Now that I've had several months to sit and stew, there's one thing that has bummed me about Lost lately, and I've noticed it has just festered and has not gone away on its own.
But before I get to that, let me say:
As most of you here, I enjoy Lost. This is an understatement with all of the trivial knowledge I've absorbed maintaining the wiki. I am (barring Exposé) a very loyal fan.
Lost is the type of fiction that invites the kind of analysis that would support one of the largest wikis on the Internet.
The writers and props people take care to insert details that interconnect, often across episodes and even seasons. TPTB actually have faith in the intelligence of the viewer, and don't spoon feed it to you then hammer it violently into your face for good measure like Heroes. The self-consistent details are just there, so when you look harder, anywhere you look, they emerge. It's not a LOTR level of detail, but for television it's impressive, (and perhaps unprecedented in this new age of HD and online memes), and the effect is the same: I really begin to believe in this universe, that it could really exist.
It's not real, but it has a undeniable sense of reality.
Unfortunately, in Season 3, this sense has been somewhat eroded, and I have to actually work to maintain my suspension of disbelief. I don't mean storyline stuff like: "I don't believe the whole Skate interaction at the cages was realistic."
What bothers me is the really obvious stuff that just shouts out: THIS IS FAKE, and it does so intentionally. For me, the anagrams do this. There is no need for HOFFS DRAWLAR mortuary. There is no need for HERARAT Aviation. MITTELOS Bioscience: ditto.
Some fans may call these Easter eggs and eagerly consume them so that they can pat themselves on the back for being überfan-enough to know them all.
To me, these are nothing more than self-indulgent graffiti. It is a glaring sore in Lost's fabric of reality just so the TPTB can say "Kilroy was here". It is simply not believable, the names are not believable, and because it is totally inconsistent with the rest of the universe of Lost, the only explanation for the existence of these names is something that comes from outside the universe of Lost. Could Jack actually have stopped and decoded the anagram and changed his storyline? No, the message was not meant for him, or anyone else in the Lost universe. Hence, my new need for the suspension of disbelief.
The anagrams in these obvious places are completely unlike the coincidences in the crossing flashbacks of the characters, which are firmly rooted in storyline and the mythology of how the universe of Lost operates. It is also unlike small references like Eddie's Geronimo Jackson shirt, or small references to The Lost Experience (TLE) like considerably more obscure Korean sign and conversation in D.O.C.
Speaking of TLE, I had no problems with anagrams there because it was an intrinsic part of a game, and its canonicity is a grey area.
Ethan Rom I could handle, because the names are real; there really are people named Ethan and those with the surname Rom, and to me this is just part of mythology and allegory much like the use of Philosophers' names: Locke, Rousseau, Alpert, Bakunin, etc.
But a big sign with a name inconsistent with the universe of Lost? That's a visual I can't ignore, and to me it's worse than product placement. Hoffs Drawlar is just as bad as if I saw a real advertisement for the upcoming presidential election on a billboard during a flashback. TPTB shouldn't toy with the universe, even if it is theirs.
Comments?
Ethan Rom is an anagram of Other Man.
ReplyDeleteMakes your post a lil inconsistent..
Santa - great post. I agree that there are moments when it feels like the producers are talking directly to viewers & bypassing the characters. But here's the question - what if it turns out that such "coincidences" are no more outside the narrative world than references to the numbers, crossovers, etc.? What if it is later revealed that the anagrams & other easter eggs are motivated by some internal logic like the numbers? How does that change the way in which we watch, and look back at our comprehension of such moments? And then, ultimately, how can we judge a massive puzzle like Lost while we're immersed in it?
ReplyDeleteGreat, great, great post. Parts of a show that take the viewer out of the storyline are a problem with any series. Lost is unique because after a show airs there is a lot of discussion about what just happened. There is so much dialog that occurs after the show, outside of any story line, that discussing anagrams and easter eggs flows naturally as part of that.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, Jack wouldn't have figured out the funeral home anagram, just like we didn't (well most of us) while we were watching the finale. It wasn't until after the show, when we were done being wrapped up in the world of Lost, that were we able to take a step back and look at things differently.
Analyzing Lost requires you to leave the storyline anyway, and think of things in all possible lights. Anagrams just gives more depth and creativity to a show that doesn't need it, and if anything, that's the problem.
Y'know, I hadn't really paid this much attention until you brought it up. Well said. And I think I'm inclined to agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIf a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?
ReplyDeleteBelieve!
Hoffs is a last name. Mittelos is a German word. All of them are barely visible background signs.
ReplyDeleteFace it: the average viewer doesn't know or care about any of these easter eggs. They're meant to be fun for the obsessive viewer. No deeper meaning is needed.
First, it was technically The Others who made up MITTELOS & HERARAT, and you must admit that they have done stranger things than coming up with fake names for businesses in order to recruit people!
ReplyDeleteSecond, HOFFS DRAWLAR may be a bit unrealistic, but, as mentioned already, Hoffs is a real surname, and drawler is an obscure word, so it really isn't all that far off from reality.
Personally, I had much bigger problems with the season 3 finale than the name of the funeral parlor where (Locke?) was coffinated. :)
Santa- Interesting view on the easter eggs and how they can potentially take interest away from the "reality" of the show to make it less "realistic". but like that anonymous name said, the majority of the people dont even notice that stuff anyway and therefore, are never affected by it. And seeing as we have a very intense season coming up, you should somehow find a way not to notice these sort of minor things, since they seem to impact your take on the show.
ReplyDeleteand to ethan rom, im pretty sure that santa did indeed clear up his point about ethan and real names, not making his opinion inconsistent.
"Ethan Rom I could handle, because the names are real; there really are people named Ethan and those with the surname Rom, and to me this is just part of mythology and allegory much like the use of Philosophers' names: Locke, Rousseau, Alpert, Bakunin, etc."
Well said. There is self-indulgent grafitti on Lost and the show would be stronger without it.
ReplyDeletecurt