While working today, I had an interesting thought about the way Richard has appeared dressed through most of the show.
Usually, Richard sports a nice button-down shirt, some slacks, and a well groomed head of hair. Yet the first time he meets Ben, he looks...well, to be blunt, rather shaggy. Yet we know from Jughead that in 1954 Richard was just as well-groomed and styling as he is in 1977 when meeting with Horace and still later on in the Losties' time.
So I got to thinking "Why the discrepancy? Did he just have a bad week out in the jungle with a bottle of Scotch?" but I think that the answer lies in the initial Dharma/Hostile conflicts and the later truce.
In Jughead, we learn that the Others approached the U.S. military peacefully and asked them to leave, only killing them after they refused to do so. Now, one would presume that they would have presented the DI with a similar offer. That is unless their current leader, possibly Widmore, decided "Oh no no, we tried that once before and we've still got a giant bomb buried out in the valley down south to prove it. This time, we're gonna get the drop on them." And so, there's a conflict, though this time instead of a small military troop they're dealing with scientists who happen to have a lot of security and a lot of weaponry. Widmore is held off and the DI are able to start setting up their little experiments. As they do this, the Others realize that these aren't just some guys who are planning on making a big hole with a bomb, they're actually there to find things out about the island and use its unique properties to do so. "This group," Widmore thinks, "can not be allowed to ! find out that my people are so knowledgeable about how special the island is. They might do anything to obtain that information. How do we keep them from knowing?" and he reaches the conclusion "They see us as just some crazed natives...crazed natives they shall have." Upon deciding this he approaces his people and tells them "Away with your button-down shirts and slacks, my friends, for to pull the wool over the eyes of these fools we shall appear as savages. Baggy shirts, torn pants, and wild facial-hair growth for all! Oh, and don't forget the guns."
I think that this, or something similar, could be the only reason Richard look that way: he was ordered to, for the purposes of deception. Theory by Spiral Nemesis
Usually, Richard sports a nice button-down shirt, some slacks, and a well groomed head of hair. Yet the first time he meets Ben, he looks...well, to be blunt, rather shaggy. Yet we know from Jughead that in 1954 Richard was just as well-groomed and styling as he is in 1977 when meeting with Horace and still later on in the Losties' time.
So I got to thinking "Why the discrepancy? Did he just have a bad week out in the jungle with a bottle of Scotch?" but I think that the answer lies in the initial Dharma/Hostile conflicts and the later truce.
In Jughead, we learn that the Others approached the U.S. military peacefully and asked them to leave, only killing them after they refused to do so. Now, one would presume that they would have presented the DI with a similar offer. That is unless their current leader, possibly Widmore, decided "Oh no no, we tried that once before and we've still got a giant bomb buried out in the valley down south to prove it. This time, we're gonna get the drop on them." And so, there's a conflict, though this time instead of a small military troop they're dealing with scientists who happen to have a lot of security and a lot of weaponry. Widmore is held off and the DI are able to start setting up their little experiments. As they do this, the Others realize that these aren't just some guys who are planning on making a big hole with a bomb, they're actually there to find things out about the island and use its unique properties to do so. "This group," Widmore thinks, "can not be allowed to ! find out that my people are so knowledgeable about how special the island is. They might do anything to obtain that information. How do we keep them from knowing?" and he reaches the conclusion "They see us as just some crazed natives...crazed natives they shall have." Upon deciding this he approaces his people and tells them "Away with your button-down shirts and slacks, my friends, for to pull the wool over the eyes of these fools we shall appear as savages. Baggy shirts, torn pants, and wild facial-hair growth for all! Oh, and don't forget the guns."
I think that this, or something similar, could be the only reason Richard look that way: he was ordered to, for the purposes of deception. Theory by Spiral Nemesis
