Criticism of Lost
I hear a lot of criticism about the show Lost. I think most of it is unfounded. The most major point of criticism is that the show doesn't let you in on the secret.
Okay, there are two groups of people on the island. One that knows what's going on. One that doesn't. If you are in the latter group, and you encounter a member of the former, they put you in a cage and lock you up. Of course they don't want to tell you what's going on because...they don't, and whatever their reasons are, they are reasons that have forced them away from civilization for probably the rest of their lives. They're serious about this, and one of the things they're serious about is not telling anyone what they're doing.
That's realism. From a purely artistic standpoint, thankfully they don't tell. If they did, the writers would have to come up with new mysteries. Talk about jumping the shark. A weirdness that will eventually be revealed is one thing, but if it just gets replaced by a different equally weird weirdness, that's no good.
Here's the thing that the show really has a problem selling--when the group that doesn't know what's going on gets a hold of people who do, they dilly dally. They play football or talk about the plant life. They don't ask the serious questions. WHY? If you want to criticise the show, talk about why one of the "others" hasn't yet had been tortured to death for information. Oh, I know, someone will say that they DID torture one of the others for information. No, they didn't. Otherwise, they'd know what was going on by now.
This is a problem with realism. It's more than intricate plots. You have to figure out why the good guys just don't call the police. You have to figure out why they just don't shoot the bad guy instead of building elaborate traps. You have to figure out why misunderstandings don't just get cleared up by simple conversations.
In the case of Lost, you have to figure out why the "good guys" haven't gotten the whole story out of the "bad guys"--you have to give them suicide teeth to keep them from being interrogated, or you have to have daring rescues, or they have to just disappear in the night. Something. You lose realism when the whole thing could be cleared up by someone saying to a captured other, "tell me what you're doing here or I'll kill you," and then having that other live with them peacefully in their village for a week without giving away one secret.
Okay, there are two groups of people on the island. One that knows what's going on. One that doesn't. If you are in the latter group, and you encounter a member of the former, they put you in a cage and lock you up. Of course they don't want to tell you what's going on because...they don't, and whatever their reasons are, they are reasons that have forced them away from civilization for probably the rest of their lives. They're serious about this, and one of the things they're serious about is not telling anyone what they're doing.
That's realism. From a purely artistic standpoint, thankfully they don't tell. If they did, the writers would have to come up with new mysteries. Talk about jumping the shark. A weirdness that will eventually be revealed is one thing, but if it just gets replaced by a different equally weird weirdness, that's no good.
Here's the thing that the show really has a problem selling--when the group that doesn't know what's going on gets a hold of people who do, they dilly dally. They play football or talk about the plant life. They don't ask the serious questions. WHY? If you want to criticise the show, talk about why one of the "others" hasn't yet had been tortured to death for information. Oh, I know, someone will say that they DID torture one of the others for information. No, they didn't. Otherwise, they'd know what was going on by now.
This is a problem with realism. It's more than intricate plots. You have to figure out why the good guys just don't call the police. You have to figure out why they just don't shoot the bad guy instead of building elaborate traps. You have to figure out why misunderstandings don't just get cleared up by simple conversations.
In the case of Lost, you have to figure out why the "good guys" haven't gotten the whole story out of the "bad guys"--you have to give them suicide teeth to keep them from being interrogated, or you have to have daring rescues, or they have to just disappear in the night. Something. You lose realism when the whole thing could be cleared up by someone saying to a captured other, "tell me what you're doing here or I'll kill you," and then having that other live with them peacefully in their village for a week without giving away one secret.
posted by Monstro D. Whale at
7:46 AM
4 Comments:
Hi, Monstro.
I would tread very carefully on your use of the word 'realism' here. I think you're talking about verisimilitude here. Also, form an artistic point of view, you need some other things, like keep the story moving, and the show has been failing to do that.The writers are consciously delaying the story, it seems, and people can tell. I think this is what they mean when they complain that the show doesn't let you in on the secret.
You don't necessarily need to reveal weirdness A, and then move to weirdness B. Weirdness B could be a core secret of weirdness B.
In part, I do agree with you. I preferred the idea of not knowing what the others were, or what was inside the hatch. Once it was revealed, the show changed substantially.
I stopped watching television about a year ago, figuring it was largely a waste of time. I figure, if history declares any particular series to be truly great, it'll eventually come out on DVD, and maybe I'll catch it then. The only downside is being more or less out of the loop conversation-wise. Lost does sound intriguing, though. I suppose it'll be out on DVD sooner or later. Honestly, though, I can't shake the feeling that I'm participating in the whole "idiot box" thing whenever something like Americal Idol is on.
Most nights, I read, play the piano, go running, hang out with my daughter / wife, and write.
I don't mean to sound too noble about it all, though. In reality, I'm just way too prone to vegging out infront of a TV set. If I were able to do things more in moderation, I could have cable TV and not live in fear of wasting my life away. So, I had to make a conscious decision to avoid such temptation.
I lived without TV for three years and the only problem I found was that whenever I was in a room where a TV set was on, I could pay attention to nothing besides the television. Et tu?
My wife watches television while I blog or play computer games or water plants or otherwise avoid the television. It really helps that she watches shows that I don't really care about.
Then one of my friends comes over on Friday nights and we veg-out to Stargate, Battlestar G, and Dresden for a few hours, which are all set to record on the DVR. No commercials that way!
Having had my television fix, I'm good for the week.
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