Chess and Creepiness
Okay, I got the creepiest feeling last night when I was watching the Lost for Dummies (LeFleur). There is a point when Sawyer (three years later) is walking back from Horace’s and he passes Dharmaites at leisure and there is a brief shot of someone playing chess. I am NOT sure when Ben and dad came to the island relative to our Losties being there, but it just felt omnious…anyone else catch that?
kittycarson, I was waiting for the camera to show their faces! But, they didn’t. I also thought it might be Ben and his daddy.
Ben was born in the 60’s and came to ‘the island’ as a young boy, in the 70’s. Can’t recall the year! It might be him, but I am uncertain.
Good thoughts!
Hi Kitty
I know what you mean about the chess game, but there was only one person playing – i think!
Probably Ben though
That makes it even creepier!
lol
But it suits benny boy!! – no wonder he ends up so messed up in the mind, forget the others, dharma and the losties, he has spent far too long playing games by himself – twister must be fun!
I’m going to watch this later to see what all the fuss is about…
If it’s Ben playing chess all by himself… maybe his only friend Annie is an imaginary friend…
Ok, not I’ve seen an image… it’s an old guy, unless you’re referring to a different scene…
Do you have a link to the image?
http://lost.cubit.net/archives/2009/03/5×08-user-requested-images.php
In one of my long Egyptian rants, I mention the importance of Backgammon and how the ancient Egyptian form of Backgammon was called Senat and it was sometimes depicted on tombs as one person playing alone… alluding perhaps to the game of chance that is life. In the Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman shows the main character playing chess with death, which I believe to be a reference to the Egyptian tomb paintings. Walt and John playing Backgammon alone is another example of this metaphor used in the show. So yes, in Lost, board games are ominous!
pjd
I love rants and i have read and enjoyed yours, i sometimes wonder how the writers could have such a knowledge of history/prehistory/science/religion
/literature etc
Maybe I need to put that good old liberal arts education to use….I think our lovely producers could dip into this board’s talent pool and come up with some talented writers/actors/philosophers/historians. It IS a fun community…..
I find it strikingly reminiscent of when
Highbrow
I do think Mr Ted and Bill won said contest, kept their souls and won the babes.
Now there is a good idea for the lost writers
Best out of seven?
Okay, it WAS an older hand….coool to see screen shots!
Maybe it is JACOB! 🙂
Maybe it was Ray…
Yes! It could be. I thought all that with Ray was SO random…too random to be random. We’ll see him again! I can’t stop singing Billy Idol Dancing with Myself since I realized it was one person playing….
I just watched that part of the episode and I think it is important to note that the “hand” reached down to a piece on the board, as to make a move. This illustrates that he was in fact playing by himself, and not just waiting for his opponent to come back (washroom break? etc.).
Also, we must not forget Hurley playing Chess by himself at Santa Rosa, even though he believed he was playing against someone.
Good point about Hurley, cappayne!
We are also going to be seeing another game, in the near future. That game is dominoes, I believe. Another black & white game.
I referenced this aspect, (dominoes) in a recent theory, so I am anxious to see the context of which it’s shown.
prosperoburns Says:
i sometimes wonder how the writers could have such a knowledge of history/prehistory/science/religion/literature etc
Well, it’s very likely that being that you are talking about people in the arts, that most of the people working on the show at the very least have a good history of art and or literature background. I mean, Joe average off of the street doesn’t take art history or literary history or philosophy classes for fun, which is a shame because there’s a ton of real great culture out there to experience… and I honestly think one of the very big dynamics of the show is getting people interested in doing a little digging into those fields. I mean life without art and literature and philosophy is just a little bland for my taste. 😉
And yes, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey is a great example of low art referencing or perhaps lampooning high art by using metaphors from The Seventh Seal. If you watch The Colbert Report, you will recognize that scene in his segment, Cheating Death with Dr. Steven Colbert DFA. One of the things I think is so funny about our culture is that people who make silly or even stupid movies and TV shows are people who spent a lot of time studying art and art history and film history and even some of the stupidest movies contain tons of great historical reference. Lost has taken that in the opposite direction and tried to keep a serious level of recognition to it, which perhaps makes people more curious to read and learn. 🙂
Punks!
Well put PJD!