The Game of Lost
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Worst Tiler of http://lost-forum.com/ believes "Lost" might be just be a reality show:
This show, LOST, is a TV show about a TV show. What we are watching every week is the weekly installment of a next-generation reality show. All of the characters we all know and love are just that – characters created by the “producers” of this reality show. Each “contestant” is programmed with a character, complete with memories and skills necessary to play the game.
Why the contestants are given fake identities and memories:
Today, reality shows, though once popular, are definitely on the decline as far as ratings go. At first it was fascinating to watch people deal with living on an island on Survivor (or in the desert, wherever) and going through different tasks for points, seeing how each person interacts with the rest of the group, etc. HOWEVER, ratings on this show in particular (and all reality shows in general) are tumbling because the premise gets old after a while.
But what if, in the future, they pop this up a level? The producers of the show take ordinary people who apply and are selected to participate in the game (just like today with Survivor). These contestants KNOW that they will have their memories replaced with those of a character, and willingly enter into the contest, probably for a large cash prize at the end ($50 million or some other outrageous sum) if they do indeed make it to the end.
This would enable the television audience to watch “ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances” (which is a direct quote from LOST producer Lindelof about what LOST is really about) with a more heightened sense of drama – something that is missing in the reality shows of today. Sure, the contestants on Survivor face challenges, have to hunt for food, etc., but they know they are on a TV show, so they will never really get terrified, or fear for their lives, or anything else that the LOST survivors are going through. It makes much better television if the contestants can really be scared senseless, and the only way that can truly be accomplished is if they are made unaware of the fact that they are on a TV show. Once that is accomplished, all the producers/writers of the show have to do is make strange noises in the forest, have a “monster” in the forest, send “Others” in to kidnap and terrorize them, and you have one HECK of a show (obviously, since all of us watching it are so obsessed).
How they are given fake memories:
Each contestant is implanted with a chip that somehow blocks their real memories, and instead supplies each of them with their character memories. Originally I thought these chips were inserted in their brains (makes sense), however, there are other posts on this board that discuss the show’s focus on characters eyes. THAT is where the chips are implanted – either on the retina of their eye or the optic nerve.
These chips not only suppress their real memories, but are able to pick up transmitted memories/thoughts sent by the writers/producers of the show. Each of the character flashbacks we see are the memories being input into their minds. Moreover, as we are seeing the flashbacks, the contestants are seeing those memories at the same moment as well – and most likely for the first time!
At first, the survivors are given general information about their characters – information that would most likely come up when they first start talking to each other. However, as the game progresses, you would need to be able to supply each of the contestants with more specific memories.
Case in point – in the episode Orientation, after Locke is left alone, he cries out “what am I supposed to do?!?!” and is obviously upset. Cut to commercial. When we return, it is a flashback of him and Helen at the gate of his father’s home and she is begging him to return with her and make his “leap of faith”. The flashback ends and we cut back to Locke, who is crying on the floor when Kate walks in. Locke is crying because at that moment, he is experiencing the memory of this as the writers/producers are downloading the memory into his brain at that moment! When Kate calls his name, he immediately stops crying and seems to “snap out of it” and pull himself together. It could be that he was just caught up in the memory – but it is more likely that he was just then getting that memory downloaded to him. Also, his memory dealt with a “leap of faith”, which immediately comes into play when he asks Jack to do the same and press the button. The producers/writers give the characters these memories as a tool to help them play the game – if you decipher the memory correctly and use it in the game, you are successful. Notice, that each time we are shown a flashback, something in that memory comes into play directly after - either a parallel situation or a clue to solve an immediate problem. Continue reading...
Honestly, what reality show could get away with blowing up a unknowing "actor" and not get into some trouble?
---Don't Worry, Be Happy —Bob Marley
Posted byNick at 5:59 PM
