I don't believe the flashbacks are real. They don't make sense - there are too many inconsistencies and they are way too farcical. No one has that much go wrong with their life. Even the ones who start out believable go from bad to worst and the scenes just don't add up and don't seem real.
I don't believe the life on the island is real either. Things are too bizarre and too unbelievable. It is like doing the opposite to what Locke and Eko did with the Orientation tape. Locke played the tape and it had a funny 'cut' in it which indicated that a piece of the tape was missing. Eko himself wonders at the amazing coincidence that another person (him) at the other end of the island would happen to find a hatch which happened to contain the missing piece of tape and which he managed to get to Locke to create one meaningful piece of film. I think what we have to do is almost the opposite. What we see on Lost appears to be a continuous piece of film - the life on the island which is smattered with flashbacks in random order. We can work out a good timeline based on what we see. However, I think what we are actually seeing is different. It's lots of people's versions of events - some happen a few seconds behind the original event and some happen days or weeks later. The! re are repeated events which are just that - a relooking at the original event.
Take as an example the plane crash.
Jack wakes up in the jungle (wearing black suit and a tie) and there seem to be 2 if not 3 strands of film of him running through the jungle - in one strand his suit looks blue in others black. He runs to rescue 4 sets of people:
1. man he pulls out by his arms from under plane
2. Claire with contractions
3. Rose and does CPR
4. Claire and Hurley from the wings crashing onto them
Eko now ……. He crashes with the tailies. He wears a black suit and tie. He rushes to help 4 people:
1. woman from water
2. small boy
3. girl and is about to do CPR
4. man he pulls out by his arms
The similarities between the two groups are uncanny - Kate and Charlie find a pilot up a tree; Ana Lucia and Goodwin find Bernard up a tree. The two groups discuss bodies/bodys; one member of each group stands or sits alone; Jack doesn't attend the memorial service/Eko doesn't attend the funeral. There is a mysterious noise - in one it becomes the smokey monster; in the other it becomes the Others. A lot of events are repeated or there appears to be similar themes.
Language too is very strange. A person asks a question and the response seems to be sometimes about a different subject completely. The language of Lost is very telling and I have posted elsewhere about this.
Colours seems very revealing and seem to provide links between people and events. In the pilot episode, Jack finds a sewing kit and there seems to be a couple of 'meaningful' shots of the contents - sewing cottons with navy blue, red, pink and orange all lying one way and black and white lying separately another way. This got me to seriously consider the colours used in the episodes. I think colours link themes within Lost and if anyone wants to see this in action - just watch any scene which features Eko's village - I've been to Africa - no one there seems to wear this amount of green and orange.
So what do I believe is actually going on in Lost? I think that there are elements to the backstories which are real. I think we get glimpses of a story which has been wildly embellished or shown the story in several versions through the eyes of several characters. It's a bit like when I did Theology at Uni - you can look at scriptures and identify several strands of writing together with the culture of the day and the person who was writing and gradually strip this down to see if you can discover what the truth actually is. It may be possible to do this with Lost.
I will try to unravel something using some uses of the colour yellow.
The Colour Yellow.
The colour yellow is not seen that often in Lost. Orange and greens are very frequent; in the Eko and Charlie scenes/African scenes/in the counsellor's office with Ana Lucia etc. However, yellow is quite rare so I sit up and notice when it does show.
So what I noticed recently was links between Kate/Hurley and Sayid. Keep in mind the following dramatic appearances of yellow:
1. Hurley in a bright yellow car driving his Mum to see the new house he has bought and she falls, hurts her leg/the house goes up in smoke/the police arrive at the scene to arrest Hurley - a very unreal and farcical scene - Did this scene actually happen? I don't believe it did.
2. Kate in a supermarket wearing a bright yellow dress goes into a phone box with a yellow purse and yellow notice on view. She phones the Sheriff to say - Please don't follow me any more - a moving scene - did it really happen? - possibly.
3. Hurley outside the bright yellow chicken store with a bright yellow chicken and wearing a yellow shirt and Lo and behold a meteor lands on the store and kills people - a farcical scene - I don't believe it actually happened.
4. An episode I rewatched last night Enter 77- Sayid, Locke and Kate visit the Flame and there is the flashback of Sayid meeting a woman he was supposed to have tortured and being made to admit to it. Do I believe Sayid is a torturer? Possibly. Mikail serves yellow drink and there is a yellow chair. The flashback has a small show of bright yellow. I began to wonder if the colour yellow links certain events associated with Kate or her mum Dianne. Dianne wears a yellow uniform dress in one flashback.
