"At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one's lost self." --- Brendan Francis
As I have stated previously, the characters in LOST all were deeply lonely individuals.
Jack is an example of the disjointed loneliness. As his consciousness dies in the bamboo thicket, his subconscious is entering the back door of the church, to be joined back into one self (soul).
Friday, May 28, 2010
S6E17 LIGHT CAVE LESSON
What were the series creators trying to tell us in their story? What were the lessons we were supposed to glean from their tale?
The light cave where Desmond pulled out the stone stopper, and where Jack replaced it was the heart of the island. This cave is the center of the LOST mythology and end game.
When the stopper was pulled out, the light source was turned off; evil was released (island began to have earthquakes); and the supernatural turned natural (Flocke into human form).
Likewise, when the stopper plugged the hole, the light source was turned back on; evil was trapped; so did the natural turn into supernatural(?)
The light was explained as being in everyone (is is "life, death, and rebirth.") The writers are referring to a universal soul concept, where everyone is connected by one giant life force.
However, we know from experience that darkness, evil is also in everyone. So why was there a need for a stone stopper on the island to keep evil at bay?
Once the evil was released, it appears to "consume" all the light (soul). It would turn everyone evil. As Flocke complained, it would take away "humanity."
So the lesson is that humanity is the balance between light and dark.
The light cave where Desmond pulled out the stone stopper, and where Jack replaced it was the heart of the island. This cave is the center of the LOST mythology and end game.
When the stopper was pulled out, the light source was turned off; evil was released (island began to have earthquakes); and the supernatural turned natural (Flocke into human form).
Likewise, when the stopper plugged the hole, the light source was turned back on; evil was trapped; so did the natural turn into supernatural(?)
The light was explained as being in everyone (is is "life, death, and rebirth.") The writers are referring to a universal soul concept, where everyone is connected by one giant life force.
However, we know from experience that darkness, evil is also in everyone. So why was there a need for a stone stopper on the island to keep evil at bay?
Once the evil was released, it appears to "consume" all the light (soul). It would turn everyone evil. As Flocke complained, it would take away "humanity."
So the lesson is that humanity is the balance between light and dark.
S6E17 HUMANITY LESSON
What were the series creators trying to tell us in their story? What were the lessons we were supposed to glean from their tale?
Throughout the series, viewers were aghast at the total lack of communication between characters. Their ability not to ask basic questions of their colleagues after harrowing missions. It was quite frustrating to have no character demand answers.
Maybe everyone was dumb, dumber and dumber still.
People marched across the island multiple times with no clue on what they were doing. Putting a total plan together was quite the hard mental labor for most. And even if you had some one with a spark of a master mind (example, Ben), his plans normally blew up in ways he did not expect himself.
The real test of human intelligence came at the end. Flocke wants to find Desmond to use his "special properties" to destroy the island. How Desmond would actually be used to destroy the island is totally unknown. At the same time, Jack wants to take Desmond to the same place to "save" the island. One what basis of information? Jack does not have a clue. He does not even have a hunch. The problem solving of the characters lacked any common sense. It is arrogant assumption that is presented as intelligent fact by the characters.
So Flocke and Jack both work together to lower Desmond down the cave, not knowing what, if anything, was going to happen or why. It is not as bad as giving a teenager $1000, keys to a superfast sports car, and an errand to go pick up a six-pack of beer and some smokes at the local convenience store.
And when Desmond gets to the cave chamber, he has no clue what to do. So he uncorks the island. The light source goes away, and the evil heat and earthquakes start to tear the island a part. It took a while for them to realize that Desmond's action was a push. It did not save or destroy the island. The magic that was Flocke turned into human form. By releasing the evil contained in under the island, it allowed the evil smoke monster to take on human form so Flocke could be killed. (It is illogical that a release of more evil energy on an evil being would cause it change into a tame human being; unless the lesson is that all humans are evil.)
