There have been a few essays recently on the undercurrent of most American animated films. The broad subject matter of the main characters has been the road to capturing self-esteem. The character's life is mundane, boring, repetitive and confining in such a pigeon holed way that the character needs to dream his own bigger, brighter future.
I did not realize that the audience, American children, had such self-esteem issues. It may be why animated features on the whole are widely popular.
To be esteemed, one would need to be admired or respected by his or her peers. For self-esteem, it is confidence in one's worth and abilities. In the LOST world, those two concepts clash in the main characters. In order to have self-esteem, the characters need to be admired or respected by their peers.
For example, Locke was a haphazard grinder in real life. He bounced from job to job. He was not particularly good at anything. His boring life led him to fantasy role playing games, even as an adult. None of his supervisors admired or respected him. In turn, Locke always wanted to show other people that he was worth something. That is why he stalked his con-man father, to see why even donating a kidney did not garner him any respect or admiration from Cooper.
Kate was a flippant child. What comes around goes around. She grew up in a stable home, but lashed out for attention by trying to steal a lunchbox at the general store. She was bored with her life. She had little direction. She dreamed of doing something, but no one ever encouraged her to follow her dreams. As a result, she had a very narrow, child like view of the world. Her solution to "save" her mother was the cartoonish blow up the abusive husband. The fall out was severe: her mother reacted negatively toward her. Kate could not understand what went wrong.
Jack was clearly crippled by the lack of respect his father game him. From early childhood, Christian did not pat Jack on the back. Jack struggled to get his father to notice his accomplishments. The lack of acknowledgement from his father led Jack into repressed anger and a single minded will to "fix things." Even if his hospital peers admired his "miracle" results in the OR, Christian never did. It was that cold detachment that was the deep canyon between their father-son relationship.
The island gave the main characters an opportunity to gain some self-esteem. The survivors were given a choice: get along or die. But factions never got along. And a lot of people died.
Locke has a roller coaster ride. He reinvented himself as some outback survivalist. But instead of being admired, he was feared as being a loon. Kate was so obsessed with her past remaining a secret that she came off distant and aloof. Her tracking and shooting skills came in handy at times, but she was never looked upon as the leader of any group. Jack was an immediate leader in the eyes of the survivors for one simple reason: he was their only doctor. He was needed to help everyone survive. He took charge immediately after the crash, barking out orders like it was an emergency room. People saw and respected his skills. They assumed that Jack meant what he said; that he a plan that would save them. But even when Jack was rewarded with the support of the group, he was quite uncomfortable in taking command. His father always knocked him down a peg when leadership issues arose in their conversations. It may have been a defense mechanism by Christian so his son would surpass his accomplishments. But it held Jack back for a long time in accepting his role as the group's ultimate leader.
It was only after Locke had died did Jack realize what Locke was trying to tell him. At that moment, Locke was finally respected by some one. Only when Kate wrangled Claire onto the Ajira plane did she fulfill her personal goal of helping save someone else instead of running away. She would earn Claire and Aaron's respect. And it was only when Jack accepted his fate to become the island guardian, to defeat MIB and release his friends to leave the island in peace, did Jack find his own self-esteem.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
KATE IN CHARGE
LOST would have been completely different if the original plan had gone forward. The character of Kate was first intended to be the leader of the survivors, after Jack's character was to be killed off in the pilot episode.
Later, the writers found that killing Jack in the first episode would
raise feelings of betrayal and anger in the audience. They decided
instead to have the Oceanic pilot killed in Jack's place.
Originally, Kate was written as an older woman traveling with her husband, whom she is separated from after he goes to the bathroom right before the crash. This idea was still employed, but with the characters of Rose and Bernard.
The first twist would have been having a strong willed woman and a doting husband dynamic in the beach camp. Would Kate's husband tried to change his personality to become more forceful? Would he object to Kate taking a leadership role? Would this have been the Jack and Locke dynamic?
The second aspect of this would have been whether the survivors would have accepted Kate as their leader. Certain cultures, such as Sayid's, would have objected to a woman in charge. Other men could have put on a macho behavior in order to make themselves seem more important (for self centered reasons such as corrupting limited resources).
The third aspect of this would have been altering the Sawyer love interest. If Kate had a husband on the island, she would not be available to use her "charms" on either Sawyer or Jack. If she did, it would cause more conflict in the beach camp because her betrayal of her husband would have negative consequences with the other camp members.
If Kate and her husband were to be the Rose and Bernard characters, it would have been hard to mesh a story to fit their personalities. Rose had accepted her fate. She would have rather be left alone than make decisions or lead missions. Bernard only wished to make Rose happy. They found that mutual happiness by going off on their own into the jungle as introverts.
There were a few aspects of Kate's actual characterization which could have confused the plot lines. Kate was involved in many car crashes in her flashbacks. Car crashes were symbolic for change or even the after life. Kate was one of two characters to have escaped the island twice (Frank being the other person, who was key in getting them rescued.) Either the island did not have a great pull on her, or she knew something the other survivors did not know about their situation.
One could say that Kate's time on the island was a means of replaying her life relationships. The island characters were substitutes for her failed relationships. If she was in a purgatory state, she would have had to resolve these relationship issues in order to move on with her life or after life.
Off the island, Kate was a runaway, a criminal, a siren who manipulated men to help her. She learned that her cuteness was a powerful tool to get her own way. Her childhood friend, Tom, was a perfect example of this character trait. She led him on, then caused him pain. We can see the same threads with her relationship with Sawyer. When Kate finally thought she could change and settle down, she married a policeman and started to live the suburban wife lifestyle. But she never resolved her problems, which put a strain on that relationship. When things were getting close, she panicked and fled. We can see the same story line in Kate's relationship with Jack.