The whole moving speech of the tortured lady could very well fit with Kate's mum Dianne and her story of being an abused woman. (In one flashback, Dianne wears a yellow dress.) Are we supposed to link the yellow and this scene with Dianne who has had a life of abuse at the hands of her partner? It seemed to me to fit well with an impassioned speech made by a woman who wants her husband to know what impact his beatings have had on her. Remember the tortured woman had terrible scars from where her torturer had poured hot oil on her arms and hands. Similarly, Dianne had scars on her arms which allegedly led to Kate putting her drunken father to bed and setting fire to the house.
Hurley and Sawyer play pingpong with a yellow ball and wins. Sawyer is beaten. His penalty is not calling people mean names and everyone is a winner!
Locke plays the computer at chess and wins. The penalty of this is the communications with the outside world are cut off and the house blows up. (Is this reminiscent of the house Kate blew up with her stepfather in it) So although Locke officially wins, really everyone is a loser. Is this supposed to reflect Kate's/Dianne's situation of being in a no-win situation.
Is what is really happening here a symbolic tableau of what may have happened to Kate and Dianne? The pingpong shows that small victories can be won which will benefit everyone; the dramatic taking revenge type approach would benefit no one? Is Hurley demonstrating in his flashbacks the feeling that nothing went right for Kate and Dianne? That whatever they did they were jinxed? That like the numbers which haunted Hurley and 'cursed' him - so too did Kate's father. Is this the symbolism of the telephone box scene with Kate asking …. The father to leave them alone? Does the Sheriff represent the abusive husband? Is the role of Mikail and Bea significant? Do they represent the authorities or another person who fails to help Kate and Dianne? Is the line that Mikail not supposed to cross reminiscent of an injuction so that a person (Kate's stepfather) is not allowed to go within a certain distance to protect Kate and her mum? Did Kate's dad do something which it was better to ! make a sacrifice and let go than give the location of Kate and her Mum?
So what could be going on in Lost? There seems to be elements in Lost which keep repeating. What actually happened is up for discussion. It could go something like this:
There is a woman (she could be Kate or her Mum or an unknown woman.)
This woman has children - it could be 2 as shown by the two children in the tailies section who wanted to be with their mummy but couldn't.
There has been a history of abuse with the woman being beaten. The partner who was abusive has a drink problem. The woman ran away and hid from the abusive partner. Most likely she had help from the church or went into a sheltered loving community. There, she met a lovely man and they formed a relationship. However, one day the abusive ex partner tracked her down. There was a terrible incident involving this victim and her abusive partner - most likely a shooting and death of a police officer. This badly effected his work colleague. The victims were taken to the hospital and at least one person died. The surgeon was given a choice on who to save. The victim of the child abuse - her children have been taken into care …… 'to get a better life.'
All of the above are some suppositions based on the many incidents in Lost which repeat but which are actually a retelling of the story. I think it is possible that what is happening on the 'island' is an examining and often a re-examining of the evidence of whoever is on trial. The island is a place which doesn't exist in the same way our own world does. It is used by persons as a place where they can really examine the motives of the accused and the witnesses first hand. There is a telling scene in the Pilot episode where Kate removes the shoes of a dead passenger and puts them on. There is the strange shot of Locke with an orange piece of fruit in his mouth. It seems to be a significant moment.
I think that the Losties are either the witnesses who are called to give evidence in a trial or they also could be the jury. In some way they could be the many people who were involved in the tragic events. There are many references in Lost to trials - both the strange trial in the Others camp - and the trial Kate faces when they leave the 'island.' There is a time when Locke opens the door and says 'No solicitors here.' There is a sign on the door saying No soliciting but maybe he is talking about legal solicitors.
The 'island' creates a way of the people to tell the story of what happened but to experience it from different perspectives - they can literally get into the shoes of the people involved and to see what led to the tragic events. They can in some way experience what happened as the characters in the tragic event grew up - to see what influenced them. Perhaps then, they can come to a truly GOOD verdict. A court case is like Locke said of backgammon - that it was like a game of two sides; one dark; one light. That seems to sum up a court situation - the accused is either black or white - they are either innocent or guilty. The prosecution and the defence seem to do what backgammon or the other games of Lost do - one moves and then another - there are strategies and counter-strategies.
