*** NOTE: THIS IMAGE IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF HOW I FEEL ABOUT LOST AS A WHOLE. I LOVED MY LOST EXPERIENCE. IT IS JUST A FUNNY IMAGE I WAS SENT AND IT DOES TO SOME DEGREE REFLECT MY FEELINGS ON HOW I THINK THE LOST CREATORS TREATED THE FANS OF THE ISLAND MYTHOLOGY IN THE FINALE OF LOST. SO, PLEASE, START FROM MY FIRST BLOG ENTRY AND WORK YOUR WAY FORWARD IN TIME TO THIS ONE.***
Well, the long awaited and faithful day of the Lost Series Finale has come and gone. I have waited to write this final on-air period Lost / Lost Horizon blog until I had time to get perspective on the finale and the series as a whole. Having now watched the Finale episode three times, the pilot five times, and every episode of the show at least twice, I am now ready.
The finale was a beautifully told Season 6 final episode that brought the collective stories of the characters to an emotionally satisfying ending that made me cry, smile, laugh, and rejoice. That being said, this was not an appropriate series finale ending as it did not begin to address all the unanswered questions that were the driving force behind the show for all these years. I was a devoted JATER, but to those of you that say it was all about the characters, I ask you this: Were we watching the same show here? Would you have watched Lost this long and spent so much time obsessing over it if it were just a straight-forward, non-supernatural, drama set on an island. I say you would not. The mysteries, both mystical and scientific in nature, were what kept us going more than anything. The great characters were just a bonus that enhanced the show's rich mythology. But to say it was all about them and that the finale was perfect, I say you are all in denial. Just like Ben realizing it was not all about him when he met Jacob, you just don't want to admit that the all perfect Lost you devoted so much to, may be flawed because the writers did not want to, or more likely simply couldn't, commit to answering questions. I am here to say, as much as I loved the journey, the final destination of Lost was in one way, an emotional success, but a in a far more significant way, a mythological letdown.
Look, any decent writers can create mystery and dangle enticing questions out there before you and then never answer them satisfactorily. However, It takes truly great writers to answer them in a way that may not satisfy all, but are at least answers that we can come to accept, even if we don't like them immediately, just as many of us did with the episode, "Across the Sea." Though, to simply avoid answering so many questions altogether and leave it up to interpretation of the audience, that is a cop out and a cheat of monumental proportions. I am not saying I wanted them to tell me the meaning of life or even where the hell the island came from, but at least delve a little deeper than a bright light in a hole in the ground with a cork in it to keep evil at bay.
Let's talk questions. How did Dharma find the island and how the hell did they know the numbers and why were those numbers really significant in the scientific way they seemed to be. How did they build the sonic fence before they could be killed by Smokey. How did they know the world would end and how is that connected to Jacob's prediction of what would happen if Smokey got off the island? Why were the kids so damned important, Walt and Aaron in particular? This is just to name a few. So, come on guys! What the hell ! ?
Look, regardless of all that, this show unlike pretty much any other television drama, not only allowed for audience participation, it asked and even demanded for it. They wanted us to be a part of the story through our questions, the online alternate reality games, the research, the books they encouraged us to read, etc, etc, etc. They wanted us to attempt to discover the answers to the questions the show posed and they gave us every inclination that at some point, before it was all over, we would have a lot of them, though maybe not all of them. We all waited so patiently and gave so much to this idea. Therefore, unlike any other television show, if not media franchise, Lost was really was our show too.
However, instead of respecting us, the audience that made Lost a mega-success, in the end, they abandoned us, and told the story, and I quote the producers, "we wanted to tell." Well than boys, you should have just done that and never involved the audience in it. However, instead you used us as pawns and reaped the benefits at our expense. And since you did, though you did give us one hell of a ride, you have also cheated the audience out of, at least a large part, of the reward we paid for with 6 years of fanatical devotion. Some might say, it is just a television show. Get over yourself. To them I say, that may be true, but Lost was just a television show the way the first Star Wars was just a movie, a Ferrari is just a car, America is just a country, and religion is just a belief. Lost, spawned such loyalty, love, emotional significance, and even religious devotion from it's fans, that it transcends the concept of just being a television show. It is so much more than that, and we the audience, deserved it to be concluded as so much more than that.