Kate had a streak of sentimentality. She courted a gang of bank robbers to create a situation where she could go into a safety deposit box to get Tom's toy airplane. After using the gang leader, Jason, she discarded him because he had little value to her anymore. Kate's relationship with Locke was at the same level. Kate would use Locke to counterbalance her disagreements with Jack or Sawyer. He was a buffer to get what she wanted; and the end she also discarded Locke who died as a result. Her one true girlfriend in the series, who she confided in, was Cassidy (who happens to be Sawyer's baby mama). She was Kate's one person support group when things got dicey. On the island, Kate tried to be that supportive role to Claire, under the guise that if Kate could save Claire (rescue her and reunite her with Aaron) then Kate could redeem and save herself. But this was really a substitution for her failed relationship with her mother, for whom she tried to "save" by blowing up the house with her abusive father inside. If Kate had an island friend, it could be said it was Hurley because Hurley was everyone's pal. He would listen to her, and not judge her.
It is possible that Kate so badly burned the closest people in her life that she could never see them again in the after life. She got her friend Tom killed in a police chase. She destroyed her relationship with her mother, who turned Kate into the authorities. She killed her bank robber boyfriend in cold blood. And she abandoned her husband, Kevin. That is why those people were not part of Kate's "awakening" in the sideways after life.
So in order to get past the sideways purgatory, Kate needed to find substitute relationships that would last the passage into the after life. The island gave her the opportunity to amend her past faults, be less selfish, and to make new stronger bonds with people. This may be why many viewers did not like the Kate character. There was always a hidden motivation that they picked up on the screen. Kate's motivation was to bond with other lost souls in order to move forward.
A few people never trusted the Kate character. Their suspicions fall from the fact that Kate was not seen on the beach where the middle section of the plane was found (including Marshal Mars). She was found wandering the jungle, unhurt. There are a few explanations for this: one, she was in a daze and wandered off the beach, but that is unlikely; or two, she was already dead but in spiritual denial. Her eagerness to dive head first into any mission was based in part because she subconsciously knew it really did not matter. Her outward strength would forge new friendships with the other lost souls.
Just as her time on the island and O6 story arc was conflicted and unbelievable at times, Kate's awakening was also written haphazardly. A mental light bulb was turned on and everything was great. She couldn't have been "waiting for a long time" for Jack unless her (after life) wait began when she first saw Jack near the beach after the crash.
Kate's cold detachment could have been the result of her character going through this underworld passage before . . . and failing. If car crashes are symbolic of death, then Kate had several "death" story lines to come to terms with her personal failings. How did she suddenly become an expert jungle tracker, a marksman, a mission specialist, and survivalist? Just from being an Iowa tom-boy?
It was probably a good decision not to have Kate as the survivors leader. It would have created too many tangent story lines. And her likeability factor waxed and waned during the series. But the idea of Kate being a focal point does give us a possible path into the deep roots of the series premise and themes if the goal of each character was to find substitutes for failed relationships in order to take charge with one's after life.
Originally, Kate was written as an older woman traveling with her husband, whom she is separated from after he goes to the bathroom right before the crash. This idea was still employed, but with the characters of Rose and Bernard.
The first twist would have been having a strong willed woman and a doting husband dynamic in the beach camp. Would Kate's husband tried to change his personality to become more forceful? Would he object to Kate taking a leadership role? Would this have been the Jack and Locke dynamic?
The second aspect of this would have been whether the survivors would have accepted Kate as their leader. Certain cultures, such as Sayid's, would have objected to a woman in charge. Other men could have put on a macho behavior in order to make themselves seem more important (for self centered reasons such as corrupting limited resources).
The third aspect of this would have been altering the Sawyer love interest. If Kate had a husband on the island, she would not be available to use her "charms" on either Sawyer or Jack. If she did, it would cause more conflict in the beach camp because her betrayal of her husband would have negative consequences with the other camp members.
If Kate and her husband were to be the Rose and Bernard characters, it would have been hard to mesh a story to fit their personalities. Rose had accepted her fate. She would have rather be left alone than make decisions or lead missions. Bernard only wished to make Rose happy. They found that mutual happiness by going off on their own into the jungle as introverts.
There were a few aspects of Kate's actual characterization which could have confused the plot lines. Kate was involved in many car crashes in her flashbacks. Car crashes were symbolic for change or even the after life. Kate was one of two characters to have escaped the island twice (Frank being the other person, who was key in getting them rescued.) Either the island did not have a great pull on her, or she knew something the other survivors did not know about their situation.
One could say that Kate's time on the island was a means of replaying her life relationships. The island characters were substitutes for her failed relationships. If she was in a purgatory state, she would have had to resolve these relationship issues in order to move on with her life or after life.
Off the island, Kate was a runaway, a criminal, a siren who manipulated men to help her. She learned that her cuteness was a powerful tool to get her own way. Her childhood friend, Tom, was a perfect example of this character trait. She led him on, then caused him pain. We can see the same threads with her relationship with Sawyer. When Kate finally thought she could change and settle down, she married a policeman and started to live the suburban wife lifestyle. But she never resolved her problems, which put a strain on that relationship. When things were getting close, she panicked and fled. We can see the same story line in Kate's relationship with Jack.
Kate had a streak of sentimentality. She courted a gang of bank robbers to create a situation where she could go into a safety deposit box to get Tom's toy airplane. After using the gang leader, Jason, she discarded him because he had little value to her anymore. Kate's relationship with Locke was at the same level. Kate would use Locke to counterbalance her disagreements with Jack or Sawyer. He was a buffer to get what she wanted; and the end she also discarded Locke who died as a result. Her one true girlfriend in the series, who she confided in, was Cassidy (who happens to be Sawyer's baby mama). She was Kate's one person support group when things got dicey. On the island, Kate tried to be that supportive role to Claire, under the guise that if Kate could save Claire (rescue her and reunite her with Aaron) then Kate could redeem and save herself. But this was really a substitution for her failed relationship with her mother, for whom she tried to "save" by blowing up the house with her abusive father inside. If Kate had an island friend, it could be said it was Hurley because Hurley was everyone's pal. He would listen to her, and not judge her.
It is possible that Kate so badly burned the closest people in her life that she could never see them again in the after life. She got her friend Tom killed in a police chase. She destroyed her relationship with her mother, who turned Kate into the authorities. She killed her bank robber boyfriend in cold blood. And she abandoned her husband, Kevin. That is why those people were not part of Kate's "awakening" in the sideways after life.