When Jack returns to the cave, he does not know what Desmond did, but has to go back to fix things. Everyone assumes electromagnetic man (Dez) is dead. Jack saves him and puts back the cork in the chamber. The light returns, the water returns, and in the end Jack is expelled from the cave like Jacob's brother (who was dead). But Jack is not quite dead, and he stumbles to the place of beginning to pass on, not knowing whether anything he did worked. The theme of shooting off the hip first and asking questions learning answers later came full cycle.
The characters never asked enough questions to make intelligent choices. Irrational behavior controlled logic. It is an indictment of sorts on the state of modern man. When modern man is stripped away of his tools, he does not revert back to alpha predator with keen instincts, but a bumbling yokel whose only saving grace is luck. The series did not show educated, modern, men and women in intellectually sound decision making moments. Rash decisions were the norm. Failure was always the first option.
Throughout the series, viewers were aghast at the total lack of communication between characters. Their ability not to ask basic questions of their colleagues after harrowing missions. It was quite frustrating to have no character demand answers.
Maybe everyone was dumb, dumber and dumber still.
People marched across the island multiple times with no clue on what they were doing. Putting a total plan together was quite the hard mental labor for most. And even if you had some one with a spark of a master mind (example, Ben), his plans normally blew up in ways he did not expect himself.
The real test of human intelligence came at the end. Flocke wants to find Desmond to use his "special properties" to destroy the island. How Desmond would actually be used to destroy the island is totally unknown. At the same time, Jack wants to take Desmond to the same place to "save" the island. One what basis of information? Jack does not have a clue. He does not even have a hunch. The problem solving of the characters lacked any common sense. It is arrogant assumption that is presented as intelligent fact by the characters.
So Flocke and Jack both work together to lower Desmond down the cave, not knowing what, if anything, was going to happen or why. It is not as bad as giving a teenager $1000, keys to a superfast sports car, and an errand to go pick up a six-pack of beer and some smokes at the local convenience store.
And when Desmond gets to the cave chamber, he has no clue what to do. So he uncorks the island. The light source goes away, and the evil heat and earthquakes start to tear the island a part. It took a while for them to realize that Desmond's action was a push. It did not save or destroy the island. The magic that was Flocke turned into human form. By releasing the evil contained in under the island, it allowed the evil smoke monster to take on human form so Flocke could be killed. (It is illogical that a release of more evil energy on an evil being would cause it change into a tame human being; unless the lesson is that all humans are evil.)
When Jack returns to the cave, he does not know what Desmond did, but has to go back to fix things. Everyone assumes electromagnetic man (Dez) is dead. Jack saves him and puts back the cork in the chamber. The light returns, the water returns, and in the end Jack is expelled from the cave like Jacob's brother (who was dead). But Jack is not quite dead, and he stumbles to the place of beginning to pass on, not knowing whether anything he did worked. The theme of shooting off the hip first and asking questions learning answers later came full cycle.
The characters never asked enough questions to make intelligent choices. Irrational behavior controlled logic. It is an indictment of sorts on the state of modern man. When modern man is stripped away of his tools, he does not revert back to alpha predator with keen instincts, but a bumbling yokel whose only saving grace is luck. The series did not show educated, modern, men and women in intellectually sound decision making moments. Rash decisions were the norm. Failure was always the first option.
S6E17 TIME LESSON
What were the series creators trying to tell us in their story? What were the lessons we were supposed to glean from their tale?
In regard to the concept of time, probably an ancient philosophy over the modern industrial view. Ancient Greek and Roman thinkers believed that time itself was an illusion. Nature, and man being part of it, were part of seasonal cycles. The whole world was geared to cycles: seasons, tidal, celestial calendars that covered 24,000 year periods (which accuracy confirmed by modern computers). Ancient inventors made water clocks which help predict the star patterns and astrological events. The people of that time lived in the "now."
Only slackers, casinos and opium dens have need for just living in "the now" rather than being connected to other working individuals in society.
