Before I could really delve into the world of Lost I thought I should give an intro with a brief summary of Lost for those who don’t watch and a refresher course for those who do. If you’ve ever seen the show you know that there is absolutely no way- even with my fast talking- to pack it all in but here’s a little crash course that’s pretty imperative to understand the rest of the travelogue.
http://www.vimeo.com/4055834
transcript: (as a transcript lover myself i kind of recommend the video its short and fast)
So before really cracking down on the virtual worlds of Lost I thought I would do a little bit of a recap of the first five seasons. for those of you who don’t watch lost this can give you an idea of why people are so addicted and perhaps some insight into how the nature of the show feeds the online community it has created, and give me, a lost addict, the opportunity to talk about Lost a little.
So, for the most basic understanding of Lost you have to have a heads up that there is an extensive mythology around the show. You have to suspend belief for a little and believe that every bizarre thing that happens is part of the greater mythology and will later be important. As far as structure, lost introduces small ideas and events and characters that are later brought back and made important in some way by tying into another small instance and giving us a piece of the puzzle that we are scrambling to put together as we watch. The puzzle piece might come together in the next episode, or, more likely, four seasons later- so, once you start watching, you kind of have to stay tuned. That being said here’s a small breakdown of each season- really small, I mean really basic Lost 101:
Season 1: Oceanic flight 815 crashes on what appears to be a deserted island that is so beautiful it could be a tropical vacation if they weren’t living in the ruins of a plane and debating what to do with the decomposing bodies. All the survivors of the crash are beautiful. Their lives are threatened by a strange black cloud of smoke that is basically alive, a polar bear, an invisible monster and “others.” The “others” are the other inhabitants of the island. they find a hatch in the ground and meet a french woman.
Season 2: They fight with the others, find out there are survivors from the tail end of the plane crash, debate faith vs science, and press a button in that hatch to stay alive and keep some crazy magnetic force that surrounds the island and protects the world at bay.
Season 3: Was the really bad season that lost (no pun intended) a lot of viewers so we’ll skip it because it did nothing good or important which explains why people stopped watching.
Season 4: Was kind of a mess because of the writers strike but managed to bring back some of the lost audience. a quote un quote rescue team arrives on the island and six of the main characters get off of the island.
Season 5: the “oceanic six” are back in the real world but still metaphorically lost. Infact they are more lost than when they were on the island. brilliant.
So, there you go lost 101. If you haven’t been sucked into the lost phenomenon yet wait until the summer so that you don’t completely abandon the rest of the semester and all of your academic responsibilities.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- LOST: Real/Fake? (4) | Patricia
- Adios SL! (5) | andrea_arellano
- Pascui Carlucci can be a student at NYU too! (7) | andrea_arellano
5 Comments
I’ve always wondered what was up with Lost and why everyone is so crazy about it…. your explaination in the begining of the video clears up a lot. I would try to watch it but it’s structure seems so elusive and scattered, I could never follow the story-line. So this is part of the aesthetic, and it adds to the suspense of the show. For your next post, I would be interested to see how this basic aesthetic element of the show creates a devoted fan base (and conversely confused casual viewers), and how this aesthetic lends itself to the development of online fan-communities…
Yeah I agree with Petra I never understood Lost…I wondered how could people be “lost” for five seasons? But I guess since this is such a big phenomenon it will be interesting to see how this show with such a huge fan base and which is based on a sort of “out of reality” world has created a fan based which has become “out of touch with reality”.
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80U1NlhKu8
This little summary sums up some more in depth details.
“If you haven’t been sucked into the lost phenomenon yet wait until the summer so that you don’t completely abandon the rest of the semester and all of your academic responsibilities.”
Uh-oh. I think it’s already too late for me. Senioritis to the max, plus I’m all for LaFleur.
I remember that you were saying that the Internet has made it easier for fans to feel as though the program were “real” via phony airline sites. I mentioned this in class, but I think consumers of new media have come a long way from the War of the Worlds radio fiasco; if it doesn’t seem real, it probably isn’t.
I was going to recommend the video Valerie posted. I feel like between that, and your own summary people could get a pretty good (though basic) idea of Lost…though I think it would be impossible to understand every little bit even if you have watched the every episode. Lost like to keeps it’s viewers slightly “lost” at all times