I'd be glad to have comments.
Theory by Tinylamp
I don't believe the life on the island is real either. Things are too bizarre and too unbelievable. It is like doing the opposite to what Locke and Eko did with the Orientation tape. Locke played the tape and it had a funny 'cut' in it which indicated that a piece of the tape was missing. Eko himself wonders at the amazing coincidence that another person (him) at the other end of the island would happen to find a hatch which happened to contain the missing piece of tape and which he managed to get to Locke to create one meaningful piece of film. I think what we have to do is almost the opposite. What we see on Lost appears to be a continuous piece of film - the life on the island which is smattered with flashbacks in random order. We can work out a good timeline based on what we see. However, I think what we are actually seeing is different. It's lots of people's versions of events - some happen a few seconds behind the original event and some happen days or weeks later. The! re are repeated events which are just that - a relooking at the original event.
Take as an example the plane crash.
Jack wakes up in the jungle (wearing black suit and a tie) and there seem to be 2 if not 3 strands of film of him running through the jungle - in one strand his suit looks blue in others black. He runs to rescue 4 sets of people:
1. man he pulls out by his arms from under plane
2. Claire with contractions
3. Rose and does CPR
4. Claire and Hurley from the wings crashing onto them
Eko now ……. He crashes with the tailies. He wears a black suit and tie. He rushes to help 4 people:
1. woman from water
2. small boy
3. girl and is about to do CPR
4. man he pulls out by his arms
The similarities between the two groups are uncanny - Kate and Charlie find a pilot up a tree; Ana Lucia and Goodwin find Bernard up a tree. The two groups discuss bodies/bodys; one member of each group stands or sits alone; Jack doesn't attend the memorial service/Eko doesn't attend the funeral. There is a mysterious noise - in one it becomes the smokey monster; in the other it becomes the Others. A lot of events are repeated or there appears to be similar themes.
Language too is very strange. A person asks a question and the response seems to be sometimes about a different subject completely. The language of Lost is very telling and I have posted elsewhere about this.
Colours seems very revealing and seem to provide links between people and events. In the pilot episode, Jack finds a sewing kit and there seems to be a couple of 'meaningful' shots of the contents - sewing cottons with navy blue, red, pink and orange all lying one way and black and white lying separately another way. This got me to seriously consider the colours used in the episodes. I think colours link themes within Lost and if anyone wants to see this in action - just watch any scene which features Eko's village - I've been to Africa - no one there seems to wear this amount of green and orange.
So what do I believe is actually going on in Lost? I think that there are elements to the backstories which are real. I think we get glimpses of a story which has been wildly embellished or shown the story in several versions through the eyes of several characters. It's a bit like when I did Theology at Uni - you can look at scriptures and identify several strands of writing together with the culture of the day and the person who was writing and gradually strip this down to see if you can discover what the truth actually is. It may be possible to do this with Lost.
I will try to unravel something using some uses of the colour yellow.
The Colour Yellow.
The colour yellow is not seen that often in Lost. Orange and greens are very frequent; in the Eko and Charlie scenes/African scenes/in the counsellor's office with Ana Lucia etc. However, yellow is quite rare so I sit up and notice when it does show.
So what I noticed recently was links between Kate/Hurley and Sayid. Keep in mind the following dramatic appearances of yellow:
1. Hurley in a bright yellow car driving his Mum to see the new house he has bought and she falls, hurts her leg/the house goes up in smoke/the police arrive at the scene to arrest Hurley - a very unreal and farcical scene - Did this scene actually happen? I don't believe it did.
2. Kate in a supermarket wearing a bright yellow dress goes into a phone box with a yellow purse and yellow notice on view. She phones the Sheriff to say - Please don't follow me any more - a moving scene - did it really happen? - possibly.
3. Hurley outside the bright yellow chicken store with a bright yellow chicken and wearing a yellow shirt and Lo and behold a meteor lands on the store and kills people - a farcical scene - I don't believe it actually happened.
4. An episode I rewatched last night Enter 77- Sayid, Locke and Kate visit the Flame and there is the flashback of Sayid meeting a woman he was supposed to have tortured and being made to admit to it. Do I believe Sayid is a torturer? Possibly. Mikail serves yellow drink and there is a yellow chair. The flashback has a small show of bright yellow. I began to wonder if the colour yellow links certain events associated with Kate or her mum Dianne. Dianne wears a yellow uniform dress in one flashback.