That is is all I have to say about that for now, but maybe after the video release August 24, 2010, the supplemental material may shed some more light on the subject of answers and proper conclusions. Though keep in mind, we now have to pay for those answers with more than just our time. We have to pay with cash.
Okay, the preceding was my reaction to the finale episode and has nothing to do with my theory. So, now that is out of the way, I will get on to the main focus of my blog, which is my theory on the show as a whole. Therefore, having looked at the show from every angle I can, and giving it great thought, I say this now without a single doubt in my mind: The creators, producers, and writers of Lost have individually or collectively read all the novels set in the Lost Horizon universe, saw at least one of the 2 movies (which Carlton admitted in response to my question at the San Diego Comic Con in 2008), and based the overall plot of the show and many details on the world of Lost Horizon, that author James Hilton created way back in 1933, Frank Capra first brought to the silver screen in 1937, and other storytellers have elaborated on in the three sequel novels and one film remake.
If you read this blog, all the details that connect to Lost and Lost Horizon will become clear. However, if you want the quick version I will give it to you right now.
The plot of Lost is basically this: A group of people, including one individual in particular, survive a plane crash in a remote, seemingly hidden locale, where mysterious and magical things such as the curing of terminal diseases and injuries can occur, and where people can appear not to age. While there we learn that the survivors of the crash did not arrive there by accident, but were in fact brought there for a reason by an ancient mystical leader. This man has protected his magical realm for centuries for the sake of preserving mankind from it's own destruction. He has foreseen his own death and has chosen one of the survivors to be his replacement. The replacement is skeptical and initially resists the idea that he is there for a reason and flees from this special place only to realize his mistake and desperately struggle to find a way back. He does and becomes a believer himself. That survivor does in fact take over the job and become the new leader tasked with protecting this place for the sake of mankind.
The plot of Lost Horizon is...well...Exactly the same thing. People seem to resist this idea, but I hate to tell you folks, the similarities go far beyond this simplified summary and included details that can not be shear coincidence. I believe I have documented most all of them on this blog. Now, yes on Lost there are a lot more plot details including the sideways world, that are different and unique and help to set Lost apart from the world of Lost Horizon, but that changes nothing. The fact remains that the MAIN premise of the show and many of its details are identical. It simply cannot be denied or chalked up to coincidence on all counts.
Again, I must remind you all, I loved Lost and it will always be my favorite television show of all time. I don't even want anything to replace it or attempt to be a better show than it is. It made me feel every emotion under the sun, and it challenged and fascinated me like no other Television show ever has. However, until Damon Lindeloff, Carlton Cuse, and even co-creator J.J. Abrams admit to their deliberate use of the Lost Horizon plot and subsequent sequel novels' details, and add those books to the Official list of books that influenced Lost in the their Lost book club, then, though I am not a copyright attorney, I will still consider what they have done to be tantamount to borderline copyright infringement, if not outright plagiarism. Frankly, it is just wrong, andLost Horizon is too important and timeless a tale to not get the recognition it deserves.
In conclusion I must say this. All of this, is not about me being right, this is about those that are in the business of telling stories showing respect and giving credit where credit is due. Especially when they borrow so heavily from those that have come before them.
Nevertheless, I do have to say, it feels great to be vindicated on my theory in this final season. It really does. If you don't believe me, read at least 3 of the 4 Lost Horizon books or just read my blog and I will give you many specific pages to read in the novels to see the blatant connections.
Thank you all for your time and patronage in reading my blog. I have enjoyed the overall experience of Lost more than you will ever know, regardless of how I may have expressed myself here.
I will see you all in another life brothas and sistas.
