Sunday, December 23, 2012

I'm feeling a little 'LOST'

The indieattic has always taken a blasé if not slightly hostile stance toward the television, but I am here to spoil our angelic appearance of anti-tv activists. We actually watch a lot of TV shows. And by a lot, I mean, Kelcey, Meg and Teresa are so in love with Grey's Anatomy, that they refer to it simply as "Grey's." Hillary can tell you that your 'favorite' tv show is actually a remake from either Great Britannia or the 80s and introduced me to Psych. Not to mention she (the exception of Todd Corey) is the only other person who watches Community. And let us not forget how many blogposts I have written about Anthony Bourdain (but he is more of a life style choice, arguably)









So, now that you know my favorites, you will get to hear about my all time favorite tv show. I can say with pride and some shame that I saw every single episode of this six season series in real time... aka: I NEVER MISSED AN EPISODE! Wednesday nights, I would plan everything around them. I needed to be home by 9:00pm to watch, you better believe it, LOST


Now I know, the finale came out in May of 2010, this is sooo old news. But after doing my routine indieattictivities, I took a world religions class and started to think about LOST more. There were always little things in the show that struck me as odd for popular tv: naming the characters after famous philosophers, having a tv show that sold for its intelligent plots, and the most noticeable was the religious connotations woven into every episode. 

So lets start with some simple things: 
  1. There was a plane crash 
  2. Everyone on cast is attractive 
  3. The episode's were so confusing they forced you to use the terrible pun, "I just got lost"
  4. If you skipped even one episode you were so lost (see what I mean?) 
  5. No one liked the Series Finale
this is just funny. and more dramatic than the finale.

With those in mind, let us discuss the religious elements that are my favorite to think about:
  1. The Wheel of Dharma- other than the obvious connection to the Dharma Initiative on the Island, the wheel that Ben and then Locke and then Hurley turn to move the Island represents the Wheel of Dharma in Buddhism. A simple history of the wheel, it can be turned in either direction, either toward or away from enlightenment. It also travels through three rotations, the way it is turned depends on the actions during the life it is spinning in. The three rotations can be seen as (if we treat the island as religion itself) life going to the island, life not going to the island and (flash sideways) life if the island did not exist
     
  2. There are so many references to Christianity (mainly Catholocism) but the naming of Christian Shepard (Jack's dad) and the fact that Jack took on a very Jesus role on the island, ulitmatly making a lasting sacrifice (while he was afflicted with cross like wounds) while sharing water (communion) with Hurley in the last episodes to bless him. 
  3. The Dharma logo is stolen directly from the Taoist tenent of duality, leading to the themes of judtaposed elements, black and white, good and evil, heaven and hell, etc. 
  4. The Purge- a reverse colonization with religious tones. The natives overthrowing the Dharma team with poisonous gas, killing almost everyone. but my thought keeps going back to, who were the natives? where did they come from? and who/what do they represent in the island that is not heaven, hell or purgatory??
  5. But the best reference to religion is when Ben tells Locke, "God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this island any better than the rest of the world can."
go think, read some religious text, or just go watch tv, 
rach

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