My op-ed piece appeared today in USA Today. The title is “God, the Devil and TV’s ‘Lost’.” Since it was shortened for publication, I thought I’d share the unedited version. Since everyone is wondering how LOST will end, it seems only fair to share the original ending of my op-ed piece!
Religion on LOST: Telling God from the Devil
by James F. McGrathSubtlety is not something we usually associate with television or religion. But for the last six years, ABC’s “Lost,” which ends its run on May 23rd, has provided viewers with nuanced concepts that have made it – at least for this religious scholar – appointment viewing.
Religion has played a prominent role on Lost since the series began on Sept. 22, 2004, with Oceanic Flight 815 crashing on a remote, mysterious and dangerous island. We’ve watched persistent conflict between a man of science and a man of faith. We’ve witnessed debates about baptism and appearances of the dead.
We’ve often wondered what was really going on, but even in our uncertainty, we knew that our bewilderment was part of what Lost was exploring: the question of where our lives are headed, and whether there is any meaning to it. Do we have a destiny, and if so, how do we figure out what it is?
This season, fans have been fixated on the mysterious characters of Jacob and the Man in Black. Many viewers assume that one represents God, the other the Devil. What I find most striking, as a religion scholar as well as a Lost fan, is how difficult it is to tell which is which.
In popular imagery there is little difficulty telling God from Satan. The former sits on a throne placed higher than anyone around him. The latter is usually given away by the horns and pitchfork. “Lost” never makes things so easy, as can be seen in some corners of the Internet, where debates rage over whether Jacob or the Man in Black is the good guy or the bad guy.
What, I wonder, if the best answer turns out to be “neither”?
This issue is one that has deep roots in both Western and Eastern religious traditions. In traditions like Judaism and Christianity, monotheism raises issues regarding how to account for evil in the world. As evil comes increasingly to be blamed on subordinate malevolent figures like the Devil, we find actions that were once attributed to God later being attributed to Satan. In the Bible, for instance, compare 2 Samuel 24, where it is the LORD who incites David to carry out a census, with the later 1 Chronicles 21, which says that Satan was responsible.
Telling God and Satan apart is apparently a challenge that existed long before Lost appeared on the air.
There is another possible background for the imagery of light and darkness on Lost. Yin and Yang in Taoist thought symbolize passive and active, cold and hot, dark and light. We see some of these attributes in the two intriguing figures who have been at the heart of this season’s drama on Lost. Jacob is more passive, and supposedly doesn’t tell people what to do, even though he influences the lives of many. The man in black is more active, and believes that people need to be told what to do and punished if they disobey. Both are working towards ends that have yet to be revealed.
For Lost to have a happy ending, does one side have to defeat the other? In Taoism, it is balance between opposing but ultimately complementary forces that is good, rather than a victory of either over the other.
As we await further answers to our questions and further explorations of these themes as Lost nears its finale, the show continues to provide us with much food for thought. And one of those interesting questions it raises is why it is possible for fans of the show to be so divided and uncertain about which of these characters represents God and which represents the Devil. Perhaps it is indicative of a deep cultural divide with regard to what Americans think God is like.
I’m glad they were able to get Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to address the topic of good and evil on LOST (not least because they confirm things I’ve long suspected!).
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/30317506001?isVid=1
There’s also a fantastic interactive web component on the USA Today web site exploring the connections between characters on LOST, with a particular focus on religion. It is entitled “‘Lost’ and faith: a tangled web of religious connections.” The video above is on there, as is the one below, also featuring Damon and Carlton, this time talking about spirituality and LOST. The interactive feature needs to be viewed in Safari or Firefox rather than Internet Explorer.
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/30317506001?isVid=1
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