacob was immortal, living for centuries without aging.
When the cork was removed, the island began to destroy itself and allowed MIB to break the invisible chains. At this point, MIB was still a smoke monster. It was only after Jack re-corked the island did MIB actually became human (he could bleed). So the sole mechanism to give MIB human mortality would have been the removal then replacement of the stone cork in the light cave.
However, MIB continued to try to kill Jacob's candidates. So, it may have been another rule that if there was a island guardian (a jailor), even though the stone cork was removed, MIB still could not leave the island. But MIB had no rule against killing the candidates - - - he apparently did so with the Others, Dharma and some of the 815 survivors. (Some may say he may have only manipulated people to kill each other off.) Besides, Jacob broke the rule when he killed his brother so that pact was gone. (And probably true because Jacob hid in sacred places that the smoke monster could not get into such as the cabin protected by ash ring or the Tawawet statue.)
When did Jacob become immortal? It seems his immortality was granted to him when Crazy Mother gave him the island guardianship. And if immortality is part of the powers vested in the island guardian, then why did Jack die? Because he transferred his power to Hurley. But then, why did Hurley die?
That would mean that Hurley's death meant that he had to transfer the island guardianship to another person. But that begs the question. If the prisoner, the smoke monster was dead, why would there be a need for a guardian anymore? Unless, of course, there were other imprisoned smoke monsters on the island. And if there was no further reason to guard the island, why would anyone be left on it? Would not Hurley want to get the Others back to their families and their real homes?
The Jacob-MIB conflict still does not make clear, logical sense. If the smoke monster could not enter the light cave and tip over the stone cork to set itself free, then Jacob, being tired of his guardianship duties, could have just quit and left the smoke monster alone on the island. Since we were told only Jacob could bring people to the island, the smoke monster would be forever trapped on the island.
The puzzle pieces to Jacob still don't quite fit together. Was he a man or a smoke monster? Was he immortal or a magician? Was he truly killed or did he turn into a smoke monster trapped on the island as a result of his death?
1. Crazy Mother stole Jacob and his brother from their real mother just after child birth on the island.
2. Crazy Mother set down a rule that Jacob and his brother could not harm each other, ever.
3. Crazy Mother forbade them from making contact with the other people on the island (which were the remaining crew from the Roman ship that wrecked on the island with Jacob's mother on board).
4. Jacob's brother went to go live and work with the Romans. He decided that he wanted to leave the island and thought he found a way by digging pits to tap into the island's energy source.
5. Crazy Mother visited Jacob's brother and confronted him on his plans. Jacob's brother refused her demands to return to her camp.
6. Crazy Mother, a middle aged woman, destroyed the entire Roman camp, much in the way we would observe the smoke monster do to the barracks.
7. Jacob's brother was enraged by Crazy Mother's actions, so he confronted her and killed her with a knife.
8. Jacob vowed revenge on his brother, and did so by hurting him near the light cave stream. His bleeding body was washed into the "Heart of the Island" and a smoke monster rushed out - - - and Jacob would later find his brother's dead body in the jungle.
9. Jacob buried Crazy Mother and his brother in a cave ("Adam and Eve").
10. The smoke monster took the form of Jacob's brother (The Man in Black or MIB), but he could shape shift into many forms, including dead individuals.
11. The MIB smoke monster continued to follow Crazy Mother's rules that it could not harm or kill Jacob, so the smoke monster sought out other people to stab Jacob ( like Alpert and Ben). Albert was thwarted because he allowed Jacob to speak to him; Ben had a conversation with Jacob but somehow his stab wound was allegedly fatal.
12. Jacob apparently continued to follow the rule, trying to get other people to kill MIB, including Sayid, but his attempt was thwarted when he allowed MIB to speak to him.
13. Once Jacob was "dead," MIB took the form of John Locke (Flocke) and then tried to recruit people to kill Jacob's remaining candidates.
14. Once Jacob was "dead," the smoke monster convinced Desmond to "deactivate" the heart of the island (by uncorking it) which would free MIB and destroy the island.
15. Jack, who assumed the guardian role, returned to the heart of the island to rescue Desmond and to re-cork the island to stop its destruction.
16. When Jack replaced the stone in the light cave, MIB allegedly became a mortal human being, who would die at the hands of Jack and Kate.
So what were the magical rules that the two "brothers" had to play by?
It would appear that the stone cork in the light cave magically tethered MIB to the island. The cork also kept the island from destroying itself. This means that MIB/smoke monster was a prisoner on the island. That would also mean that Jacob, who could go off the island to recruit candidates, was not so trapped by the island cork. Logic would then assume that Jacob was not a smoke monster. However, we saw Jacob take other forms, such as his child self, before and after his death at the hands of Ben, just like a smoke monster. We also know that Jacob was immortal, living for centuries without aging.
When the cork was removed, the island began to destroy itself and allowed MIB to break the invisible chains. At this point, MIB was still a smoke monster. It was only after Jack re-corked the island did MIB actually became human (he could bleed). So the sole mechanism to give MIB human mortality would have been the removal then replacement of the stone cork in the light cave.
