Sunday, May 30, 2010

Lost and its similarity to Titanic

Even though Lost ended a week ago, I still find myself thinking about it and talking about it with Friends. Regardless of how you feel about the big reveal, that's the mark of a quality show - it gets people talking. Well, recently I was listening to the radio and the 1990s classic "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic played and I realized just where else I had seen the idea of a shared afterlife.

As the biggest grossing moving of all time, besides that other James Cameron movie, most everyone is familar with the ending. Rose, after spending the last 3 hours reliving her time on the Titanic and with Jack, she passes away. In the afterlife, she's once again reunited with all those lost souls from the ship, even though she spent at least 50 years of her life married to another man and raising a family. Even though she spent decades with her family and husband, the most important time of her life were those days on the Titanic.

The most important time of the Lostie's lives were on that island. It's especially true for those who died there, but even those that got off that rock and led full lives after. For example, Claire got off the island and presumably was able to raise Aaron herself and become a fully integrated member of society again.

Do you agree? What are your thoughts on the shared afterlife that Lost put forward in its finale?

4 comments:

  1. "As the biggest grossest moving of all time"... you might have meant grossing. or you might have meant grossest. Either way, I can't argue that much. :)

    As for my thoughts on the finale, I loved it. I have thought about it more than I do most movies or plays the week after I see them. I also think that the open nature of the interpretation of the afterlife is both genius and very true. People have been watching it and saying "oh, that's just heaven" or "oh, that's purgatory" or "oh, they're in nirvana" or "oh, it's still just a scientific reality that was created by the bomb." People have been mapping their own beliefs onto it. But really, how do you answer the question "what is the afterlife?" I think it's perfect. Well, except for the issue of Michael. I'm working on a more in-depth analysis for my blog, jsgrosch.wordpress.com, and you can find more of my thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha didn't notice that typo...fixed it, thanks! And yeah, it was a great finale. There was no way it was going to satisfy everyone, since there were just too many loose ends and mysteries unsolved. I thought they did a great job of making giving everyone emotional closure, and really that's what I cared about more. The mystery and mythology stuff was interesting, but many shows have lost the emotional core needed after diving too deeply into that realm (Alias, for example). Lost found a pretty solid balance of the two and carried it all the way through until the end.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In the finale it never said how they all died, and if they are reunited in the church to go to "heaven" or wherever... then how come they are not all there. and why didnt ben go into the church? im still confused about lost
    -jd

    ReplyDelete
  4. jd,

    I'm not sure how they all died, but some of them stayed back because they are "not ready" as Desmond put it. For Ben, he might want to stick around longer and enjoy the time that he has with Alex and Rousseau.

    As for others like Charlotte, Lapidus or maybe even Walt, it might be that the time spent on the island wasn't the most important thing that happened to them.

    ReplyDelete