So in order to get past the sideways purgatory, Kate needed to find substitute relationships that would last the passage into the after life. The island gave her the opportunity to amend her past faults, be less selfish, and to make new stronger bonds with people. This may be why many viewers did not like the Kate character. There was always a hidden motivation that they picked up on the screen. Kate's motivation was to bond with other lost souls in order to move forward.
A few people never trusted the Kate character. Their suspicions fall from the fact that Kate was not seen on the beach where the middle section of the plane was found (including Marshal Mars). She was found wandering the jungle, unhurt. There are a few explanations for this: one, she was in a daze and wandered off the beach, but that is unlikely; or two, she was already dead but in spiritual denial. Her eagerness to dive head first into any mission was based in part because she subconsciously knew it really did not matter. Her outward strength would forge new friendships with the other lost souls.
Just as her time on the island and O6 story arc was conflicted and unbelievable at times, Kate's awakening was also written haphazardly. A mental light bulb was turned on and everything was great. She couldn't have been "waiting for a long time" for Jack unless her (after life) wait began when she first saw Jack near the beach after the crash.
Kate's cold detachment could have been the result of her character going through this underworld passage before . . . and failing. If car crashes are symbolic of death, then Kate had several "death" story lines to come to terms with her personal failings. How did she suddenly become an expert jungle tracker, a marksman, a mission specialist, and survivalist? Just from being an Iowa tom-boy?
It was probably a good decision not to have Kate as the survivors leader. It would have created too many tangent story lines. And her likeability factor waxed and waned during the series. But the idea of Kate being a focal point does give us a possible path into the deep roots of the series premise and themes if the goal of each character was to find substitutes for failed relationships in order to take charge with one's after life.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
CHANGE OF THOUGHT
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
— Norman Vincent Peale
There was one point in the series were executives decided to pull back on a story line because they feared the audience would clearly believe that the whole series was all inside Hurley's head.
Hurley is involved in an accident in which a deck collapses as he steps onto it, killing two people. Even though there were too many people on the deck prior to his arrival, Hurley feels great guilt. He sinks into a depressive state, so his mother enters him into a psychiatric institution. There he creates an imaginary friend called "Dave" and meets Leonard Simms, a patient who keeps mumbling the numbers. Hurley's condition eventually improves; he leaves the institution and he resumes his job at a fast-food restaurant. He uses the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 in the lottery, and wins the jackpot of $114m. Hurley begins experiencing constant bad luck, and as his net worth increases, so does his bad luck. Hurley suspects the numbers he used to win the lottery are cursed, so visits the institution again to speak with Leonard He tells Hurley the man who could explain the mystery of the numbers, Sam Toomey, lives in Australia. Before Hurley can travel to Australia, his father returns to the family. He convinces Hurley to go to a psychic to cure his curse, but Hurley discovers his father has paid the psychic to lie. Once in Australia, Hurley visits Sam Toomey's wife who reveals that Sam was driven to suicide to escape his constant bad luck. Halfway through the return flight the plane hits turbulence splits in mid-air, crashing on an island in the South Pacific.
This is the basic foundation for Hurley. A young man who believes he is cursed by bad luck. He retreats from his curse by creating his own fantasy world as a protective barrier. Everything after the porch collapse could be his imagination. Everything. The mental hospital, Leonard, the doctors, staff, patients - - - everything, including his fast food work, his friendship with Johnny and the clerk, Starla, that he finally asks out but that relationship ends badly with his best friend stealing her away.
No matter how Hurley tries to create a fantasy world in his head, his mental processes always turn the tables on him like a conscious nightmare. So he adds more and more supernatural and magical elements to his thought processes in a complex labyrinth to hide from reality. All the characters we met on the series were created in Hurley's head.
In some way, all the action of the series centered around or through Hurley. But as some sort of self-preservation defense mechanism in his own brain, Hurley is never injured despite the island dangers. Even when he was kidnapped by the Others, they let him go back to the beach camp, where for no apparent reason, he did not tell the plane survivors of Jack, Sawyer or Kate's fate.
Another clue that everything was created in Hurley's head was the fact that the Numbers kept popping up in diverse circumstances. The Hatch door serial number. The Hatch countdown clock timer. The names of the Candidates. The lottery ticket. It is beyond coincidence. Those were Hurley's numbers. The numbers were the anchor for his mental issues.
We know that Hurley had a vivid imagination. He created "Dave," an imaginary friend who could physically push Hurley around. If Hurley created a Dave, who could have created the island and all the characters on it. He was a fan of complex and strange worlds like in Star Wars.
The further link to Hurley is that he was "special." He could see the mysterious Jacob. He could also talk to him. He would interact with ghosts. This could be a direct result of Hurley being "haunted" by the ghosts from the porch collapse. His guilt created a fantasy world to mentally punish him. He also saw visions of his "friends" throughout the series in odd situations, like Charlie, Claire, and Eko. He cannot tell whether Locke is real or a ghost when he is visited at the mental hospital.
Hurley was one not to freak out about his island situation. He was content to be in the background, friendly and laid back while the characters around him got the action. He was the man behind the curtain. He lived vicariously through his characters on the island stage.
Hurley could suffers from some form of delusional schizophrenia. He sees people, but he doesn't imagine events. Or Hurley suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. He is thus the same person as imaginary friend, Dave. Or Hurley could have a combination of disorders including depression to create a catatonic fantasy world where he could have been Dave, who was Libby's ex-husband, which would explain their hidden connection. Hurley's fantasies created a Dave-Libby relationship to test his curse so that his primary consciousness would "have a chance" with her. It sounds crazy, but in the course of Hurley's memories, he lost his first crush Starla to Johnny. It would be difficult to reverse the course of lost love when your cursed depression controls all your thoughts.
Hurley is aware that he has mental problems. He believes he is crazy, which in turn has resulted in several genuine mental instabilities, such as paranoia and hallucinations. Those may have been enhanced by the people he may have met in school, the porch party, or the mental institution.