It was only when industrialization and railroad companies brought in "time zones," a division of the country into hour blocks in order to more efficiently move passengers and freight to long distance destinations. Time became a mathematical formula of set hours and minutes that was disconnected to the past agricultural sun dial observations. The mathematical time evolved into our normal cultural concept of linear time lines. Daily lives are now controlled by the hourly blocks of time. In fact, in some sense, we are slaves to time periods just as Desmond was a slave to imputing the Numbers into the Hatch computer.
In the sideways world, Christian tells Jack that there is "no past, present or future" only "now." Everyone in that existence was dead. Souls have no need for linear time frames. They are eternal.
The island was sort of a time transition zone. Once the 815ers arrived, no one really counted the days that they were stranded on the beach. The only key element of time was 108 minutes. After that element was eliminated, time became a logical illusion when people began to "skip" across different decades at random until the FDW was turned a second time. The true meaning of time may be that it is all in your head. That life is a cycle but you perceive your living time as an illusion.
In regard to the concept of time, probably an ancient philosophy over the modern industrial view. Ancient Greek and Roman thinkers believed that time itself was an illusion. Nature, and man being part of it, were part of seasonal cycles. The whole world was geared to cycles: seasons, tidal, celestial calendars that covered 24,000 year periods (which accuracy confirmed by modern computers). Ancient inventors made water clocks which help predict the star patterns and astrological events. The people of that time lived in the "now."
Only slackers, casinos and opium dens have need for just living in "the now" rather than being connected to other working individuals in society.
It was only when industrialization and railroad companies brought in "time zones," a division of the country into hour blocks in order to more efficiently move passengers and freight to long distance destinations. Time became a mathematical formula of set hours and minutes that was disconnected to the past agricultural sun dial observations. The mathematical time evolved into our normal cultural concept of linear time lines. Daily lives are now controlled by the hourly blocks of time. In fact, in some sense, we are slaves to time periods just as Desmond was a slave to imputing the Numbers into the Hatch computer.
In the sideways world, Christian tells Jack that there is "no past, present or future" only "now." Everyone in that existence was dead. Souls have no need for linear time frames. They are eternal.
The island was sort of a time transition zone. Once the 815ers arrived, no one really counted the days that they were stranded on the beach. The only key element of time was 108 minutes. After that element was eliminated, time became a logical illusion when people began to "skip" across different decades at random until the FDW was turned a second time. The true meaning of time may be that it is all in your head. That life is a cycle but you perceive your living time as an illusion.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
S6E17 WHAT IS THE LIGHT CAVE?
If the island is a cork that keeps evil inside the bottle called the universe, then we saw Jack lift and replace the stopper in the Light Cave. This cave looked like a ancient chamber. And upon closer examination of the stone stopper, there were hieroglyphs on it!When the stone stopper in the chamber was removed, the water was absorbed (the light vanished) and we saw a fire and brimstone glow from the opening, with massive island wide earthquakes. Once the stopper was removed, Flocke was suddenly human again as if the magic spell of being an immortal smoke monster had been lifted. The light was the supernatural magic? The evil red fire actually consumes the light when released from the cave stopper?
During this earthquake period, Jack defeated Flocke with the help of Kate, thereby ending the saga of Jacob and his brother, who was created by his body floating into the cave of light after Jacob beat (killed?) him. The smoke monster was called the evil incarnate. If the light was the symbol for life, then the red lava fire must have been the symbol for death. If not bottled up, evil would consume all that is good, including life itself.
But this light cave chamber opens up another very hidden mystery. Besides the fact that TPTB put hieroglyphs on the actual stopper when there was no reason to, the translation really adds more questions:
BURY MY ENEMY
(Alternatively: Bury My Criminal, Traitor, or Prisoner)
Who or what is buried under the stopper?
Who or what put that person/thing underground?
Did the burial of the evil enemy create the Light Source, which is a part of everyone? If so, then the island light predates CrazyMom who raised Jacob and MIB.
