The three rules 2 Consistency
Okay. Here is a big one.
A golden rule of storytelling. Be consistent. If you write that your hero is Six foot Four with blond hair and blue eyes on page one, do not have the heroine tell him “I love you. I have always loved your bald head. I think a guy who is shorter than me is sexy. I could look into your hazel eyes forever.” You are going to have some splainin’ to do.
If Starships, droids and technology in Episodes 4-5-6 of Star Wars look more primitive than those that were built 40 years earlier in Episodes 1-2-3 George Lucas had some splainin’ to do.
If Charlie says he can’t swim in season 1 (“White Rabbit”) and flails around in the surf in season 2. There has to be a reason he claims to be a championship swimmer in “Greatest Hits” of season three. In this case there is an all too simple explaination for his claim. He is lying. He wants to be the one to go to the Looking Glass station. He needs to save Claire and Aaron and knows that by going there and drowning he will fulfill Desmond’s vision. That is consistent with Charlie’s character (or at least his character evolution).
Was there an on set discussion with Dominic Monahan to the effect of : “Sorry to bring this up mate, but Charlie can’t swim” to which the director answers: “Don’t worry Dom, the audience is too dumb to remember that detail.” Unacceptable, right?
or how about: “Right Dom, but that’s all part of the mystery that is Lost. we put that stuff in so that the internet geeks will have stuff to write about after the show goes off the air.”
Jack has a compulsion to jump in and fix things. It is irresistable. I would hope that if Jack decides to sit idly by and let stuff happen, especially stuff he can fix (like young Ben Linus getting shot) I would hope his inaction indicates to us that Jack is concienciously evolving. He is resisting his primary impulses as established by the writers and Mathew Fox and doing something that, for him is new.
As far as writig character, I can find very little fault with the show.
But CONSISTENCY also covers the laws that the writers create for themselves.
In Star Wars there are sounds in space. We all know that this is a convention in Science fiction movies and tv shows that defies the logic of physics. It is a dramatic license. Okay.
In Lost the writers establish that compasses go haywire. You can’t chart magnetic north. Certain people have special abilities. Some can talk to dead people. The island itself can heal. I would hope that the writers have discussed in depth how when and why the island can heal. We have seen the island reach out beyond itself into the world and have an affect on and protect Michael. We have seen the island give longevity if not immortality to characters (Richard and Jacob). The hardest thing for the writers of Lost seems to be to set something up and stick to what they set up. Someone recently wrote here that Adam and Eve were wearing Dharma coveralls in season 1. If this is true, then the writers changed ideas mid-way from the inception of who Adam and Eve were to actually writing “Beyond the Sea”. Or the art department were not let in on it and screwed up. Maybe Horace and Olivia were originally supposed to be Adam and Eve and that idea got pushed back further into the past.
Originally Luke Skywalker was a girl and Han Solo was a six foot tall green Lizard. Jabba the Hutt was a guy in a bad alien suit. S**t happens.
But if there are no consistent rules regarding how Smoke Monster takes over bodies or assumes the guise of Christian, Yemi, Alexandra, etc. If the thing can sometimes cross bodies of water and sometimes not. Can sometimes cross ash and sonic fences and sometimes not. Can be summoned and controlled but not always. If smokey is just a narrative device created and used to advance whatever plot line you were writing at the time. If there really are no rules, let me tell you… There ARE RULES. One of them is BE CONSISTENT.
I am just trying to put things into perspective for certain people who are very frustrated right now. I really do not think that Darlton’s first idea was that the Black Rock destroyed the statue of Tawaret. I am not at all sure that Richard Alpert was originally supposed to be aboard the Black Rock. I think they melded the three ideas as a story telling shortcut. It’s weak as far as I am concerned, but it is better than nothing.
A lot will be left unanswered this season. Suck it up. What I am looking for is enough consistency overall to explain most of it. The frustrating part for me is the fear that Darlton will walk away and not do some splainin’.
I want to understand how stuff got left behind in the storytelling. Why does Richard look so different when he first meets young Ben. Just tell me you were still fiddling with the look of the character with Nestor Carbonell. oops. Diagetically (that is, within the diagesis or framework of the fictional world that is Lost) it really doesn’t matter one iota. I can dig it. Just don’t tell me it means something and that it is part of the mystery that is Lost. Don’t walk away snickering to yourselves and thinking I am a buffoon who just got off the banana boat and can’t smell the coffee roasting.
If you tell me that the reason Eko was killed off was that the actor hated Hawaii, I can get onboard with that and admire how the writers were thinking on their feet. Tell me Nikki and Paulo were a sad mistake. An experiment to please the fans gone wrong, and I will send you flowers for course correcting the show in a better direction, and even appreciate “Exposé” for its daring parts and the sense of humor everyone involved with it had, including the two actors who went along with it all.
But do not tell me it is part of the mystery that is Lost. That’s just insulting.
Rule three is about Stylistic flourish.
Okay I can get with some of this. First off, I feel that the writers don’t have to explain absolutely everything to the audience. It’s good to have some mystery involved because after all, that’s the only reason this site exists.