Hurley also manipulated some structure and items during the series. It is believed that he found Jacob's cabin and then made it disappear. He is the one who created the flashbacks in island time in order to run away from dealing with his own personal fears or grief. Hurley created the Hurley Bird as a warning device to his imaginary friends. Hurley started an 20 year old abandoned VW van on shear "hope." The jungle whispers were all the characters in his head trying to get through to his consciousness. Hurley created Jacob and MIB and the Candidates game in order to determine whether he was worthy of trust and respect in his own mind. If he could convince himself that he was worthy, like Luke Skywalker, he could free himself of his curses.
It did happen. Hurley wound up as the last Candidate to be the Guardian. He succeeded against his fears to become the leader. Even though he was always in charge of the events, he was never in mental control of the events, until he claimed the guardianship.
This was a crossroad. It could be considered a "breakthrough" moment. Instead, Hurley created another fantasy world, one on the light side as compared to the island's dark side. In the sideways world he was successful, confident, and in love. He gathered his imaginary friends together in the church so they all could go on his next adventure. None of the people in the church were dead because they were never alive. They were all living in Hurley's head.
The odd principle for resolution of the LOST series was a concept of "awakening." Wake up from what? Hurley was the last person to enter the church. His breakthrough would be to awaken from his fantasy-vegetative state in order to live a normal life. But in the sideways fantasy world, Hurley does not have a normal life but embraces the unknown in a new phase of his fantasy world.
The theory that it was all in Hurley's head makes sense to explain away the continuity errors, the unsolved mysteries, the unanswered questions or the skewed plot lines. An immature adult with mental disorders does not create a perfect hidden world of make-believe characters without making mistakes because he does not know any better. It may not be a satisfying premise for most viewers.
There was one point in the series were executives decided to pull back on a story line because they feared the audience would clearly believe that the whole series was all inside Hurley's head.
Hurley is involved in an accident in which a deck collapses as he steps onto it, killing two people. Even though there were too many people on the deck prior to his arrival, Hurley feels great guilt. He sinks into a depressive state, so his mother enters him into a psychiatric institution. There he creates an imaginary friend called "Dave" and meets Leonard Simms, a patient who keeps mumbling the numbers. Hurley's condition eventually improves; he leaves the institution and he resumes his job at a fast-food restaurant. He uses the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 in the lottery, and wins the jackpot of $114m. Hurley begins experiencing constant bad luck, and as his net worth increases, so does his bad luck. Hurley suspects the numbers he used to win the lottery are cursed, so visits the institution again to speak with Leonard He tells Hurley the man who could explain the mystery of the numbers, Sam Toomey, lives in Australia. Before Hurley can travel to Australia, his father returns to the family. He convinces Hurley to go to a psychic to cure his curse, but Hurley discovers his father has paid the psychic to lie. Once in Australia, Hurley visits Sam Toomey's wife who reveals that Sam was driven to suicide to escape his constant bad luck. Halfway through the return flight the plane hits turbulence splits in mid-air, crashing on an island in the South Pacific.
This is the basic foundation for Hurley. A young man who believes he is cursed by bad luck. He retreats from his curse by creating his own fantasy world as a protective barrier. Everything after the porch collapse could be his imagination. Everything. The mental hospital, Leonard, the doctors, staff, patients - - - everything, including his fast food work, his friendship with Johnny and the clerk, Starla, that he finally asks out but that relationship ends badly with his best friend stealing her away.
No matter how Hurley tries to create a fantasy world in his head, his mental processes always turn the tables on him like a conscious nightmare. So he adds more and more supernatural and magical elements to his thought processes in a complex labyrinth to hide from reality. All the characters we met on the series were created in Hurley's head.
In some way, all the action of the series centered around or through Hurley. But as some sort of self-preservation defense mechanism in his own brain, Hurley is never injured despite the island dangers. Even when he was kidnapped by the Others, they let him go back to the beach camp, where for no apparent reason, he did not tell the plane survivors of Jack, Sawyer or Kate's fate.
Another clue that everything was created in Hurley's head was the fact that the Numbers kept popping up in diverse circumstances. The Hatch door serial number. The Hatch countdown clock timer. The names of the Candidates. The lottery ticket. It is beyond coincidence. Those were Hurley's numbers. The numbers were the anchor for his mental issues.
We know that Hurley had a vivid imagination. He created "Dave," an imaginary friend who could physically push Hurley around. If Hurley created a Dave, who could have created the island and all the characters on it. He was a fan of complex and strange worlds like in Star Wars.
The further link to Hurley is that he was "special." He could see the mysterious Jacob. He could also talk to him. He would interact with ghosts. This could be a direct result of Hurley being "haunted" by the ghosts from the porch collapse. His guilt created a fantasy world to mentally punish him. He also saw visions of his "friends" throughout the series in odd situations, like Charlie, Claire, and Eko. He cannot tell whether Locke is real or a ghost when he is visited at the mental hospital.
Hurley was one not to freak out about his island situation. He was content to be in the background, friendly and laid back while the characters around him got the action. He was the man behind the curtain. He lived vicariously through his characters on the island stage.
Hurley could suffers from some form of delusional schizophrenia. He sees people, but he doesn't imagine events. Or Hurley suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. He is thus the same person as imaginary friend, Dave. Or Hurley could have a combination of disorders including depression to create a catatonic fantasy world where he could have been Dave, who was Libby's ex-husband, which would explain their hidden connection. Hurley's fantasies created a Dave-Libby relationship to test his curse so that his primary consciousness would "have a chance" with her. It sounds crazy, but in the course of Hurley's memories, he lost his first crush Starla to Johnny. It would be difficult to reverse the course of lost love when your cursed depression controls all your thoughts.
Hurley is aware that he has mental problems. He believes he is crazy, which in turn has resulted in several genuine mental instabilities, such as paranoia and hallucinations. Those may have been enhanced by the people he may have met in school, the porch party, or the mental institution.