S6E17 LIVE ALONE DIE TOGETHER
In some unexplained way, the main characters in Season 1 made a subconscious psychic bond between themselves which created the sideways (fantasy) world, where their conscious souls after death could wait (in a timeless place of just constructed memories and dreams) until everyone had died and their full consciousness would be "awakened" by island memories.
This was done because the island time was the most important time of their real lives, according to Christian. They made a subconscious pact to not live together, but to die together.
If Christian's statement is true, it really means that our beloved characters had really sub-par to crappy real lives. Loneliness appears to be the largest theme of the show that was lurking in the shadows of every story line.
Why was the island time the "most" important to each character?
Locke: But for Jacob's life giving touch, he would have died a lonely and bitter man after his father pushed him out a high rise window. On the island, he found his first real purpose in life, to protect it. To be the person he wanted to be. But when he was murdered by Ben, all of Locke's aspirations had turned into pitiful loneliness and despair.
Jack: Jack had the job, social skills and status to have a fulfilling life as a California spinal surgeon. Jacob's touch accelerated Jack going off the rails by amplifying his unresolved father issues and personal faults. It is hard to see how his surgical miracles, colleagues and fulfilling career helping other people was nominal in relation to his eventual island sacrifice.
Kate: Jacob's touch actually kept tom boy Kate on the path of rebellious crime as a loner on the run. The cumulative acts of anti-social behavior were set aside when she landed in the island. She could truly start over fresh, and the castaways could see her real self hidden underneath all of her past emotional baggage.
Sayid: Once he left the island, Sayid would have had his desired life with Nadia. Jacob's intervention caused Sayid to lose his one true love, and let his dark side fully control his soul. The island experience was not Sayid's most important time in his life, it was his worst. None of his friends could save him.
Shannon: Shannon was killed on the island by accident. She was a self-centered, rich girl with a conscious disrespect for other people. She made no real difference on the island except for eye candy and Sayid's short term pillow. If this was the peak of her life, she really had a sad life. And why Sayid turned out to be her soul mate in the afterlife is marginalizing Sayid's longer term relationship with Nadia.
Bernard and Rose: The only thing the island brought this couple was peace. Their relationship was the same before the crash as it was after the crash. The other people on the island may have been interesting, kooky, and dangerous, but they felt no strong bonds once they decided "retirement rules" ("we don't get involved.") In fact, they butted heads with the group's leaders more often than not. Why they needed to move on with all of the other main characters appears to be unnecessary. (Yes, the inference is that they stayed on the island with Hurley during his guardianship and could have grown closer in nostalgic memory.)
Charlie: He died on the island trying to save Claire and Aaron, the only "family" unit he ever led.
His death was partially in vane because it was not Penny's boat. But one could see from ghost Charlie's interactions with Hurley, that the island bonds were strong in Charlie, who otherwise would have probably died a lonely, washed up guitar player drug addict.
Claire: One would think that her bonds with her mother and her sister in Australia would have been stronger than her eventual zombie brain death island existence. She had mentally given up her baby to be raised by another, which haunted her for most of her time on the island. We don't know what happened after she left, but we presume she re-bonded with Aaron.
Aaron: He is the person in the church that makes the least sense. The re-birth was used in the sideways world fiction in order to awaken Claire, Kate and Charlie so they could understand that they were dead and waiting with their island friends, the most important people and time of their lives, to move on together. Everyone in the church was dead. That includes new born Aaron. Why? He had no other life except for the island connections (most of people there he had no real contact with). Did Claire's return to him at age 3 scar the young boy with a "crazy" mother and the guilt that his birth caused her a lifetime of pain so when he died, his only happy moment was his infancy? That is really depressing at every level.
Jin and Sun: The island's other couple found themselves totally committed to each other after a long period of separation and loneliness. The island would have been the peak of their emotional bond to each other, especially in death. It is odd though, that their daughter plays no role in their moving on, while Aaron does for Claire.
