A few MB-related highlights from a recent New York Times interview with LOST writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. If you are interested in the show at all, the interview is worth the full read.
On their literary influences:
“One of the things that we completely own is that in many ways “Lost” is a mash-up/remix of our favorite stories, whether that’s Bible stories from Sunday school or “Narnia” or “Star Wars” or the writings of John Steinbeck. Carlton and I both had to take philosophy classes when we were in college, and we talk about philosophy, so when certain ideas started to present themselves on the show, we just wanted to let the audience know that these philosophers are in our lexicon as storytellers.“
On the final season’s religious emphasis:
“We view each season of the show like a book in a series, and so last year was the time travel book, and that story had a beginning, middle and end. This season is significantly spiritual. We felt the mission of the final season of the show was to bring the show full circle. And that if we were going to be discussing what was really important to us, which was how do these characters’ journeys conclude, that journey is a spiritual journey.“
On the most important theme of the series:
“If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption. It is that idea of everybody has something to be redeemed for and the idea that that redemption doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere else other than internally. But in order to redeem yourself, you can only do it through a community.” [Note: As seen below, there’s a bit of a paradox here that’s probably worth exploring…]
On the show “Constant” in season four:
“Nobody can do it alone. Desmond was unhooked or lost, he was a castaway bopping around through time, and his only possible salvation was finding the woman that he loved and telling her so and saying, “I need you to rescue me because I’m lost.” This fundamentally tapped into every single theme of the show.“
If you haven’t already, check out Ethan’s great write up about LOST.
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2 responses to “An Interview with the Writers of LOST”
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more please!
ha, I suppose a cryptic reference won't do…
I think it's easy to read their specific comments on redemption and the need redeem ourselves as preaching self-justification and a sort of "save yourself" ethic. But if that was the case, then why would we need to be rescued? Do the characters of LOST really save themselves?
This is a bit of conjecture, obviously, but instead I think that they're speaking more to the polarity between the individual and the external that which effects the rescue. I must have some appropriation of that external change agent. The offer of redemption ultimately has to do with me. I am not the community, but I am an individual. Said another way, no one can have faith for me- no matter if it's a friend, a pastor, or even Jesus himself.