Hurley also manipulated some structure and items during the series. It is believed that he found Jacob's cabin and then made it disappear. He is the one who created the flashbacks in island time in order to run away from dealing with his own personal fears or grief. Hurley created the Hurley Bird as a warning device to his imaginary friends. Hurley started an 20 year old abandoned VW van on shear "hope." The jungle whispers were all the characters in his head trying to get through to his consciousness. Hurley created Jacob and MIB and the Candidates game in order to determine whether he was worthy of trust and respect in his own mind. If he could convince himself that he was worthy, like Luke Skywalker, he could free himself of his curses.
It did happen. Hurley wound up as the last Candidate to be the Guardian. He succeeded against his fears to become the leader. Even though he was always in charge of the events, he was never in mental control of the events, until he claimed the guardianship.
This was a crossroad. It could be considered a "breakthrough" moment. Instead, Hurley created another fantasy world, one on the light side as compared to the island's dark side. In the sideways world he was successful, confident, and in love. He gathered his imaginary friends together in the church so they all could go on his next adventure. None of the people in the church were dead because they were never alive. They were all living in Hurley's head.
The odd principle for resolution of the LOST series was a concept of "awakening." Wake up from what? Hurley was the last person to enter the church. His breakthrough would be to awaken from his fantasy-vegetative state in order to live a normal life. But in the sideways fantasy world, Hurley does not have a normal life but embraces the unknown in a new phase of his fantasy world.
The theory that it was all in Hurley's head makes sense to explain away the continuity errors, the unsolved mysteries, the unanswered questions or the skewed plot lines. An immature adult with mental disorders does not create a perfect hidden world of make-believe characters without making mistakes because he does not know any better. It may not be a satisfying premise for most viewers.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
CONNECT FOUR TO SHEPARD
Many people believe the LOST saga was the story of Jack. Jack coming to terms with his father issues, especially life and death leadership decisions. It seems to be a roundabout away of getting to that point, especially where all the characters wound up in the End.
But what if the story was not about Jack but Christian. Christian was the master of ceremonies at the End. Was it his connections that brought Jack to the End?
Christian had three significant encounters during the latter stages of his life.
First, he hired Ana Lucia to be his bodyguard to go to Australia to confront is daughter, Claire. It was through that short relationship with Ana Lucia where Christian began to deal with his own family issues as a wayward parent.
Second, when Christian tries to tell Claire that she is keeping her vegetative mother alive "for the wrong reasons" (guilt over causing the traffic accident), Claire is hostile towards Christian, severing any possible relationship with him.
Third, after a bad encounter and argument with Ana Lucia, Christian winds up in a bar where he meets Sawyer. They discuss Christian's strained relationship with his son. This is the last point where we see Christian alive. Later he is found dead of a heart attack/alcohol abuse.
We are led to believe that Christian was the first person out of these encounters to die. But what if that was not true. In the back stories of Ana, Claire and Sawyer, there were deadly encounters which could have caused their demise. Ana was shot in the stomach (while pregnant) as a police officer. She could have died from those wounds. Claire was in a serious traffic accident (while pregnant). She could have died from those wounds (as her mother did). Sawyer's father was distraught over financial ruin caused by a con man. He committed a family murder suicide (which in today's news often includes the entire family, including children). In the alternative, Sawyer's con artist past could have caught up with him via the double cross and he could have been killed by fellow criminals.
The idea that Ana, Claire and Sawyer predeceased Christian is important if you can fathom an angel theory. Just like Clarence in the film, It's a Wonderful Life, the angel had to come to earth to save someone in order "to get his wings." Since Hollywood rarely has a unique idea, it is possible that at one point Christian was the George Baily character, at his wit's end. Ana, Claire and Sawyer all had experience in broken families so they could understand Christian's issues with his son.
Christian's "reward" in the end of the series was to be reunited with Jack, and to go into the church and open the doors to cast the Light upon everyone in the church. Was this where Christian and the others "got their wings?"
There is a corollary to the angel angle; Ana, Claire and Sawyer were not devote moral role models. As such, they had insight and personal experience on the dark side which could be used to get straight forward Jack to see Christian's faults and understand them. It is the devil that knows you.
It is possible that Christian's "Australian" trip was much like the 815 flight: a passage into the underworld. He met people who were going to help him through the various levels of eternity (Ana, Claire and Sawyer). In turn, Christian's connections with those people allowed them to get back onto their own passage through the underworld. As a result, the lost souls of Ana, Claire and Sawyer got on Flight 815 to help Jack and the other departed souls. As Locke (possibly as MIB) told Shannon in the jungle that "everyone got a new life on the Island," and advised her to start hers, this is what Christian's connections began for Jack.
Each of the character connections helped Jack become a complete person. Ana brought in street toughness. Claire brought in venerability. Sawyer had cunning. Libby brought charity. Charlie brought sacrifice. Kate brought adventure. Hurley brought friendship. Locke brought faith. Bernard and Rose brought trust. Boone brought enthusiasm. Ben brought evil manipulation. Sayid brought punishment. Juliet brought caring. Shannon brought selfishness. Walt brought childhood wonder. Vincent brought comfort. Without all those elements, Jack could never become a complete person. Likewise, all the other characters needed to experience and understand those same elements in order to find their acceptance of fate, duty and their own deaths.
LOST was all about accepting one's ultimate fate: dying. The church in the End after death was the ultimate goal for all of the assembled characters. They were ready at that point to accept their deaths and move on into the after life, together.
Just as Christian's Australian trip was his "island journey," Christian returned the favor for Jack by creating key connections in the after life to allow Jack to awaken to his fate and join him in the church at the End. The benefit was that as a result, Jack was able to bring along many of these connections with him toward eternal happiness as complete beings.
But what if the story was not about Jack but Christian. Christian was the master of ceremonies at the End. Was it his connections that brought Jack to the End?
Christian had three significant encounters during the latter stages of his life.
First, he hired Ana Lucia to be his bodyguard to go to Australia to confront is daughter, Claire. It was through that short relationship with Ana Lucia where Christian began to deal with his own family issues as a wayward parent.