Boone: He died on the island by trying to be some one he was not; he tried to break away to be someone different just like Locke. He did teach Jack that some times, you just have to let things go. Yet, it is hard to figure that a successful young man's most important part of his life was dying in an accident on the island. Or why the people in the church (except Shannon) were the most important people in his life. Was he totally devoid of friends in the real world?
Juliet: Her closest bond in the world was with her sister. There is no denying that fact. Her relationships with men was spotty at best. Her entire time on the island was focused on getting back to help her sister. She never got the chance to do that. She was a prisoner on the island, so how that negative emotion made her bond with the islanders over her own family is strange. She had many failed relationships on the island: Ben, Goodwin, the Dharma folks, Jack and Sawyer. In the end, she chose the time skip fantasy life with Sawyer.
Sawyer: He apparently leaves the island. We do not know whether he re-connects with Cassiday and his daughter (probably not). We do not think he joins up with Kate, because they are not together in the church. He had a lonely existence after his parents were killed, and his single minded revenge motivation for his life ended with the island. So, it is possible that Sawyer's life peaked with his island adventure.
Desmond and Penny: This is the problematic off-island couple. Their relationship had little to do with the island connections. In fact, it flourished outside the island. They had a child, little Charlie, who would have been the centerpiece of their strong family ties. This family unit would not have needed the other characters to move on. Penny had no deep attachment to anyone except Desmond. Like Jin & Sun, it is odd that Desmond's son was not part of the departure if these characters were waiting for the most important people in their lives to die and join them in the crossing over to eternity.
Libby: She is like Penny in some ways. Her only true connection with the island as being important in her life was her short relationship with Hurley. The unexplained and troubling aspect of Libby's story was that she was in the same mental hospital as Hurley, in the same day room. But Hurley never recognized her on the island. Now, Libby died on the island which left Hurley with a deep emotional void. And if Hurley remained the island guardian for a long period of time (as most people believe), Hurley had no special relationship in his entire life except for Libby.
Hurley: We can see why the island time was the most important for Hurley. People came to accept him for himself. They were not out to use him for his money. They were not shutting him out of their plans. He turned from introvert to extrovert; from follower to leader. A great deal of personal growth and responsibility happened as a direct result of his island time.
CONCLUSION: It appears the writers gave us a gallery of extremely lonely and troubled individuals whose high water mark in the real lives was the survival of a plane crash on a mysterious supernatural island. But the rationale for the gathering is inconsistent from character to character. Now, a few commentators have surmised that the sideways world was the construction solely for Jack; that this was Jack's purgatory - - - coming over party. That the other characters would have their own church reunions with other souls (such as being invited to multiple friends weddings over the course of your lifetime). If that is the case, why would the non-Jack characters have to be "awakened" in order to "move on." Moving on seems to be a singular event for all the characters sitting in the church pews.
SIDE NOTE: One of the perplexing aspects of the final scene was Christian's role. He was there to awaken his son. He said his friends had created this place so they could move on together. That infers that people can move on without an elaborate sideways world. Had Christian already "moved on" himself? We were told that Christian was not on the island; that his image was that of the smoke monster.
But Christian seemed to know more than he let on during that final scene. His appearance to Jack came from the direction of the church. He brought Jack to the main room. He was the one who walked down the aisle, between the two angel statues, and opened the doors to flood the room with white light (the final act of these souls moving to the next plane of existence). I had the sneaky suspicion that it was Christian who could have constructed this sideways world to help his son shed his guilt and unfinished business that tied down his soul so he could move on in peace. Of all the people in the church, Christian was the first person in the Lost saga to actually die in the real world. So he would be the only person who could have gathered the souls of his son's friends as they passed on (guardian angel style).
MORAL OF THE STORY: Jack's first island leadership speech to keep the survivors from falling a part was that they needed to "Live Together, or We'd Die Alone." Without a community effort, working together, no one would live. But even in this context of community, each character was still living alone, in some state of loneliness. However, the reward in the end was that the characters got to die together.
