"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The sidebar* to Chuck Klosterman's article in the May Esquire makes some good, troubling points about our favorite show.
For three seasons the ABC series "Lost" used flashbacks to illustrate elements of the narrative the audience never saw. Now they've gone the other way; now they're consistently using flash-forwards to show pats of the story we haven't yet experienced. It's made the series even more interesting than it already was. But something keeps occurring to me: Isn't this a dangerous move on behalf of the producers? They seem to be giving its central cast members the strongest negotiating leverage in TV history.
Let's say the actor who plays Sayid (Naveen Andrews) suddenly decides to ignore his current contract. Let's say he demands twice as much money as he's scheduled to receive and won't show up for work without it. What could ABC possibly do? They can't just feed him to the smoke monster and write him off the show; we already know he definitely exists in an abstract tomorrow. By actively showing the future, the screenwriters have relinquished their ability to control the present. An even greater (and admittedly morbid) problem would be accidental death: What if Michael Emerson (the actor who portrays Ben) died in a car accident? Would the show simply have to end? How could his absence be reconciled? There is no "News Radio" option for "Lost." Not any more.
We could end up with a whole new version of "Bewitched"'s two Darrins or "Roseanne"'s two Beckys.
Or, I guess with the whole time travel angle in play now, they could write someone off and just spin into a new future without the stubborn actor.
Bill, does this still count as having to look at a "Lost" post?
* Not available online.
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Comments on ""Lost" and Creative Myopia":
2. Bill
- 04/29/2008 1:22 pm CDT
I agree with you, Phil. If, for whatever reason, one of the actors was no longer available, the main problem would be filling in things between island time and the flash forwards we've already seen. But none of the flash-forwards take us to the end-game of the series (I believe), so I think they could work around things.
And the writers have shown that if they don't like you they can bury you alive, shoot you, or smash you against a tree pretty quickly.
3. Quaid
- 04/29/2008 2:39 pm CDT
"Where are you people getting time travel from?"
In the past episode, how did Ben end up in the middle of the desert with a fleece-lined parka on? There were no tracks to where he was.
I read online that the interpreted Arabic from the Bedouin said something to the effect of, "This man has left no tracks." "Where did he come from, the sky?"
I think time travel is appropriate, especially when you regard the Orchid station video released prior to this season on the ABC web site.
Back to the post. I don't understand his point. The island won't let someone die it doesn't want to die, right? Ben can't get into a car accident unless the island wants him to ;)
[Quaid, now unable to distinguish fiction from reality, makes the unfortunate decision to re-read Harry Potter and books a ticket to England.]
5. Jared
- 04/29/2008 2:52 pm CDT
Oh, also:
All they have to do is create a reason that you don't see that person again until the flash forwards...
I don't understand this. I'm confused. :-)
Klosterman's point, or at least the way I understand him, is that by saying Ben and Sayid etc have stuff to do integral to the future narrative, their presence is required once the future is reached. How do you reach a future that doesn't accommodate the flash forwards of that future?
You can't lock Sayid in the brig and never see him again, because the flash forwards already reveal he is a participant in the future of "Lost"'s narrative.
6. Evan
- 04/29/2008 3:19 pm CDT
I don't see this as that big an issue. The whole mythos of Lost allows for all sorts of far-fetched science fiction developments and explanations.
Yeah, if one of the critical actors quit or died it would probably mess some plot plans up and make them go in another direction they otherwise wouldn't have wanted to. But I think it would only be moderately more difficult to do that after the flashforwards than with a linear storyline. Also, with only 3 seasons to go and most of the actors likely under contract, it's unlikely the situation will arise anyway.
By the way, I went to college with Klosterman and also grew up in small town North Dakota. Liked reading his columns way back then and still like keeping up with whatever he writes.
7. Bill
- 04/29/2008 3:47 pm CDT
Also, since none of has a real clue as to what's happening in the flash-forwards, it's not like there's a whole lot of plot to fill in. Sayid's a hit man. They've shown him hitting three people so far. If he left the show, it wouldn't change the fact that he was a hitman. That's been established and can continue to weave into the plot, even if - how convenient - he himself gets "hit" suddenly.
The main difficulty would be getting him to the mainland and married off to Nadia.
In other words, it would be bad, but not fatal. And if it's a risk, I think that's cool. One thing I like about Lost is that it takes risks.
"I think time travel is appropriate, especially when you regard the Orchid station video released prior to this season on the ABC web site. "
If it's not part of the regular show, it is not part of the Canon. Down with the Lost Meta!!!
8. Bill
- 04/29/2008 3:49 pm CDT
Also, I don't think it's myopia. I'm quite sure the powers that be at Lost have considered all of these things. Would be interesting to see the contracts of the actors.
You can never leave.
And DON'T DIE!
10. Philip
- 04/30/2008 6:11 am CDT
You can't lock Sayid in the brig and never see him again, because the flash forwards already reveal he is a participant in the future of "Lost"'s narrative.
I was afraid of this. I didn't know how to explain what I was thinking. ;-) Let me try again.
We have two timelines here - The world of LOST and reality.
In the world of LOST, If Sayid gets locked in the brig in the next episode, it could be made to jive completely with the flash forwards we've already seen by doing two things:
1- In any future episode, one character could tell verbally another character a story about how Sayid escaped from the brig and went to California to marry his sweetheart. This takes care of the "middle time period" between LOST present, and the LOST future that we've already been shown.
2- Not filming him in any more flashforwards could also be done, by writing him out of "the future" that takes place after what we have already seen. If he has a few more episodes on his contract, they could make him film his own death in a flash forward episode that takes place after what we've already seen. They could film it now, and in a flash forward it would take place in 2005 or something.
The way I see all this is like a completed storyline. And then the way the show is filmed is that we see glimpses of the timeline in different parts, like a flashlight being shined on different parts of a room without ever getting to see the whole thing all at once. With every episode, the flashlight is shown on a different part.
Can you imagine how different the show would be, how much less suspenseful, if someone rearranged everything we've seen, and you watched it all in chronological order? And I don't mean the episodes, I mean every single scene, flashbacks would come first in chronological order. Say from the 1970's scenes, to the 80's scenes, the 90's scenes and so on to 2004? Then all the "Lost Present" scenes in chronological order. (So for example we would know right away what was going on with Michael) Then all the "LOST FUTURE" scenes in chronological order.
Man that would be weird. I've thought about writing a post about the narrator as a character in LOST. (The narrator being the camera which chooses to show us parts and pieces in any order it wants, when it would cause the listener/audience the most suspense.) It's not linear storytelling. The jumping around is part of the narration, if that makes sense?
Leave a Comment:
Where are you people getting time travel from?
The only time travel so far has been the consciousness of Desmond. No one has physically time traveled yet, so I don't think it would solve the problem Klosterman brings up here.
That said, I think these writers are creative enough to solve the problem. All they have to do is create a reason that you don't see that person again until the flash forwards...
Like for example, if Sayid Quits, then have him get locked up in the brig on the ship, and you just never see him again in "present", but you know he shows up later in the flash forwards.
Or if the actor who plays Ben dies, just send the character to the south pole for the remainder of "the present".
Easily solved. These writers are quite creative. :)