Meaning vs. Consistency...
I am catching up on all the episodes of LOST with my wife this Holiday Season.
It is a great show, but it occurred to me this evening that I wonder if they're shooting for consistency without meaning. I say this because I am not certain that the two (meaning and consistency) are mutually tied together.
I can see a storyline continue with consistency in the characters actions that have been developed, and the viewers ascribing meaning to the whole thing. I find myself tottering on the edge of various meanings:
-The whole island is 'dead people' from various crashes and accidents that don't know they are dead yet, and they need to work out "their stuff" before being allowed into heaven. The "others" are assisting in this "angel work". This is the purgatory scenario.
-They are really still alive and the Dharma initiative started decades ago with genetically altered humans and even the surviving islanders were caught up in what appears to be fate, but is really a carefully orchestrated plot by the original Dharma group and Hanso Labs even started way before many of them thought to take flight 815
-It's a story of adventure and drama that is being made-up only a few episodes in advance taking the viewers input via the web boards as to their guessing what is going on and using THAT as fodder for new episodes - basically a new kind of participatory television making where we don't realize we are participating.
Frankly, I prefer scenario #1 and even though executive producers have denied this, I'd be fine with them lying to us to not let the cat out of the bag too early... which leads me back to my point... do we as viewers of LOST want meaning or consistency? and the bigger issue - do we as humans want meaning or consistency?
For the TV show, they could have me watching LOST for another couple seasons as long as they feed my need for some slowly-revealed meaning but keep consistent with the characters they have developed. Although, through back-story and character development via flashbacks, I could be lead into some inconsistencies that I would accept - as long as that "meaning" is still there on the horizon.
Unfortunately, if the "meaning" is always on the horizon, or I get teased too much, will I abandon the curiosity? I'm not sure. Would the show become some kind of dramatic "Gilligan's Island" with new adventures being the only thing that MIGHT grab my attention if the overarching meaning of "what is going on here" is never revealed? I mean, i still live life without REALLY knowing my own afterlife fate or why I am alive. I seem to be fine with that as long as there are some main consistencies established... I have a job, a home, a wife, a direction... without these would I fail to be motivated? Does the consistency itself bring about meaning? Would really knowing my own "ending" (or at least my next stage) dull my experience of this current existence?
I think the show LOST would serve the viewers well by having a final direction and closure at some point relatively soon... and if it turns out to be scenario #1 after all - then cool! I will always later reflect on what a brilliant series this was. I know I have been told (in Catholic School) to "pray for the LOST", so I can see all avenues pointing towards scenario #1. Frankly, if it is NOT scenario #1, I will have feel cheated. I don't care if the execs want to lie about people "figuring it out" too early... NOT telling us we "got it" now IS a wise choice... it's like God not telling us that there really is a heaven and purpose for all this and just giving us hints of it now and then to keep us interested in life. (So much more there to go off on a different tangent, but I won't ramble about that right now.)
I will say, though, that if LOST is something more like scenario #3, then that blows my mind as to what THAT means if I choose to keep my analogy of tying LOST together with a reflection of real life. First of all for the show, then cool for the TV execs to come up with a new mode of creating television, and for real life that could mean that we are all making it up as we go along (in life) and that our future or outcome depends more on what we decide it to be rather than a supreme being's established plan (i.e. God made us to see what we would do. Hmmm, can an omniscient being even possess the trait of curiosity?)
Okay, too much... my brain hurts... goodnight....
It is a great show, but it occurred to me this evening that I wonder if they're shooting for consistency without meaning. I say this because I am not certain that the two (meaning and consistency) are mutually tied together.
I can see a storyline continue with consistency in the characters actions that have been developed, and the viewers ascribing meaning to the whole thing. I find myself tottering on the edge of various meanings:
-The whole island is 'dead people' from various crashes and accidents that don't know they are dead yet, and they need to work out "their stuff" before being allowed into heaven. The "others" are assisting in this "angel work". This is the purgatory scenario.
-They are really still alive and the Dharma initiative started decades ago with genetically altered humans and even the surviving islanders were caught up in what appears to be fate, but is really a carefully orchestrated plot by the original Dharma group and Hanso Labs even started way before many of them thought to take flight 815
-It's a story of adventure and drama that is being made-up only a few episodes in advance taking the viewers input via the web boards as to their guessing what is going on and using THAT as fodder for new episodes - basically a new kind of participatory television making where we don't realize we are participating.
Frankly, I prefer scenario #1 and even though executive producers have denied this, I'd be fine with them lying to us to not let the cat out of the bag too early... which leads me back to my point... do we as viewers of LOST want meaning or consistency? and the bigger issue - do we as humans want meaning or consistency?
For the TV show, they could have me watching LOST for another couple seasons as long as they feed my need for some slowly-revealed meaning but keep consistent with the characters they have developed. Although, through back-story and character development via flashbacks, I could be lead into some inconsistencies that I would accept - as long as that "meaning" is still there on the horizon.
Unfortunately, if the "meaning" is always on the horizon, or I get teased too much, will I abandon the curiosity? I'm not sure. Would the show become some kind of dramatic "Gilligan's Island" with new adventures being the only thing that MIGHT grab my attention if the overarching meaning of "what is going on here" is never revealed? I mean, i still live life without REALLY knowing my own afterlife fate or why I am alive. I seem to be fine with that as long as there are some main consistencies established... I have a job, a home, a wife, a direction... without these would I fail to be motivated? Does the consistency itself bring about meaning? Would really knowing my own "ending" (or at least my next stage) dull my experience of this current existence?
I think the show LOST would serve the viewers well by having a final direction and closure at some point relatively soon... and if it turns out to be scenario #1 after all - then cool! I will always later reflect on what a brilliant series this was. I know I have been told (in Catholic School) to "pray for the LOST", so I can see all avenues pointing towards scenario #1. Frankly, if it is NOT scenario #1, I will have feel cheated. I don't care if the execs want to lie about people "figuring it out" too early... NOT telling us we "got it" now IS a wise choice... it's like God not telling us that there really is a heaven and purpose for all this and just giving us hints of it now and then to keep us interested in life. (So much more there to go off on a different tangent, but I won't ramble about that right now.)
I will say, though, that if LOST is something more like scenario #3, then that blows my mind as to what THAT means if I choose to keep my analogy of tying LOST together with a reflection of real life. First of all for the show, then cool for the TV execs to come up with a new mode of creating television, and for real life that could mean that we are all making it up as we go along (in life) and that our future or outcome depends more on what we decide it to be rather than a supreme being's established plan (i.e. God made us to see what we would do. Hmmm, can an omniscient being even possess the trait of curiosity?)
Okay, too much... my brain hurts... goodnight....
posted by Wooblemaster | 11:07 PM
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