This was done because the island time was the most important time of their real lives, according to Christian. They made a subconscious pact to not live together, but to die together.
If Christian's statement is true, it really means that our beloved characters had really sub-par to crappy real lives. Loneliness appears to be the largest theme of the show that was lurking in the shadows of every story line.
Why was the island time the "most" important to each character?
Locke: But for Jacob's life giving touch, he would have died a lonely and bitter man after his father pushed him out a high rise window. On the island, he found his first real purpose in life, to protect it. To be the person he wanted to be. But when he was murdered by Ben, all of Locke's aspirations had turned into pitiful loneliness and despair.
Jack: Jack had the job, social skills and status to have a fulfilling life as a California spinal surgeon. Jacob's touch accelerated Jack going off the rails by amplifying his unresolved father issues and personal faults. It is hard to see how his surgical miracles, colleagues and fulfilling career helping other people was nominal in relation to his eventual island sacrifice.
Kate: Jacob's touch actually kept tom boy Kate on the path of rebellious crime as a loner on the run. The cumulative acts of anti-social behavior were set aside when she landed in the island. She could truly start over fresh, and the castaways could see her real self hidden underneath all of her past emotional baggage.
Sayid: Once he left the island, Sayid would have had his desired life with Nadia. Jacob's intervention caused Sayid to lose his one true love, and let his dark side fully control his soul. The island experience was not Sayid's most important time in his life, it was his worst. None of his friends could save him.
Shannon: Shannon was killed on the island by accident. She was a self-centered, rich girl with a conscious disrespect for other people. She made no real difference on the island except for eye candy and Sayid's short term pillow. If this was the peak of her life, she really had a sad life. And why Sayid turned out to be her soul mate in the afterlife is marginalizing Sayid's longer term relationship with Nadia.
Bernard and Rose: The only thing the island brought this couple was peace. Their relationship was the same before the crash as it was after the crash. The other people on the island may have been interesting, kooky, and dangerous, but they felt no strong bonds once they decided "retirement rules" ("we don't get involved.") In fact, they butted heads with the group's leaders more often than not. Why they needed to move on with all of the other main characters appears to be unnecessary. (Yes, the inference is that they stayed on the island with Hurley during his guardianship and could have grown closer in nostalgic memory.)
Charlie: He died on the island trying to save Claire and Aaron, the only "family" unit he ever led.
His death was partially in vane because it was not Penny's boat. But one could see from ghost Charlie's interactions with Hurley, that the island bonds were strong in Charlie, who otherwise would have probably died a lonely, washed up guitar player drug addict.
Claire: One would think that her bonds with her mother and her sister in Australia would have been stronger than her eventual zombie brain death island existence. She had mentally given up her baby to be raised by another, which haunted her for most of her time on the island. We don't know what happened after she left, but we presume she re-bonded with Aaron.
Aaron: He is the person in the church that makes the least sense. The re-birth was used in the sideways world fiction in order to awaken Claire, Kate and Charlie so they could understand that they were dead and waiting with their island friends, the most important people and time of their lives, to move on together. Everyone in the church was dead. That includes new born Aaron. Why? He had no other life except for the island connections (most of people there he had no real contact with). Did Claire's return to him at age 3 scar the young boy with a "crazy" mother and the guilt that his birth caused her a lifetime of pain so when he died, his only happy moment was his infancy? That is really depressing at every level.
Jin and Sun: The island's other couple found themselves totally committed to each other after a long period of separation and loneliness. The island would have been the peak of their emotional bond to each other, especially in death. It is odd though, that their daughter plays no role in their moving on, while Aaron does for Claire.
Boone: He died on the island by trying to be some one he was not; he tried to break away to be someone different just like Locke. He did teach Jack that some times, you just have to let things go. Yet, it is hard to figure that a successful young man's most important part of his life was dying in an accident on the island. Or why the people in the church (except Shannon) were the most important people in his life. Was he totally devoid of friends in the real world?