With that said, consistency is very important as you point out. Not sure about the DHARMA suits on Adam & Eve, but if that’s true, then it would be nice if it were explained why. I know for a fact that the corpses were NOT side-by-side as Jacob had laid them, and to me it seems like a really easy task to just have Jacob lay them as they were seen in S1. The whole “Smokey over water” thing is a bit confusing as well, but I don’t think it’s a major part of the show.
I believe the writers set out with a general idea about the show but did not work out the details until they got to any particular season/episode. I mean, they were going to originally kill Jack in the pilot episode. So it wasn’t all worked out in advance. They moved forward with a general set of ideas and fit the new writing into the old writing, based on the general philosophy, as best as they could. Some inconsistencies naturally arise because they are retrofitting the story to what has happened “previously on Lost”. It’s not perfect, but it’s, I suppose, as close as they could get. And it’s good enough (so far) for me.
First of all, if Adam and Eve were wearing Dharma clothes, there is no way for us to be able to tell. I just watched that scene 3 times (House of the Rising Sun), and I saw NO Dharma logos. That was just a nasty rumor.
What was inconsistent was the corpses laying there for only about 50 years. I know Jack’s no genius, but I doubt he’d be off by hundreds or maybe thousands of years with his estimate. I’m sure we’ll conveniently get no explaination there.
Inquisitor – I have to disagree with one thing you say. I’d say that it’s a big deal about Smokie being able to cross water. Smokie has been one of the biggest mysteries of the show, and has now gotten more screen time than some major characters this season. Whether or not Smokie can cross water is something that they really need to be able to explain properly before Monday. That’s only my opinion, but it’s a part of the show that I don’t think they should brush off as just a “no big deal, it’s just smoke” type of thing.
If Smokie’s Christian (since 815 crashed), but he can’t cross water, then they have two scenes that they really need to explain.
Andre7 – These writers have created a very entertaining show. But I agree with this post 100%. I know, no one’s perfect. At the same time, THEY ARE THE ONES MAKING THE RULES, so they need to be the ones abiding by them. It’s embarrassing coming up with theories about a show when you notice the writers don’t even seem to care about being consistent. I’m not saying it’s a sever problem with Lost, but how do fans of the show seem to care about the details more than the writers?
I like being thrown off course sometimes. I understand it’s the writer’s way of having fun with us. But don’t throw us off course on a weekly basis strictly to keep people from figuring the show out. That’s when it gets obnoxious.
Since season 3 ended, these writers planned on ending it after season 6. I’d think that’s ample time to get things in order, to make sure everything’s set and ready to go. Yet, I still feel like they purposely don’t allow us any room for ideas.
They show us who Eve ends up being in the episode we meet her in. They show us the most important part of the island “the light” right before it becomes an important part of the story. Like I said before, it would’ve been better seeing the light in Season 4, so we have 2 more years to guess what it could be. The 4 toed statue had us all curious for a long time, and it was wonderful.
With the amount of time they had to carefully plan things, I’m just seeing a lot of clues that show they’ve been coming up with things as the show progresses. The pacing of this season is the biggest example of that. It really dragged along. Okay, I’m done. Sorry for being a Boog…..
We’re gonna see the writers really strut their stuff though Sunday. It’s gonna be phenomenal I’m sure. But how will we feel afterwards when we’re all able to sit down and go through what we learned, and what we didn’t?
Hi Chief! Thanks for chiming in. Just a few notes. We were afforded a glimpse of the light (I think) when Ben and Locke turn the Donkey Wheel. Perhaps it is also hinted at when Desmond turns the key. sky turns purple, etc. Alo Daniel’s comment about light not scaterring correctly may have been a clue. I know all that was cryptic, but I think it was fair of the writers to be cryptic.
Mom-Eve is discussed by Locke when he talks about her with Kate a few episodes before “Across The Sea” thematically I think the clues are there also in all the discussions of motherhood fertility and sterility. I still think most of that will pan out in the finale on sunday.
Thanks to both of you for adding detail about Adam and Eve, body placement and clothing. Interesting. I have not had a chance to re-watch any older episodes and have made a conscious decision not to until I have gotten the whole thing under my belt.
Inquisitor. I like your expression “retrofitting the story”. It describes my feeling about Lost admirably. I see nothing wrong with that approach if it is done well and if the creators own up to it. It helps explain some of the rough edges on the show.
One of my favorite director-writers is Nicholas Meyer. He said he liked keeping certain un-explained elements in his movies. It makes them feel hand-made. There is an artistic instinct that needs to be nourished on a show like Lost. In Star Trek the Wrath of Khan Meyer told Ricardo Montalban to keep one of his gloves on. He did not know why, he just liked that detail. It is of no real consequence in the film. It’s just a little creepy and works for the character.
There was a lot said in the first two seasons about how beards and hair. It has come to be un-important in the greater scheme of the show. The show producers gave it a try, they really did, and then gave up on continuity for men’s hair and facial fuzz. Okay, I appreciate the effort.
But as Chief says, they are the ones writing the rules, they are responsible for staying within certain parameters.