Second, when Christian tries to tell Claire that she is keeping her vegetative mother alive "for the wrong reasons" (guilt over causing the traffic accident), Claire is hostile towards Christian, severing any possible relationship with him.
Third, after a bad encounter and argument with Ana Lucia, Christian winds up in a bar where he meets Sawyer. They discuss Christian's strained relationship with his son. This is the last point where we see Christian alive. Later he is found dead of a heart attack/alcohol abuse.
We are led to believe that Christian was the first person out of these encounters to die. But what if that was not true. In the back stories of Ana, Claire and Sawyer, there were deadly encounters which could have caused their demise. Ana was shot in the stomach (while pregnant) as a police officer. She could have died from those wounds. Claire was in a serious traffic accident (while pregnant). She could have died from those wounds (as her mother did). Sawyer's father was distraught over financial ruin caused by a con man. He committed a family murder suicide (which in today's news often includes the entire family, including children). In the alternative, Sawyer's con artist past could have caught up with him via the double cross and he could have been killed by fellow criminals.
The idea that Ana, Claire and Sawyer predeceased Christian is important if you can fathom an angel theory. Just like Clarence in the film, It's a Wonderful Life, the angel had to come to earth to save someone in order "to get his wings." Since Hollywood rarely has a unique idea, it is possible that at one point Christian was the George Baily character, at his wit's end. Ana, Claire and Sawyer all had experience in broken families so they could understand Christian's issues with his son.
Christian's "reward" in the end of the series was to be reunited with Jack, and to go into the church and open the doors to cast the Light upon everyone in the church. Was this where Christian and the others "got their wings?"
There is a corollary to the angel angle; Ana, Claire and Sawyer were not devote moral role models. As such, they had insight and personal experience on the dark side which could be used to get straight forward Jack to see Christian's faults and understand them. It is the devil that knows you.
It is possible that Christian's "Australian" trip was much like the 815 flight: a passage into the underworld. He met people who were going to help him through the various levels of eternity (Ana, Claire and Sawyer). In turn, Christian's connections with those people allowed them to get back onto their own passage through the underworld. As a result, the lost souls of Ana, Claire and Sawyer got on Flight 815 to help Jack and the other departed souls. As Locke (possibly as MIB) told Shannon in the jungle that "everyone got a new life on the Island," and advised her to start hers, this is what Christian's connections began for Jack.
Each of the character connections helped Jack become a complete person. Ana brought in street toughness. Claire brought in venerability. Sawyer had cunning. Libby brought charity. Charlie brought sacrifice. Kate brought adventure. Hurley brought friendship. Locke brought faith. Bernard and Rose brought trust. Boone brought enthusiasm. Ben brought evil manipulation. Sayid brought punishment. Juliet brought caring. Shannon brought selfishness. Walt brought childhood wonder. Vincent brought comfort. Without all those elements, Jack could never become a complete person. Likewise, all the other characters needed to experience and understand those same elements in order to find their acceptance of fate, duty and their own deaths.
LOST was all about accepting one's ultimate fate: dying. The church in the End after death was the ultimate goal for all of the assembled characters. They were ready at that point to accept their deaths and move on into the after life, together.
Just as Christian's Australian trip was his "island journey," Christian returned the favor for Jack by creating key connections in the after life to allow Jack to awaken to his fate and join him in the church at the End. The benefit was that as a result, Jack was able to bring along many of these connections with him toward eternal happiness as complete beings.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
CARRY ON
A correspondent from Forbes magazine was at a Disney event last weekend.
The report was from Disney's D23 Expo. This is the Disney-centric expo version of comic-cons.
At the show, visitors got to see glimpses of new materials from Pixar, Disney Animation, Marvel Studios, and some of the upcoming live-action tent poles. Some stars made appearances, like Angelina Jolie, to plug her next movie, Maleficent, in which she plays the Sleeping Beauty villain in a film told from her point of view.
But the reporters' big news item from the expo was on J.J. Abrams’s upcoming summer 2015 tent pole Star Wars Episode 7. Visitors learned absolutely nothing about Star Wars Episode 7.
There was no title announcement, no casting confirmations, no teaser posters, nor any major acknowledgment behind ‘Yes, J.J. Abrams is still directing’ and “summer 2015′ is still the goal.
How refreshing. No spoilers. No news. Nothing.
It was a shock to the fanboy collective when Lucas sold his bounty to Disney. Disney is in the "franchise" business and Star Wars is an iconic franchise. The reboot has the entertainment industry on pins and needles. (Especially this summer when Hollywood' had a record number of blockbuster box office busts.)
There are two camps in regard to Abrams, the movie director. Younger audiences tend to like his Star Trek reboot. Older, original die hard Trek fans do not care for the Abrams version of the franchise. It overwrote much of the canon elements of the original series. So there is some unease when Abrams was tapped to make the seventh Star Wars installment.
In retrospect, there were very few spoilers in the LOST saga, in part due to its long story format and its disjointed segment sequences (flashbacks/real time/flash forwards) and its inability to answer deep questions without raising more mysteries. For example, even today, no one can definitively say what the smoke monster was, or what it truly represented.
The report was from Disney's D23 Expo. This is the Disney-centric expo version of comic-cons.
At the show, visitors got to see glimpses of new materials from Pixar, Disney Animation, Marvel Studios, and some of the upcoming live-action tent poles. Some stars made appearances, like Angelina Jolie, to plug her next movie, Maleficent, in which she plays the Sleeping Beauty villain in a film told from her point of view.
But the reporters' big news item from the expo was on J.J. Abrams’s upcoming summer 2015 tent pole Star Wars Episode 7. Visitors learned absolutely nothing about Star Wars Episode 7.
There was no title announcement, no casting confirmations, no teaser posters, nor any major acknowledgment behind ‘Yes, J.J. Abrams is still directing’ and “summer 2015′ is still the goal.
How refreshing. No spoilers. No news. Nothing.
