This is a classy weblog, and definitely isn’t the type of site that shares theories about popular television shows. Except not really. I want to talk about what I think is going on in regards to Lost. Since some of you may not have seen last week’s episode or plan to catch up with the series via DVD or Ipod or whatever, I’ve put the post in inviso-text--you have to swipe it with your cursor in order to read it. And if you don’t want to read it, get lost. HA. See how that worked?
My theory is that the island is a way for its inhabitants to reach a kind of spiritual fulfillment, at which point they die and go off to their final reward (or back to reality?). Let’s look at the major island deaths that have occurred: Boone died once he realized that he could be a fully realized individual without his stepsister to complete him. Shannon died the moment she had finally been given love and acceptance from someone who understood her completely. It seems clear to me that the island is a series of obstacles that force people to examine who they really are, and then offs them once they reach a point of contentment and understanding.
Now, we’ve had people die who don’t seem to have undergone any personal epiphany, such as the guy who was sucked into the plane propeller in the first episode. But maybe the system has broken down because no one’s maintaining it. We know that a billionaire philanthropist named Hanso has something to do with the island, and Hanso was also involved in the search for extraterrestrial life--so let’s say Hanso created the island with alien technology in order to help people reach a higher state of being. But Hanso died and now it’s just a system running wild and occasionally flying off the rails.
So, to summarize my theory:
If George W. Bush landed on the island, he’d find weapons of mass destruction and then he’d die.
If Amelia Earhart landed on the island, she’d be super happy that she survived her plane flight and she’d feel great and fulfilled and then she’d die.
If Janeane Garofalo landed on the island, everyone would vote democrat while listening to monotone, generic indie music and then she’d die.
If I landed on the island, I’d grow a full head of hair and play strip Scrabble with Evangeline Lilly and then I’d die.
All clear? Good. And it’ll only take about four seasons of glacier-paced storytelling to prove me right.
Posted by Greg at 05:03 AM on 11/16/05