The whole moving speech of the tortured lady could very well fit with Kate's mum Dianne and her story of being an abused woman. (In one flashback, Dianne wears a yellow dress.) Are we supposed to link the yellow and this scene with Dianne who has had a life of abuse at the hands of her partner? It seemed to me to fit well with an impassioned speech made by a woman who wants her husband to know what impact his beatings have had on her. Remember the tortured woman had terrible scars from where her torturer had poured hot oil on her arms and hands. Similarly, Dianne had scars on her arms which allegedly led to Kate putting her drunken father to bed and setting fire to the house.
Hurley and Sawyer play pingpong with a yellow ball and wins. Sawyer is beaten. His penalty is not calling people mean names and everyone is a winner!
Locke plays the computer at chess and wins. The penalty of this is the communications with the outside world are cut off and the house blows up. (Is this reminiscent of the house Kate blew up with her stepfather in it) So although Locke officially wins, really everyone is a loser. Is this supposed to reflect Kate's/Dianne's situation of being in a no-win situation.
Is what is really happening here a symbolic tableau of what may have happened to Kate and Dianne? The pingpong shows that small victories can be won which will benefit everyone; the dramatic taking revenge type approach would benefit no one? Is Hurley demonstrating in his flashbacks the feeling that nothing went right for Kate and Dianne? That whatever they did they were jinxed? That like the numbers which haunted Hurley and 'cursed' him - so too did Kate's father. Is this the symbolism of the telephone box scene with Kate asking …. The father to leave them alone? Does the Sheriff represent the abusive husband? Is the role of Mikail and Bea significant? Do they represent the authorities or another person who fails to help Kate and Dianne? Is the line that Mikail not supposed to cross reminiscent of an injuction so that a person (Kate's stepfather) is not allowed to go within a certain distance to protect Kate and her mum? Did Kate's dad do something which it was better to ! make a sacrifice and let go than give the location of Kate and her Mum?
So what could be going on in Lost? There seems to be elements in Lost which keep repeating. What actually happened is up for discussion. It could go something like this:
There is a woman (she could be Kate or her Mum or an unknown woman.)
This woman has children - it could be 2 as shown by the two children in the tailies section who wanted to be with their mummy but couldn't.
There has been a history of abuse with the woman being beaten. The partner who was abusive has a drink problem. The woman ran away and hid from the abusive partner. Most likely she had help from the church or went into a sheltered loving community. There, she met a lovely man and they formed a relationship. However, one day the abusive ex partner tracked her down. There was a terrible incident involving this victim and her abusive partner - most likely a shooting and death of a police officer. This badly effected his work colleague. The victims were taken to the hospital and at least one person died. The surgeon was given a choice on who to save. The victim of the child abuse - her children have been taken into care …… 'to get a better life.'
All of the above are some suppositions based on the many incidents in Lost which repeat but which are actually a retelling of the story. I think it is possible that what is happening on the 'island' is an examining and often a re-examining of the evidence of whoever is on trial. The island is a place which doesn't exist in the same way our own world does. It is used by persons as a place where they can really examine the motives of the accused and the witnesses first hand. There is a telling scene in the Pilot episode where Kate removes the shoes of a dead passenger and puts them on. There is the strange shot of Locke with an orange piece of fruit in his mouth. It seems to be a significant moment.
I think that the Losties are either the witnesses who are called to give evidence in a trial or they also could be the jury. In some way they could be the many people who were involved in the tragic events. There are many references in Lost to trials - both the strange trial in the Others camp - and the trial Kate faces when they leave the 'island.' There is a time when Locke opens the door and says 'No solicitors here.' There is a sign on the door saying No soliciting but maybe he is talking about legal solicitors.
The 'island' creates a way of the people to tell the story of what happened but to experience it from different perspectives - they can literally get into the shoes of the people involved and to see what led to the tragic events. They can in some way experience what happened as the characters in the tragic event grew up - to see what influenced them. Perhaps then, they can come to a truly GOOD verdict. A court case is like Locke said of backgammon - that it was like a game of two sides; one dark; one light. That seems to sum up a court situation - the accused is either black or white - they are either innocent or guilty. The prosecution and the defence seem to do what backgammon or the other games of Lost do - one moves and then another - there are strategies and counter-strategies.
I'd be glad to have comments.
Theory by Tinylamp
