TVSquad

You're all wrong!

Reply

I agree with Liz who wrote #20, with additions. I have been noting for some time that characters are manifesting things- desires, fears, etc. out of their own minds. The first example of this is the polar bear. Remember Dostoyevsky's anecdote about he and his brother having a childhood club, and the admission test was for a person to sit and NOT think of a white bear? The polar bear was our first clue that these are things drawn from the character's minds. Sayid being tortured military style is a powerful example of something being drawn from the character's own life experience/obsession/haunting conflict. And Shannon being asked to help use her mind to solve an incredibly important problem (the French translation.) The drug addict being forced to face recovery and temptation. The conflicted Dad being forced to confront the challenge of parenting a child who has become a virtual stranger to him. The doctor being forced to try and save people in dire need, without the aid of technology. Kate the criminal having to face total freedom and total accountability. Every character has brought with him/her their greatest challenge in life. This is no coincidence- it is clear and consistent.
the island to me represents some kind of purgatory "Lost." These people are being given a second chance in a controlled environment. When they have shown their true colors or learned their life's greatest lesson, they die and go to heaven or hell.
Walt and Locke represent some sort of spritual duality- i.e. the "black and white" comment during the backgammon game at the beginning of season 1. Locke could represent the fallen Satan (who really doesn't know he has done anything wrong because he is motivated by his love for God, and also looks like a real nice guy) and Walt could be the lamb. The problem of the missing children is very troubling- are they being taken because the fallen are attracted to their innocence?

The island itself represents the natural cosmology with which humans have to deal, and the numbers/hatch represent the power of choice and technology, and our moral choices in wielding it. It (tech)is a temptation. The numbers function the same way that tech functions in the real world; they attract more power to the user, while sucking the power away from those around you who do not have the numbers (tech) in their possession. This actually happens in real life if you look at the distribution of tech and wealth in the world, and the patterns of famine, war and disease in less industrialized areas.
The reason that the survivors from the front end of the plane have fared better than those from the tail is their mindset. There is no other explanation. They have generally tried to organize to improve their lot and maintain some sort of humanity. The tail end survivors have used their power against each other to create a dog-eat-dog situation. They are creating more negativity with every step that they take.

This show is an illustration of what really happens in life. I believe the show falls into the genre of Magical Realism- which novelist Haruki Murakami describes as a phenomenon where "abnormal things happen to normal people" a metaphor for real life, if you ask me. Everyone knows real life is stranger than fiction.
I think the creators/writers of the show had set these parameters at the outset, and have let the characters evolve within the given conditions naturally over time, responding to the audience over time. In essence they are playing God and doing it in a very entertaining way!

Reply

Walt's manifestation! Why else would he know that the button is bad?

Give me answers to debunk me.

Reply

The bottomline is if they manage to keep this story fresh and have people hooked for 4 years, the endgame will be dissapointing.

This is mostly because the anticipation will be so big - you can't help but be disappointed. It's the nature of the beast.

Reply

Yeah, they know that any possible explanation they come up with will dissapoint fans - which is why they will prolly end with a huh? endgame - basically letting you beleive what you want about the ending. You think its a dream - then its a dream, think its an experimint - then its an experiment.

I think its a Jacobs Ladder thing going on - but who knows?

Reply

None of the above

Reply

It's just an island.

Reply

I like the "Walt's manifestation" theory, but I'm more inclined to believe it's a comic book come true.

Aliens capturing folks and putting them on an island in a huge jar. Experiment, amusement, or who knows how the gods/aliens think?

Reply

The endgame is that it is just a TV show.

Reply

Survivor meets The Running Man but they are all hooked up to VR units ala Harsh Realm - and Locke is actually General Santiago. Where the heck is Pinocchio?

Reply

It all a show ala the Truman Show. There was no crash, the survivors were all drugged, implanted with new VR technology and drug delivery systems which allow the audience to see the flashbacks. The Others grabbed Walt because his "Q" rating was too low..

Reply

K.V.C., I really dig your theory.