Juliet: Her closest bond in the world was with her sister. There is no denying that fact. Her relationships with men was spotty at best. Her entire time on the island was focused on getting back to help her sister. She never got the chance to do that. She was a prisoner on the island, so how that negative emotion made her bond with the islanders over her own family is strange. She had many failed relationships on the island: Ben, Goodwin, the Dharma folks, Jack and Sawyer. In the end, she chose the time skip fantasy life with Sawyer.
Sawyer: He apparently leaves the island. We do not know whether he re-connects with Cassiday and his daughter (probably not). We do not think he joins up with Kate, because they are not together in the church. He had a lonely existence after his parents were killed, and his single minded revenge motivation for his life ended with the island. So, it is possible that Sawyer's life peaked with his island adventure.
Desmond and Penny: This is the problematic off-island couple. Their relationship had little to do with the island connections. In fact, it flourished outside the island. They had a child, little Charlie, who would have been the centerpiece of their strong family ties. This family unit would not have needed the other characters to move on. Penny had no deep attachment to anyone except Desmond. Like Jin & Sun, it is odd that Desmond's son was not part of the departure if these characters were waiting for the most important people in their lives to die and join them in the crossing over to eternity.
Libby: She is like Penny in some ways. Her only true connection with the island as being important in her life was her short relationship with Hurley. The unexplained and troubling aspect of Libby's story was that she was in the same mental hospital as Hurley, in the same day room. But Hurley never recognized her on the island. Now, Libby died on the island which left Hurley with a deep emotional void. And if Hurley remained the island guardian for a long period of time (as most people believe), Hurley had no special relationship in his entire life except for Libby.
Hurley: We can see why the island time was the most important for Hurley. People came to accept him for himself. They were not out to use him for his money. They were not shutting him out of their plans. He turned from introvert to extrovert; from follower to leader. A great deal of personal growth and responsibility happened as a direct result of his island time.
CONCLUSION: It appears the writers gave us a gallery of extremely lonely and troubled individuals whose high water mark in the real lives was the survival of a plane crash on a mysterious supernatural island. But the rationale for the gathering is inconsistent from character to character. Now, a few commentators have surmised that the sideways world was the construction solely for Jack; that this was Jack's purgatory - - - coming over party. That the other characters would have their own church reunions with other souls (such as being invited to multiple friends weddings over the course of your lifetime). If that is the case, why would the non-Jack characters have to be "awakened" in order to "move on." Moving on seems to be a singular event for all the characters sitting in the church pews.
SIDE NOTE: One of the perplexing aspects of the final scene was Christian's role. He was there to awaken his son. He said his friends had created this place so they could move on together. That infers that people can move on without an elaborate sideways world. Had Christian already "moved on" himself? We were told that Christian was not on the island; that his image was that of the smoke monster.
But Christian seemed to know more than he let on during that final scene. His appearance to Jack came from the direction of the church. He brought Jack to the main room. He was the one who walked down the aisle, between the two angel statues, and opened the doors to flood the room with white light (the final act of these souls moving to the next plane of existence). I had the sneaky suspicion that it was Christian who could have constructed this sideways world to help his son shed his guilt and unfinished business that tied down his soul so he could move on in peace. Of all the people in the church, Christian was the first person in the Lost saga to actually die in the real world. So he would be the only person who could have gathered the souls of his son's friends as they passed on (guardian angel style).
MORAL OF THE STORY: Jack's first island leadership speech to keep the survivors from falling a part was that they needed to "Live Together, or We'd Die Alone." Without a community effort, working together, no one would live. But even in this context of community, each character was still living alone, in some state of loneliness. However, the reward in the end was that the characters got to die together.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
S6E17 CREDIT CONFUSION
The images of the plane crash wreckage during the final credits were NOT part of the story, according to ABC. The network put those images in to allow viewers to "decompress" before their evening news casts.
Huh?
