LOST - In the Vernacular
Well well well…Last nights episode only made me more confident about my theories.. while I have no idea how it ends…I do think I know who Jacob and the MIB are, or what they represent. Ready?
Chess scene from Bergman’s Seventh Seal (1956)
I think that J and MIB are either fallen angels… Jacob being a mixture of Gabriel and Michael, and the MIB is allegorical to Lucifer. However, I don’t think that they are something distinctly Christian… they are more along the lines of the Yin and Yang … hence the reason why they can’t kill one another. I think Jacob keeps the MIB at bay, aka he can leave the island and appear to the LOST crew in corporeal form, while the man in black can only appear in the form of a smoke monster. This brings me to the others… they are probably protectors of Jacob - headed by the gloriously Egyptian looking Richard Alpert…and fight on the side of good. So maybe you would ask, “Then why are they so violent??!!??” This brings me to my next point.
Jacob and MIB are obviously engaged in a bet for the souls of mankind. This is why they bring people to the island. The pick people of a questionable moral compass (most everyone on the oceanic flight has committed a crime or is a bad person) and they leave them to their own devices, to see what side is man is his/her true nature. Will free will prevail and people will ultimately choose the rigtheous path, or will man give into the darkness (like Claire maybe??!!??) when faced with the temptation of pride and power ? ( See -Jack? Locke?)
However, not all people are players in the bet, the children, Rose and Bernard, and Walt all disappeared, were taken by the others, or opted to stay on the island. And while they span a large range of ages and nationalities they share one thing in common, innocence, and therefore seem to get free passes to live in ‘Eden’. I believe this is also why the others are hostile to the Oceanic crew… like they tested Sayid to see if he was infected with ‘the evil’ they are not sure if the LOST crew is good or evil, and therefore they cannot be trusted. (this is why Rousseau was crazy… being left on the island makes you crazy..getting torn between good and evil)
On a side note, the smoke-monster-Locke-MIB man also brought up how he judges people before he kills them.. not sure what that means… if he is in fact a judging force.. maybe he is like St. Jerome??!? and not actually evil at all and banishes the wicked to hell, while Jacob protects his flock in the temple.. .. I don know… because then you have to consider the P-word.. purgatory.. are the Oceanic crew still awaiting judgement??
one more thing…
There is also a big science vs religion aspect of the show that I think is worth some note… it would appear that the Dharma initiative stands for science and empiricality. They try and measure and quantify the mystical forces of the island, but ultimately die trying. Leading one to believe that you cant grasp the ineffable, am I right??!!?? It also seems like the LOST crew’s biggest woe is the incessant need to ask questions, that perhaps there are no answers to, which coincidentaly is the same thing that is the bane of all LOST viewers. For example, in last nights episode.. Jack assumes the trust of all his OCeanic mates.. but when he has to trust a greater power he throws a hissy fit that will probably put the lives of his crew mates in even more danger. The people that Jack has ‘killed’ by his leadership and unwillingness to believe in the island all seem to be reactions to his hesitation in believing that that island may in fact try to be protecting them, and that perhaps, they really should not leave the island or go back to the dismal lives they were living pre-crash. Sometimes maybe there just are no answers you have to just believe (kinda want to talk about Pascal’s principle here… but that seems a little to meta for me at the moment)
More as soon as I can piece together some more info.
Questions I have:
—What about the people on the island that have powers.. why do they have powers.. is it just previous knowledge from time traveling
—Aaron… is he the key to solving everything
—multiple realities not happening at different points in time.. but at the same time… do some people remember everything/ have foresight
—there has been a lot of predeterminism and foresight in some of the character’s arcs does this play in to the religious aspect of the show?
hmmmm