Reply

I think is a t's a very expensive and extreme reality show, the secondary characters are just actors. I like the Truman Show theory.

Reply

Right, here we go... There are two separate, and conflicting elements to the island. I also have a solid theory on the others, and thier origins. This will be point 3.

1) There is the Island itself, a supernatural, possibly intelligent entity which does the following: Drag people from around the world using control of fate and determinism, seek to hide it's own nature from the people on the island. It is the force which has given Locke his mobility back, inspired Jack's visions of his father, and creates the whispers in the jungle. It is somehow occupied with children, and seeks to collect children (the french woman's child, claire's, and then, unexpectedly, Walt) Is this because the children were already 'gifted' or do the 'powers' in the island increase and enhance them? Not sure yet...

2) There is also DHARMA. This is separate, and has a human control to it. Not just the scottish guy down the hatch, but his employers/collegues in the DHARMA organisation. DHARMA is a budhist concept of global importance. It describes control, orchestration, and the very essence of all things in nature. Truth is DHARMA, the air is DHARMA. The controllling forces behind everything in the universe (according to budhism)can be described as DHARMA. DHARMA sustains, maintains, and keeps things 'afloat'. This corp' is here to monitor the phenomena that is the island, and controll it my limiting its reach outward across the seas. The sctottish guy has been down that hatch for years, posibly he presents the only remaining opposition now?

The disease on the island. Yup, everyone remember that? Killed the french woman's party (or more correctly, made them turn on each other...) Is clearly revealed as a contagious elemement (if not a disease, it could be something similar transmittable, say, a shared psychosis?) by the fact that the door to the hatch is marked QUARANTINE. DHARMA know that whatever the illness is, it is dangerous. It is not desirable. It is a machine for the Island. It creates a state of being, which reverts its victims to a tribal state in which they become conceived of as 'The Others'. These people ended up on the island A: as part of other efforts the island has made to attract or pull direclt people to its shores, and poissibly are made up (in part) of the other group of survivors of the flight (the tail section, remember!!!)

I personally think that the Polar bears, and the sharks (obviously in the case of the one with the DHARMA logo on it's underside) are controlled or have been put there by DHARMA to protect it's research, but I've got no idea how they tattoed a shark. Unless it's a genetically engineered shark. Or a robot. Um...

Reply

Walt is the key.

Reply

Oh, thanks for that. Very insightful. We see a small kid do some odd things, a vague allusion to 'powers', and we think that adds up to a teory... Well, afraid, it doesn't. Why exactly so you think Walt is the key? Or did you just want to say something without actually saying anything?

Reply

Desmond is the only person who really exists except he is a loony in an asylum and everyone/everything else is a figment of his broken, twisted imagination.

Reply

LOL, Gavin, switch to decaf!

Anyway, how about this: They're hallucinating from something the island gives off, like the X-Files episode with the giant underground mushroom/fungus that put out hallucinogenic spores.

Seriously, though: The past couple of weeks, when some of my co-workers had recorded Lost but hadn't watched it yet, I told them that it was revealed that the survivors aren’t on an island at all, and they hadn’t even been on a plane: They were customers in a nightclub, watching a hypnotist who put the whole audience in a trance and set up the airplane premise, then died of a heart attack.

The people who think they’re on an island are actually in a deep hypnotic state, and several doctors and pyschotherapists, including some that look just like Ethan Rom and the French woman, are trying to bring them out.

Some people actually believe me for about 5 seconds.

Besides, usually when I spoil movies for them I use the tried-and-true "they're really androids with implanted memories" or "alien petting zoo" plots, but they're starting to get wise to those, so I had to switch tactics ...

Ha!

Reply

brykmantra, thanks for the sanity check, this show is driving me completely mad. I'm shamed and embarrassed, but what can I do, it's got me hooked. I'm currently downloading episode three of te second series hoping (against all odds) that something of some weight will be revealed. Here's hoping! Did somebody mention zombies?

Reply

Walt is the Fifth Element.

Reply