When did executives get final cut? Why would the producers of the show (who edited it) allow it to be re-edited? Let alone add graphic inference that had some fans sour to the prospect that it was all made up, they all died on impact, it was all purgatory, etc. (Some people thought that before the closing credits).
So the network's record "correction" has been labeled that the events on the island really happened (real human beings in supernatural world that included ghosts and monsters). As Christian Shephard told his son that he was dead, he said the sideways events happened too (dead souls having realistic lives in the after life). The sideways realm served as a transition point as the characters gradually met up again and "moved on."
This clears nothing up. It is a chicken or the egg argument: which was created first, the island events or the sideways holding world? Boone, Charlie and Lilly died on the island . . . so how did they "create" a sub-space in their deaths to gather the other people to the sideways world? And once you died, why would you need to be "awakened" by island events in order to stop the sideways world from continuing forward? Dead is dead. And if these main island characters who consciously created this sideways place "move on" does that mean the sub-space sideways world collapses? Is that why Eloise's spirit was so adamant that Desmond not awaken the 815ers? Then what happens to Ben's soul who is not ready to move on? Why did it take Jack so long (from a sideways perspective of literally re-writing his old life with a different ex-wife and a high school son) to make it to the church reunion? Why stuff a long, detailed, drawn out fantasy after life in order to somehow re-boot or sync an important event to force your soul to acknowledge your own demise?
The sideways world fantasy of collective memories really did not have a religious context. If it was purgatory, shouldn't the souls of the departed try to make better moral decisions than having affairs (Sun & Jin), killing people (Sayid), or bribing police officers (Hurley) in order to "move on?" Oh, the standard answer is "it doesn't matter."
If you accept the premise that the final survivors left the island on Frank's plane, it would mean they would have lived out fairly meaningless lives for the next 30-40 years if the island events were "the most important part of their lives." Sawyer and Kate would spend the rest of their natural lives pining for Juliet and Jack? They meet no one else who can fill their lives?
The more I think about the ending, the characters gathering happiness may have been an illusion.
Huh?
When did executives get final cut? Why would the producers of the show (who edited it) allow it to be re-edited? Let alone add graphic inference that had some fans sour to the prospect that it was all made up, they all died on impact, it was all purgatory, etc. (Some people thought that before the closing credits).
So the network's record "correction" has been labeled that the events on the island really happened (real human beings in supernatural world that included ghosts and monsters). As Christian Shephard told his son that he was dead, he said the sideways events happened too (dead souls having realistic lives in the after life). The sideways realm served as a transition point as the characters gradually met up again and "moved on."
This clears nothing up. It is a chicken or the egg argument: which was created first, the island events or the sideways holding world? Boone, Charlie and Lilly died on the island . . . so how did they "create" a sub-space in their deaths to gather the other people to the sideways world? And once you died, why would you need to be "awakened" by island events in order to stop the sideways world from continuing forward? Dead is dead. And if these main island characters who consciously created this sideways place "move on" does that mean the sub-space sideways world collapses? Is that why Eloise's spirit was so adamant that Desmond not awaken the 815ers? Then what happens to Ben's soul who is not ready to move on? Why did it take Jack so long (from a sideways perspective of literally re-writing his old life with a different ex-wife and a high school son) to make it to the church reunion? Why stuff a long, detailed, drawn out fantasy after life in order to somehow re-boot or sync an important event to force your soul to acknowledge your own demise?
The sideways world fantasy of collective memories really did not have a religious context. If it was purgatory, shouldn't the souls of the departed try to make better moral decisions than having affairs (Sun & Jin), killing people (Sayid), or bribing police officers (Hurley) in order to "move on?" Oh, the standard answer is "it doesn't matter."
If you accept the premise that the final survivors left the island on Frank's plane, it would mean they would have lived out fairly meaningless lives for the next 30-40 years if the island events were "the most important part of their lives." Sawyer and Kate would spend the rest of their natural lives pining for Juliet and Jack? They meet no one else who can fill their lives?
The more I think about the ending, the characters gathering happiness may have been an illusion.
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