Journal Marxist Hacker 42's Journal: My thoughts on the last episode of Lost 4
Mild spoilers, but no details.
Catholicism vs Tibetan Buddhism with Star Wars thrown in.
Just as Star Wars (well, the six movies and the Clone Wars cartoon Series, according to George Lucas) was really all about the Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker, so too Lost was the Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Jack Shepherd.
Which makes Season Six into all about Purgatory/The Great Bardo.
The Island turned out to be Dante's Purgatory (funny, when I read La Divina Comedia back in High School, I said Hawaii was Purgatory. Guess the Lost creators agreed with me, somewhat). Jack was destined for Heaven to begin with, but needed to purge himself (quite painfully at times) of his daddy issues and individualism to get there (ended up being a slave in service to the Island and dying that way). Six years of purging, from opening his eyes after being ejected from the plane in the bamboo grove of the first season, to closing his eyes in death in the bamboo grove in the very last scene. ALL other characters were secondary- including the most infamous Hugo, who supposedly was Jack's candidate to take his place, and Jacob, who was the protector of the Island before Jack. The real storyline, throughout it all, was Jack's rise, fall, and redemption.
The flash sideways timeline in a parallel universe, turned out to be a Tibetan Bardo for all of Oceanic Flight 815- they needed to reunite to be able to move on to Heaven. And here too, last to realize what was really going on, was Jack, meeting his father in the back room of the Church, with all the identifying symbols of the world's six greatest religions (Star of David, Cross,Star and Crescent, Ohm, Dharmacakra, and YinYang) in a stained glass behind him.
The island was not purgatory! (Score:2)
The island, as stated by the developers was not purgatory in any way shape or form. When Jack says, "this is real, and it does matter", he was not wrong. The island was a literal cork, holding hell at bay from the living.
However, the alternate-timeline was the purgatory/bardo entirely.
Everyone who is "secondary", is only secondary because the story is told from Jack's perspective.
Everyone that came to the island had a shitty life, that's why they were brought to the island. The Daddy/Mommy issues were a
Re: (Score:2)
Despite the idea of the island as a literal cork and the statement from the writers, here's why I see the island as purgatory: It was a place of redemption.
It's that simple. That's what purgatory means to me. One last chance to realize what the truth is, and one last chance to redeem oneself for the truth.
And yes, to me purgatory IS Real and Does Matter.
One unanswered question for me is "who was the Smoke Monster"? Jacob's brother doesn't fit- for the SM was obviously on the island in Egyptian times (fr
Re: (Score:2)
It's that simple. That's what purgatory means to me. One last chance to realize what the truth is, and one last chance to redeem oneself for the truth.
Ok, to clarify better. The individuals on the island were not dead.
Your analogy also fails, because Jack left the island. In fact, he didn't realize his need for redemption until he left the island.
And yes, to me purgatory IS Real and Does Matter.
True, I understand your opinion. As well, within the context and mythos of the show, the alternate time line was most certainly real. However, it didn't matter as much. Basically, the actions and events taken there did not have truly lasting effects. Jack didn't have a son.
One unanswered question for me is "who was the Smoke Monster"? Jacob's brother doesn't fit- for the SM was obviously on the island in Egyptian times (from the hieroglyphs on the wall of the temple) but Jacob's biological mother arrived in Roman times (from the use of Latin as a common language).
The Hatch had hieroglyphs as well.
Re: (Score:2)
One unanswered question for me is "who was the Smoke Monster"? Jacob's brother doesn't fit- for the SM was obviously on the island in Egyptian times (from the hieroglyphs on the wall of the temple) but Jacob's biological mother arrived in Roman times (from the use of Latin as a common language).
Well, I think it's certainly plausible that, although Jacob's brother was the smoke monster we saw active on the island, he wasn't the *only* smoke monster that has ever existed on the island. There were people on the island before Jacob/MiB ever got there. Doesn't seem too much of a stretch to imagine that the MiB wasn't the first guy to get tossed down the golden-hole (indeed, the skeletons we see down there attest to that).