11.01.06
Why I Don’t Watch Lost
I found this at Penny Arcade today; finally, someone has put into words why I can’t stand Lost. The difference is, I felt this way from the very beginning, whereas Gabe has only recently been clued into what’s going on with their writers:
I’m acting as Gabe’s proxy in this strip - essentially, he’s “broken up” with Lost. It’s complicated by the fact that he holds weekly “Lost Nights,” where Lost-themed snacks are sometimes offered, but he’s come to conclusion that there’s no story actually being told. He no longer believes that events are happening according to some overarching plan. Watching the show now is apparently awful, because where he once perceived a carefully revealed structure he now just sees a couple guys out back beneath a tarp, flashlights held under the chin.
Listening intently to his grievances, it sounded to me like a kind of classic Snipe Hunt scenario, where your dad (or troop leader, or some other bastard) might haul you and your friends into the woods to seek out imaginary birds. A stone might be thrown while you are not looking, and the sound that results is attributed to the Snipe; or, if nothing is heard, this too is construed to be sure evidence of Snipe Activity.
It’s like the writers come up with increasingly crazy and utterly unrelated events, put them in a barrel, and have drunken “Bobbing for Plot Devices” parties every week.
Danielle said,
November 2, 2006 at 17:57
It’s blind optimism on my part - the possibility that all these random and/or bizarre events will coalesce into one cohesive story. As we gather clues for this cohesive story, there also a sort of “What’s wrong with this picture” game going on, prompting us to ask, “Where’d that guy/gal come from?” or “How did they build such a nice shelf?” or “Oh look, there’s a food-prepping station!” It’s something to pass the time on Wednesday nights.
egg said,
November 3, 2006 at 11:08
Oh, it’s smackdown time, bitch! Ok, first of all it seems like Gabe’s problem is with the Lost fans and their inane theories. While a lot of the culture is silly, what I love most about the show is how it provokes the impulse to theorize — how it brings you into the story and makes you a kind of silent member of the survivors’ party. The producers are very smart in this respect, in how they always factor in the audience. For instance, there is a character to represent or channel every kind of viewer’s theoretical and emotional tendencies: there’s the nerd, the scientist, the man of faith, the pagan, the swindler, etc. So what fascinates me about Lost, and what I think is so fundamentally new about it, is how the show is intended to exist on both sides of the TV screen.
In my opinion the most important device in Lost is the expansion of the story’s world into more and more unlikely or hidden narrative territories. So, precisely its propensity for bizarreness. A lot of what’s exciting about the show is how this expansion poses such huge risks. Of course, any show could let itself spiral into a chaos of unchecked whimsy, but the show’s producers have earned my trust because they have the wonderful ability of picking up on plot points that, at the time they arise, seem affected or intentionally shocking or just too minor. No story left behind, really. They always redeem the bizareness.
If it helps to lure you back at all, the last two episodes have done a lot to bring things back to the real world.
One thing I will say is that it’s very difficult to be drawn into the show unless you’ve watched a lot of it and have a good understanding of its self-references.
alexou said,
November 3, 2006 at 15:29
who’s the nerd on the show?
alexou said,
November 3, 2006 at 15:35
oh and i feel like i have to jump in on PA’s gabe’s behalf — if you read his and tycho’s entry, i don’t think he actually complains about the fans and their theories — and i’m not attacking them either. in fact, it sounds like gabe was one of those fans, with some of those theories. except maybe now he thinks the show is just fans and their theories, and the writers are just making it up as they go along.
Leo said,
September 6, 2007 at 19:57
Nice…
I LOST THE LOST CHANNEL said,
May 7, 2009 at 8:45
The show has become BORING, once it was great but it’s time has come, as a matter of fact its time is over. I can’t watch it anymore, it’s ridiculios anymore, at one time intriguing but now just too weird — the writers lost their thought process along the way, now its anything goes. Not that anything goes didnt happen before, but its different now - sorta like random garbage placed along the street in a orderly manner. Or strictly organized chaos, it’s just too farfetched when before it was just farfetched………………….
maxgxldealer said,
May 31, 2009 at 23:58
Mornin`
Awesome post, Love the read! And i wud have to answer them all with YES!!:P