Live Together, Die Alone…Or, Lessons Learned From LOST (Part 1)

On the surface, Lost is a show with the premise that is just about everyone’s worst nightmare. Being in a plane crash, surviving, but being on a deserted (so you think) island with 30 total strangers. You expect help to arrive any time now…but it doesn’t. Then very wierd things start to happen; people disappear, you realize you are not alone on the island, but are sharing it with person(s) unknown who want to harm you.

That’s the basic jist of it, and one could think of it as an updated telling of Gilligan’s Island, except there’s no professor or MaryAnn on this island! Each of the main characters on Lost is morally ambiguous at best. Ony one character, Hurley, seems to have a moral compass that points due north. The others are con men, murders, torturers, manipulators, mafiosos, and worse. They are all broken, and we know it, thanks to flashbacks to the lives of the survivors before the crash.

A book I’ve recently been reading, The Gospel According to LOST by Chris Seay seeks to understand the phenomenon that is LOST in terms of our Christian faith, and what light this show’s themes can shine on us, as we continue to seek the mercy and love of God. I borrow some quotes from the book in going through the lessons and themes from LOST.

Life is a Battlefield! LOST is a telling of the epic battle: the island is the stage it is told on. The epic battle I am referring to, of course, is the battle between good and evil, much like the story told in Narnia, Middle Earth, or Hogwarts. This story, however, has a twist. The lines of good and evil become blurred. We start the story rooting for the survivors, who are lucky to be alive, and then become the target of the mysterious “Others”. Then we find out more about the survivors’ lives off the island, and we’re not so sure anymore.

Sayid tortures Sawyer, only to find out Sawyer was innocent. Oops. Perhaps the good guys and bad guys aren’t so easily distinguished. “The inhabitants of the island often combat evil in all the wrong ways. Sophocles said, ‘All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil’ , and this is a lesson the Losties have yet to learn” (15).

The truth of the matter is, we are like they are. We too, try to rid the evil in our midst by doing things which are ultimately evil themselves. A recent example includes the man who is on trial now for murdering late-term abortionist George Tiller. As evil as the actions of Dr. Tiller were, it was not a justifiable reason for another person to end his life.    And yet, we are also capable of great kindness. Darkness and light exist simultaneously.

“We see it in the ways the Losties relate to one another. We see it in the ways they interact with the Others…the show uses this concept of duality to communicate the idea of epic and personal struggle – the struggle that pits us against each other, against God, and even against what lies deep within ourselves. Ultimately, this may be what it is about Lost that rings particularly true – we are all filled with good and evil, our motives are mixed, and a battle is being waged within each of us on a daily basis” (17).

No One is Beyond Redemption: Kate and Sayid

Sayid is an Iraqi man; Sayid worked as a torturer for the Iraqi Army, though he was trained by the US in his “tactics”. He is employed to “do his thing” twice on the island, once to get Sawyer to give back an inhaler he never had, and again on “Henry Gale” (aka Ben Linus) to try and get information from him. Neither of these attempts work, and one can’t help but be left with the conviction that torture is very, very bad, not just for those who are tortured, but for those who do the torturing as well.

Seay says, “ Sayid battles his capacity for evil throughout the entire series; he has seen what lies inside himself, and he is tormented by it. He cannot believe himself to be a good man, because he understands the potential for destruction. It is this – not his potential, not his past, but his surrender – that is the great tragedy of Sayid’s life. He belives himself to be past the point of redemption…and so when we catch up with him in season 5, he is working for charity in an attempt to atone for his mistakes” (40).

If there was a homecoming dance on the island, Kate would be the queen. I am sure she is the reason that many boys and men watch Lost. I am also quite sure that I could do without another scene where she’s either taking off or putting on some of her clothing, ever again. That said, there’s something about Kate. She is in turns sweet and badass. She’ll help you deliver your baby, or break a plate over your head, depending on what your assessed threat level is.

Kate has her own set of ethics, one that included blowing up her father in order to free her mother from abuse. Kate, like Sayid, wonders if she can ever change. “She is haunted by guilt – not the gilt of her actions, but the guilt of who she is, or who she may be. Like Sayid, Kate is frightened by her potential within, afraid that that she is not (nor ever will be) good.” However, Kate does change on the island. She confronts her fears and, “becomes someone who’s sure of what’s wrong and right, someone who can be a mother, who can take care of others. She assits Claire in the delivery of Aaron, and encourages her…” (50).

I too, often wonder how I can ever hope to become a good person. Life often seems to be three steps forward, five steps back. I have never killed or tortured anyone, but sin is sin. And a sinner I surely am. But Lost shows me, that even in cases of people who have done very bad things, redemption is possible. For the Losties, it became possible when they crashed on the island. For me it becomes possible because of Christ, and because of the sacraments in His Church.

Pride Goes Before A Fall: The Story of Jack

Spinal surgeon Jack becomes the natural leader of the crash survivors. People look to him for guidance and re-assurance that rescue will come. As the show progresses, Jack comes to feel a sense of personal responsibility for getting “his people” off the island. Understandably so, when he succeeds in rescuing only 5 of the 40 or so people who crashed, his life back home begins to unravel.

He turns to alcohol and drugs (and a creepy beard!) in order to avoid facing the fact that he did the wrong thing. He was the natural leader, but he did not really want to lead, because he was not willing to listen or to follow. Jack is a perfect example of those of us blessed with a “messiah” complex. We feel personally responsible for the salvation of all those around us, and feel a need to fix every problem without the help of anyone else.

Jack believes in science, and he believes in himself. “In Jack’s worldview, everything is attainable through tangible, human ability; he is a man of faith, but his faith is fairly humanistic. He has no need for things he cannot see, because he can see his hands…He has his brain, and this is all he needs” (85).

Jack has all the makings of being a good leader, but he lacks one thing that is essential: hope. He seems to have hope of rescue, but it often gets lost in his focus on being pragmatic, and on his reliance on his logic. It takes his dismal failure in attempting to resuce the survivors (only actually rescuing 6 — then lying about it to the world), and the subsequent downward spiral into near madness for him to accept that he might have been wrong.

In Season 5, when Jack returns to the island, he is changed. He is happy to keep his surgeon status to himself, and to accept a job as a “workman” in the Dharma Initiative. He is basically a janitor, and he couldn’t be more pleased. He trusts that the island is where he was meant to be, and so he has undergone the transformation needed to let events unfold.

I can identify with Jack. How many times in my life have I plowed on with a course of action or idea, trusting in my own sense of what’s best for everyone else, just to have it blow up in my face. Only then can I stop and say…”oh. On second thought…” maybe I should have followed those subtle messages from God, showing me all the ways that my perfect plan wasn’t so perfect!”

It’s easy to want to take the place of Jesus (ie, being the be all end all), it’s much harder to patiently surrender to His will.

You know, this post is starting to get l-o-n-g, so I am going to wrap up here for now. Who knew a modern TV show could provide so much food for thought. A second installation of lessons learned from LOST may be in the works!