Namaste,
Dr. Chili Abrams
Well having read your blog I now know what you thought of the finale, lol.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who enjoyed the finale, I would like to just say that stating people who believed the finale was a great wrap-up are "in denial" is kind of a blanket statement. There are people who cared about getting every question answered, and people who didn't. I (other than a few I would have liked resolved, I'll grant you) didn't really care about getting all the questions answered because I know that any answer they would have supplied me with would be infinitely worse than something I came up with myself. and I can reason an answer out of 95% of the questions that have been asked on LOST. But nothing is perfect, and the few answers that I would have liked answered may not have been the few you wanted, and others wanted, and so forth. That's not even the point, really... they wanted to leave it ambiguous so you could figure it out yourself, and wonder about it.
I disagree with your statement that the show was more about the mysteries than the characters, and to claim that as a certainty is pretty presumptuous. Half of every single episode was dedicated to a character's life off the island, so how can you say that? It's simply not true.
Anyway, I'm disappointed that you were so disappointed, since I thought of all people you wouldn't be one to nitpick, but to each his own, I guess. (And you don't have to spend cash to see the DVDs if you don't want to, try netflix, or borrowing them, or reading all about it for free on the internet! To claim they're forcing us to spend cash after 6 years of free entertainment and bitching about it seems a little crazy to me.)
You know Annie, I just now read your comment about my lost blog after all these months because I intentionally seperated myself from "Lost" to gain even more perspective on it. I did buy a heavily discounted new copy of the complete bluray boxed set and I paid for it by selling off my copies of season 1-5 blu rays, so I didnt feel so bad shelling out more cash. However, to this day I have not opened the set. I probably will on the one year anniverary of the end of the show this May. Oh and FYI though technically the broacasts of "Lost" were free on KABC I can not recieve over-the-air signals clearly in my area and I have to pay my cable company to see it live ane not delayed online in poorer quality. Also, if I total all my expenditures on "Lost" viewing, merchandising, parties, comic con trips, and overall fandom, I have personally contributed a far greater amount of money to ABC, team Darlton, and support industries like food, hotels, airlines, and lost tours, than most fans out there and certainly far more than I have to any other tv show I have ever watched. I am talking thousands of dollars. And yes, I did l that by choice, but I saw it as investing in something I still feel was hugely important not only as groundbreaking television, but also socially as a message of hope I wanted to be a part of. So to say it was "free" for me is not at all accurate. I made not only an emotional investment in "Lost" but also a financial one. And all I asked for is fair final payment of story goodness to compensate me. And as a matter of fact and not opinion, on a mythogical level, it did indeed fall short.
ReplyDeleteAnyway the reason I came back to this blog now is I am listening to an audio book version of "Lost Horizon" and I discovered further evidence of the "Lost" connection and updated my older blog entries to reflect that. One specific piece of evidence is the High Lama or Jacob's equivalent, mentions it was at the age of 108 that he realized he was not going to die anytime soon. Why 108? What are the odds that it is coincidence that the sum of the "Lost" numbers is 108?
So, that being said, I would like you to know that I agree with you that I made some general statements about what the show was about to the fans and yes people watch it for different reasons. Furthermore, I am sorry if I offended you in any way. And yes charcter back and forward stories were told all the time, and they were significant to the show. However, those stories were there mainly to support each character's place within the epic story, which was to ultimately facilitate Jacob's plan of grooming Jack for what he had to do.
Therefore, I still contend that "Lost's" worldwide phenomenon is attributed more to the mythogical story being told than to the characters themselves and that much less people would have tuned in if "Lost" were simply a dramatic version of "Gilligan's Island", and not the supernatural epic that it is.
Finally, I must remind you that i stated right up front that i thought the finale was emotionally satisfying and powerful on a character level and that it did affect me so. Additonally, I did state how much I loved the show as a journey and as a whole.
All I am saying now is that I bet if you asked the majority of devoted "Lost" fans if they would have preferred more answers given rather than using their imaginations for everything, they would more than not say they wanted answers. Imagination should go into making all creative visual media, but only in certain specific cases (meti-chlorines), should it be used as a crutch to myrhogically conclude a story, as it was with "Lost". Imagination of that sort is better served in books. Otherwise, once again, as a matter of fact and not opinion, it is just poor storytelling.