It was a shock to the fanboy collective when Lucas sold his bounty to Disney. Disney is in the "franchise" business and Star Wars is an iconic franchise. The reboot has the entertainment industry on pins and needles. (Especially this summer when Hollywood' had a record number of blockbuster box office busts.)
There are two camps in regard to Abrams, the movie director. Younger audiences tend to like his Star Trek reboot. Older, original die hard Trek fans do not care for the Abrams version of the franchise. It overwrote much of the canon elements of the original series. So there is some unease when Abrams was tapped to make the seventh Star Wars installment.
In retrospect, there were very few spoilers in the LOST saga, in part due to its long story format and its disjointed segment sequences (flashbacks/real time/flash forwards) and its inability to answer deep questions without raising more mysteries. For example, even today, no one can definitively say what the smoke monster was, or what it truly represented.
Monday, August 12, 2013
THE FUTURE
There are only four more episodes of the sci-fi comedy Futurama left. This show did not take itself too seriously because it was a comedy. It had distinct characters. It also had core science fiction world standards that did not change from series to series. The show itself was canceled several times, but brought back to life on cable. In some respects, it was the little show that could. The future is coming to an end.
In relation to Futurama, LOST probably would have not made it if it started this year. There are plenty of science fiction, vampires, monsters and end of the world shows on television, but none of them have the cult following to get a canceled show back on the air. LOST started out with a high note because of the pilot episode - - - plane crash survivors on a mysterious island with monsters and a polar bear. Network television was a lull (just before its fragmentary viewership declines of today).
Around Season 4-5, I always thought that the rabid fan base would have had at least one person take the show and re-edit it into chronological order. Put all the flashbacks into place to see if the story structure made any clearer sense. Even today, there are fans who make Star Trek fan episodes. I thought one college student or underemployed person(s) would put LOST in a final fan show reel. But to my knowledge, no one ever did that.
It would have been more complicated by the insertion of the flash sideways story arc. That would have to be a separate, independent story.
But in the chronology of events, it seems that the sideways world as being the show's conclusion point was in the island's chronological future. The sideways characters were waiting for their characters to remember their island experiences in order to move on through purgatory. The sideways world was first shown in Season 6 so many assume that it was created at the end of Season 5 (when Juliet said "it worked.") Her passing into the after life at that moment helped create a non-traumatized fantasy world we called the sideways existence.
That would be one explanation. The other is that the sideways world was created first. Lost souls in the after life were given a chance to find new relationships and strong bonds needed to pass through their after life journey. The island was merely a test of departed souls a kin to traveling through the Egyptian underworld for judgment.
So, the options are that the survivors were alive on the island, but as people died they went to purgatory to create the sideways realm, waiting for their friends to join them (but somehow not remembering the island experiences at all). Or, the sideways world was created first by greater beings who sorted the lost souls into groups and put them on a spiritual island to allow them to learn, live and grow.
The latter seems to make more sense since all the characters "awakened" in the sideways world. There is no evidence that their physical forms left the sideways existence to the island. There is no parallel universe explanation for their feelings, thoughts or experiences from the island realm. The apparent end game of the series is to find a group of people close to you (the church reunion) so you can move on in the after life. The lost souls' future was molded by their pasts. Their pasts were recreated on the island so they could work through their personal issues. It was when they remembered the bad times as well as the good, did the souls reawaken in the sideways world. The island was a dream scape compared to the sideways world.
But then again, we have no clue what the real future of the characters was going to be after Christian opened the church doors. Would their memories get erased again? Would they be transported to heaven or hell? Would they go to another spiritual plane of existence to continue to work on their personal problems?
They would not have gone back to the island like Groundhog Day. In the sideways world, when the plane did not crash, we saw a glimpse of the island under water. It was gone. It's purpose complete.
In relation to Futurama, LOST probably would have not made it if it started this year. There are plenty of science fiction, vampires, monsters and end of the world shows on television, but none of them have the cult following to get a canceled show back on the air. LOST started out with a high note because of the pilot episode - - - plane crash survivors on a mysterious island with monsters and a polar bear. Network television was a lull (just before its fragmentary viewership declines of today).
Around Season 4-5, I always thought that the rabid fan base would have had at least one person take the show and re-edit it into chronological order. Put all the flashbacks into place to see if the story structure made any clearer sense. Even today, there are fans who make Star Trek fan episodes. I thought one college student or underemployed person(s) would put LOST in a final fan show reel. But to my knowledge, no one ever did that.
It would have been more complicated by the insertion of the flash sideways story arc. That would have to be a separate, independent story.
But in the chronology of events, it seems that the sideways world as being the show's conclusion point was in the island's chronological future. The sideways characters were waiting for their characters to remember their island experiences in order to move on through purgatory. The sideways world was first shown in Season 6 so many assume that it was created at the end of Season 5 (when Juliet said "it worked.") Her passing into the after life at that moment helped create a non-traumatized fantasy world we called the sideways existence.
That would be one explanation. The other is that the sideways world was created first. Lost souls in the after life were given a chance to find new relationships and strong bonds needed to pass through their after life journey. The island was merely a test of departed souls a kin to traveling through the Egyptian underworld for judgment.
So, the options are that the survivors were alive on the island, but as people died they went to purgatory to create the sideways realm, waiting for their friends to join them (but somehow not remembering the island experiences at all). Or, the sideways world was created first by greater beings who sorted the lost souls into groups and put them on a spiritual island to allow them to learn, live and grow.
The latter seems to make more sense since all the characters "awakened" in the sideways world. There is no evidence that their physical forms left the sideways existence to the island. There is no parallel universe explanation for their feelings, thoughts or experiences from the island realm. The apparent end game of the series is to find a group of people close to you (the church reunion) so you can move on in the after life. The lost souls' future was molded by their pasts. Their pasts were recreated on the island so they could work through their personal issues. It was when they remembered the bad times as well as the good, did the souls reawaken in the sideways world. The island was a dream scape compared to the sideways world.
But then again, we have no clue what the real future of the characters was going to be after Christian opened the church doors. Would their memories get erased again? Would they be transported to heaven or hell? Would they go to another spiritual plane of existence to continue to work on their personal problems?
