Comments on: Cultural Covergence: Another Narnia Connection in Lost

By: Marti

Marti — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:15:50 +0000

Alex,

We can add meaning to anything, even if it wasn’t intended by the author. A professor told us that Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening” was about death, etc. I argued. Later that same professor showed us a film of Mr. Frost answering that same question by saying the poem was about stopping in the woods on a snowy evening and nothing else. Maybe we are putting far too much into our analysis of Lost. Isn’t it quite possible that the writing is all a clever web of tricks to keep us entertained and nothing more? Either way, as you said earlier, in two years we will know. Be sure we will still be hanging on till the very end.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:47:03 +0000

Marti,
Of course, you’re right. But once you start noticing allusions or outright references like Charlotte Staples Lewis, you’re bound to notice what appear to be others–however they might not play out in Lost the same way they did in the original source. It could be that Cuse and Lindelof just like postmodern borrowing, creating a web of seeming signifiers that may or may not tell us anything about a character or plotline but become the Web-enabled equivalent of old parlor games as we immerse ourselves in the endless game of What It Might Mean. It adds to the fun as long as we think the series actually is going somewhere meaningful. After a while I wonder how all these references could all mean what they seem to mean and the series still add up to something more than a cultural bulletin board of clever references. Maybe in two years, we’ll know!

By: naomi

naomi — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:54:14 +0000

Well said Marti. Well said.

By: Marti

Marti — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:32:38 +0000

In Lost, the Others give us a sense of evil. They have no guilt about killing (or worse) the newcomers for unexplained resons. They have some previous and unknown reason for being there and have some hidden agenda. They have knowledge about all the newcomers and no one knows why. They were brought to the island by some powerful, possibly malevolent entity who does not seem to go gray.

In Narnia, the Others are the remnants of the original dwellers who were conquered by an evil warrior. They seek only to be allowed to live. They seek to do no harm on the newcomers, but the newcomers seek to wipe them out none the less.

It seems to me that the only similarities between the Lost series and the Chronicles of Narnia are that 1) there are two sets of people in each story and each set of people has their own understanding of the events, and 2) the name “the Others” is used in both stories.

After having read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series more times than I can possibly count over the past 20 years, and being a fan of the series Lost, it seems quite a stretch to see similarities between them.

Narnia is a story about Christ (Aslan) choosing to allow himself to take our “crimes” on himself even though he was innocent. There are many references to following Christ’s leading even if we do not understand where it it heading all through the 7 books. Good and evil are clearly marked.

Lost has yet to make it clear who is the “good guy” from week to week. One week we believe one thing, the next week, there is a reason given for the seemingly evil behavior they now show. No character is absolute in Lost. That’s part of the reason it’s drawn all of us into the story.

Maybe we should compare them by seeing one in a jungle and the other story based many times in the woods….both are difficult to travel thru?…no wait…the number of people involved?….no wait….the search for clear water?….no wait….mysterious animals?…..