However, MIB continued to try to kill Jacob's candidates. So, it may have been another rule that if there was a island guardian (a jailor), even though the stone cork was removed, MIB still could not leave the island. But MIB had no rule against killing the candidates - - - he apparently did so with the Others, Dharma and some of the 815 survivors. (Some may say he may have only manipulated people to kill each other off.) Besides, Jacob broke the rule when he killed his brother so that pact was gone. (And probably true because Jacob hid in sacred places that the smoke monster could not get into such as the cabin protected by ash ring or the Tawawet statue.)
When did Jacob become immortal? It seems his immortality was granted to him when Crazy Mother gave him the island guardianship. And if immortality is part of the powers vested in the island guardian, then why did Jack die? Because he transferred his power to Hurley. But then, why did Hurley die?
That would mean that Hurley's death meant that he had to transfer the island guardianship to another person. But that begs the question. If the prisoner, the smoke monster was dead, why would there be a need for a guardian anymore? Unless, of course, there were other imprisoned smoke monsters on the island. And if there was no further reason to guard the island, why would anyone be left on it? Would not Hurley want to get the Others back to their families and their real homes?
The Jacob-MIB conflict still does not make clear, logical sense. If the smoke monster could not enter the light cave and tip over the stone cork to set itself free, then Jacob, being tired of his guardianship duties, could have just quit and left the smoke monster alone on the island. Since we were told only Jacob could bring people to the island, the smoke monster would be forever trapped on the island.
The puzzle pieces to Jacob still don't quite fit together. Was he a man or a smoke monster? Was he immortal or a magician? Was he truly killed or did he turn into a smoke monster trapped on the island as a result of his death?
Saturday, June 29, 2013
MOTHER
If the Island is a living supernatural being, it may have always needed one thing: a mother.
If we look back at the disjointed time line of the Island, we find that a mother figure is prominent. First, we have the Tawawet statue which was probably created more than 4,500 years ago. It was probably created for an Egyptian goddess who was the Island guardian. Second, we have Crazy Mother from the Roman era. She is the one who was alone on the island until she kidnapped Jacob and his brother. Jumping to near the end of the linear time line before the Flight 815 crash, there was another motherly presence, and Other named Amelia.
On the day of the crash, Amelia arrived early to Juliet's for the book club meeting. Seeing Ethan working outside on her way in, she jokingly chastised him for taking so long to fix Juliet's plumbing. Inside, Amelia noticed that Juliet was upset about something, and pressed her to know what it was about. Juliet then requested that Amelia not tell anyone what she was about to show her. As Juliet was about to reveal Ben's X-rays, they were interrupted by the doorbell; presumably other book club members had arrived.
During the book club meeting, Amelia seemed amused with Juliet's argument against Adam, regarding her book choice, Carrie. The meeting was interrupted by the commotion of Flight 815 crashing on the Island, an event that Amelia was present to witness.
Why should any importance be given to such a minor background character.
There are several clues which fans have stitched together to form a theory.
Amelia is of German origin, and its meaning is "work of the lord." For those who tend to believe the purgatory premise to the show, she could represent an authoritative or guiding presence for any island visitor, such as Juliet.
She shares a first name with famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, whose plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937. In 1937 she engaged in an attempt to fly across the world, but on July 2 of that year, she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the Pacific. Her remains have never been officially confirmed to have been found, but she was officially declared dead on January 5 of 1939.
There is another connection to the LOST story line and this event. As with the 815 wreckage being discovered, in 1937 a pilot searching for Earhart was lost near the Sunda Trench off coast of Sumatra.
Further, he name of the airport that is shown to be used by Mittelos Bioscience in "One of Us" was Herarat Aviation; "Herarat" is an anagram of "Earhart."
Theorists speculate that Amelia could be Annie's mother. On the very last page in the book Carrie that they are reading in the book-club, there is an excerpt from a letter sent by a woman named Amelia to her sister. She explains that her daughter, Annie, seems to have telekinetic powers. However, it is more likely that Annie could have been her granddaughter. The person from the island past and present with the most "knowledge" of the Island and other people's thoughts or actions was Eloise Hawking. Young Eloise in the 1950s flash would have been in her late teens if she was born on the island in 1940.
It is possible that Amelia was Amelia Earhart, who was lost over the Pacific just like the survivors of Flight 815. It is possible that Amelia herself, could have been the cause of the Oceanic plane crash. If Earhart crashed on the Island, she and her co-pilot could have been the second Adam and Eve. Earnhart would have 107 years old in 2004. The Island's healing powers and alternative time dynamics would make her age irrelevant.
So if Amelia was Amelia Earhart, the lost aviator, what does that mean to the LOST universe?
The balance of the island needs to have a motherly temperament in order to balance out the mood swings of children. The one thing that Jacob truly regretted was the death of Crazy Mother. Ever since that moment, the Island was put into a long, grueling pitched battle of "corrupt" humans trying to fill that void. There was a long stretch of peace during the Amelia time frame, such that the Dharma Institute built huge improvements and stations. But that all changed when Ben, who had no mother, possessed the anger to purge the Dharma members and put the Island back into a state of chaos.