They would not have gone back to the island like Groundhog Day. In the sideways world, when the plane did not crash, we saw a glimpse of the island under water. It was gone. It's purpose complete.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
THE CALL FOR HELP
We know the numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) were representations of Jacob's candidates who were to be the next island guardian. But as the series started to wind down, and the numbers were being clarified to the viewers, there was one strange twist that is often overlooked by us.
When Hurley and Jack were sent to the lighthouse, Jacob told Hurley to set the lighthouse dial to 108.
The dial read:
108 - Wallace
This person whose name was also written on the cave wall. But angry Jack smashed the mirrors before Hurley could set the dial to 108. Jack smashed the lighthouse mirrors because he saw that it was a machine that spied on him throughout his life. He was angry that he had been secretly chosen to crash land on this island. It was through the lighthouse that Jacob found his candidates and brought them to the island.
This scene opens the possibility that Jacob had "given up" on the current castaways as his successor. He may have needed the lighthouse mirrors to project his image or spirit into the real world to contact "or touch" Wallace and bring him/her back to the island.
But since Jack broke the lighthouse, Jacob could not call another wave a cavalry candidates to his aid. He was stuck with the 815ers. That is why later on Jacob told Hurley that moping Jack "had to figure things out himself." That thing was an acknowledgement that at some point Jack would have to sacrifice himself for the benefit of his friends. There was miracle fix for his situation.
Who could this Wallace be?
Philosopher Robert Wallace is well known for his fascination with numerology, and had a famous connection to Hume, another famous philosopher whose name Desmond shares. Wallace may not be a specific person but it is likely at least a reference to the philosopher, as the show does like to give its characters the same names as famous philosophers (Hume, Rousseau, Locke, etc.)
Wallace, named after a economist, could have been The Economist that Sayid assassinated on the golf course. Sayid was told that there were men who killed worked for Widmore and who were involved in Nadia's death. Then the name would have been scratched off before Hurley was to set the lighthouse (unless it was going to show Sayid's action to warn Jack that Sayid was now evil.)
It is more likely that it was a new candidate which never made it to the island. Someone that Jacob needed to call and bring to the island because he was running out of viable candidates to defeat MIB. It was possible that since Jacob's demise, he could no longer operate the lighthouse in the flesh, so he needed Jack or Hurley to call the new candidate to the island.
The call for reinforcements would show that whatever was happening on the island, Jacob feared that he was losing control of the situation. Though we are never told the actual outcome of MIB leaving the island, we are led to believe that the consequences would be dire to all mankind.
Or Wallace could have been a clue to premise of the series.
The novel, A Wrinkle in Time, was seen on the program. Charles Wallace was a character in that series of children's books. He was a psychic child in stories about time/space travel, changing the past, series of "might-have-been" events, turning point events battles between the powers of good and evil, a large evil cloud called The Black Thing (in the movie, The Darkness) and an evil intelligence called IT who controls people's minds.
These are the same themes running through the LOST saga. Walt was a psychic child who longed to change his past. The Black Thing is the smoke monster. An evil intelligence (Dharma, Ben, Jacob) controlled or manipulated characters' minds. The white and dark stones were supposed to symbolize some conflict between Jacob and MIB.
When Hurley and Jack were sent to the lighthouse, Jacob told Hurley to set the lighthouse dial to 108.
The dial read:
108 - Wallace
This person whose name was also written on the cave wall. But angry Jack smashed the mirrors before Hurley could set the dial to 108. Jack smashed the lighthouse mirrors because he saw that it was a machine that spied on him throughout his life. He was angry that he had been secretly chosen to crash land on this island. It was through the lighthouse that Jacob found his candidates and brought them to the island.
This scene opens the possibility that Jacob had "given up" on the current castaways as his successor. He may have needed the lighthouse mirrors to project his image or spirit into the real world to contact "or touch" Wallace and bring him/her back to the island.
But since Jack broke the lighthouse, Jacob could not call another wave a cavalry candidates to his aid. He was stuck with the 815ers. That is why later on Jacob told Hurley that moping Jack "had to figure things out himself." That thing was an acknowledgement that at some point Jack would have to sacrifice himself for the benefit of his friends. There was miracle fix for his situation.
Who could this Wallace be?
Philosopher Robert Wallace is well known for his fascination with numerology, and had a famous connection to Hume, another famous philosopher whose name Desmond shares. Wallace may not be a specific person but it is likely at least a reference to the philosopher, as the show does like to give its characters the same names as famous philosophers (Hume, Rousseau, Locke, etc.)
Wallace, named after a economist, could have been The Economist that Sayid assassinated on the golf course. Sayid was told that there were men who killed worked for Widmore and who were involved in Nadia's death. Then the name would have been scratched off before Hurley was to set the lighthouse (unless it was going to show Sayid's action to warn Jack that Sayid was now evil.)
It is more likely that it was a new candidate which never made it to the island. Someone that Jacob needed to call and bring to the island because he was running out of viable candidates to defeat MIB. It was possible that since Jacob's demise, he could no longer operate the lighthouse in the flesh, so he needed Jack or Hurley to call the new candidate to the island.
The call for reinforcements would show that whatever was happening on the island, Jacob feared that he was losing control of the situation. Though we are never told the actual outcome of MIB leaving the island, we are led to believe that the consequences would be dire to all mankind.
Or Wallace could have been a clue to premise of the series.
The novel, A Wrinkle in Time, was seen on the program. Charles Wallace was a character in that series of children's books. He was a psychic child in stories about time/space travel, changing the past, series of "might-have-been" events, turning point events battles between the powers of good and evil, a large evil cloud called The Black Thing (in the movie, The Darkness) and an evil intelligence called IT who controls people's minds.
These are the same themes running through the LOST saga. Walt was a psychic child who longed to change his past. The Black Thing is the smoke monster. An evil intelligence (Dharma, Ben, Jacob) controlled or manipulated characters' minds. The white and dark stones were supposed to symbolize some conflict between Jacob and MIB.
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