Lost - Can a TV Show Teach us Anything?
By now, if you've read anything I've written, you can tell that I've got lots of questions. Questions about the veracity and intelligence of elected representatives or public officials, questions about everything. Well I have a question about the TV show
Lost. Phenomenon might be too strong a word. Certainly the network's rather stupid scheduling of endlessly repeating reruns of certain episodes has worked against rather than for the show. I mean, I get it, let's move on. Even my wife is a "fan", so much so that the children saw the writing on the wall and gave her the first season on DVD. Not quite so much a fan though that she has yet to open the package! I have to admit that it is one of the more intriguing of the fictional shows on television, most of which I can't stand to watch as the characters make endless goofs in the name of "drama". But, it has sparked a plethora of related web sites covering every aspect of the show.
If you want to catch up on the show or learn all the ins and outs there is one site that I can recommend and that is
Lostpedia. Like the predecessor
Wikpedia, Lostpedia is a compilation of all knowledge of all things
Lost related.
As a viewer the show has progressed for me from a weak entry in the
Lord of the Flies clones, to a possible depiction of a mass consignment to purgatory, to a mystery of sorts, with many twists and turns and tremendous drama/excitement that comes at other than the formulaic time. So what's my question? Well, is this simple entertainment? Is it more? Does it explore the human condition? Intentionally or accidentally?
One of the great attractions of the show is to follow the supposedly coincidental links between each of the characters and the island on which they are apparently stranded. There are the recurring numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42), the sometimes transitory and sometimes influential unknowing interactions between the various characters BEFORE the plane crash on the island. There are the island mysteries like the wrecked sailing ship "Black Rock" high on dry land, the Colossus of Rhodes like four-toed statuary foot, fake advertising (?) for the
Hanso Foundation, and the "others" (with names like Ms. Klugh). Apparently this has been enough to draw in a wide range of hard-core fans.
So, at least some think that a TV show with a fictional story can teach us something. What do you think? Perhaps the answer is that we are so in need of answers we'll look anywhere.