At that point, change may only come through the magic box. If one had strong enough feelings and experience to create their wish to materialize, who else could know about and survive a plane crash than Amelia Earhart. She could tell from the book club that Juliet had terrible news (the Island was no longer healing people) and that the Others themselves were turning on each other with their arguments over trivial matters like books. At that moment, Amelia thought of drastic change - - - and her subconscious experience brought down Flight 815 to set off a chain reaction toward a new island peace with the removal of Jacob and his game of human pawns with MIB.
Until that happened, Amelia's motherly feeling that children should not be born on an island in turmoil led to the infertility problems. We do not see her again in the series. We do not see her perish. We do not see her at the Temple. We do not see her as a Flocke follower. This means that she may have been more independent and above the politics of the island groups which shows that she is older, wiser and more cunning than those who believed they were in charge. If so, she would have been the power behind the curtain, not Jacob.
There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love; she will fight for, defend or give up her own life to save her children. The maternal instinct is strong. It is a calming influence for those who are scared, upset, hurt or lost.
If we look back at the disjointed time line of the Island, we find that a mother figure is prominent. First, we have the Tawawet statue which was probably created more than 4,500 years ago. It was probably created for an Egyptian goddess who was the Island guardian. Second, we have Crazy Mother from the Roman era. She is the one who was alone on the island until she kidnapped Jacob and his brother. Jumping to near the end of the linear time line before the Flight 815 crash, there was another motherly presence, and Other named Amelia.
During the book club meeting, Amelia seemed amused with Juliet's argument against Adam, regarding her book choice, Carrie. The meeting was interrupted by the commotion of Flight 815 crashing on the Island, an event that Amelia was present to witness.
Why should any importance be given to such a minor background character.
There are several clues which fans have stitched together to form a theory.
Amelia is of German origin, and its meaning is "work of the lord." For those who tend to believe the purgatory premise to the show, she could represent an authoritative or guiding presence for any island visitor, such as Juliet.
She shares a first name with famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, whose plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937. In 1937 she engaged in an attempt to fly across the world, but on July 2 of that year, she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the Pacific. Her remains have never been officially confirmed to have been found, but she was officially declared dead on January 5 of 1939.
There is another connection to the LOST story line and this event. As with the 815 wreckage being discovered, in 1937 a pilot searching for Earhart was lost near the Sunda Trench off coast of Sumatra.
Further, he name of the airport that is shown to be used by Mittelos Bioscience in "One of Us" was Herarat Aviation; "Herarat" is an anagram of "Earhart."
Theorists speculate that Amelia could be Annie's mother. On the very last page in the book Carrie that they are reading in the book-club, there is an excerpt from a letter sent by a woman named Amelia to her sister. She explains that her daughter, Annie, seems to have telekinetic powers. However, it is more likely that Annie could have been her granddaughter. The person from the island past and present with the most "knowledge" of the Island and other people's thoughts or actions was Eloise Hawking. Young Eloise in the 1950s flash would have been in her late teens if she was born on the island in 1940.
It is possible that Amelia was Amelia Earhart, who was lost over the Pacific just like the survivors of Flight 815. It is possible that Amelia herself, could have been the cause of the Oceanic plane crash. If Earhart crashed on the Island, she and her co-pilot could have been the second Adam and Eve. Earnhart would have 107 years old in 2004. The Island's healing powers and alternative time dynamics would make her age irrelevant.
So if Amelia was Amelia Earhart, the lost aviator, what does that mean to the LOST universe?
The balance of the island needs to have a motherly temperament in order to balance out the mood swings of children. The one thing that Jacob truly regretted was the death of Crazy Mother. Ever since that moment, the Island was put into a long, grueling pitched battle of "corrupt" humans trying to fill that void. There was a long stretch of peace during the Amelia time frame, such that the Dharma Institute built huge improvements and stations. But that all changed when Ben, who had no mother, possessed the anger to purge the Dharma members and put the Island back into a state of chaos.
At that point, change may only come through the magic box. If one had strong enough feelings and experience to create their wish to materialize, who else could know about and survive a plane crash than Amelia Earhart. She could tell from the book club that Juliet had terrible news (the Island was no longer healing people) and that the Others themselves were turning on each other with their arguments over trivial matters like books. At that moment, Amelia thought of drastic change - - - and her subconscious experience brought down Flight 815 to set off a chain reaction toward a new island peace with the removal of Jacob and his game of human pawns with MIB.
Until that happened, Amelia's motherly feeling that children should not be born on an island in turmoil led to the infertility problems. We do not see her again in the series. We do not see her perish. We do not see her at the Temple. We do not see her as a Flocke follower. This means that she may have been more independent and above the politics of the island groups which shows that she is older, wiser and more cunning than those who believed they were in charge. If so, she would have been the power behind the curtain, not Jacob.
There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love; she will fight for, defend or give up her own life to save her children. The maternal instinct is strong. It is a calming influence for those who are scared, upset, hurt or lost.
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