[meme] an attempt to prove that lj isn't dead
I would love to prove singlehandedly that lj isn't dead... but the overwhelming amount of unanswered comments in my inbox would beg to differ. This isn't about lj at all - this is about me needing a distraction because I am seriously losing it.
Meme from rosaxx50 :: Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you. They might make ( Read more... )
Meme from rosaxx50 :: Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you. They might make ( Read more... )
xoxo
but I always get the idea that he's supposed to be the misguided god that we're supposed to side-eye for manipulating everyone
My dislike of Jacob is eternal and all-encompassing.
I have this ~thing where I read LOST in many ways as a cautionary tale against Judeo-Christian monotheism? Or Western monotheism? The false dichotomy between Jacob and Brother wreaks of a corrupt system - and as someone who is decidedly on the side of pagan - I see the whole Brother/Jacob/Potentials fiasco as a testament to how damaging dividing our Reality into a black/white dichotomy can be. With Mother (and arguably Hugo - though I take minor issue with that) the Island seems to be more of a holistic space, rather than a divided one... which is a potentially positive message - if you are paying attention. Because half of the last three seasons is so focused on "inner darkness" being ultimately corruptible, it's easy to lose track of the fact that - that mindset is so awful, the Island needs a complete overhaul.
Anyway... sorry for babbling.
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I think so? I wondered whether the push-pull between the brothers was supposed to represent the god/devil divide, but given Jacob killed his brother and therefore set the whole chain of events off wherein he drags in more and more people, I never thought we were supposed to take his ~grievances at face value. And every single them-versus-us mindset that was constructed was destroyed later when we got the other side of the story.
NO, BABBLE MOAR.
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There is - from the beginning - a break-down of Us/Them or Insiders/Outsiders. Which the characters are aware of, even as they keep trying to push up boundaries - they talk about it so much that it is obviously on their minds in a variety of interesting ways. But In S5/6 the "inner darkness" and "needing to be saved" and "keep all those with darkness out" stuff is taken SO SERIOUSLY by all the characters that come into contact with it - that it just gets kind of gross, I thought. Even though the audience isn't necessarily "supposed" to think that the black/white Brother/Jacob dichotomy is supposed to be taken at face-value, the characters do in many ways (or are presented with that mindset) and... quite frankly I don't trust the majority of the audience to see the commentary.
Like... in Supernatural - at face value (and according to Sam) - Dean is a chauvinist pig who only thinks of women as objects. Now I'm only in S6 - but even from the beginning, that isn't true. The characters keep SAYING it and there are scenes that can be read that way - but there is an alternative to that. So when I talk about the character/worldbuilding of that series - I take that into account as a Face Value that a large portion of the audience probably takes as a truth. Whether the character-building or actions/plotlines back this sentiment up or not.
Similarly, even though Lost keeps driving the point home: "Others aren't really Others" ... There are also characters and subplots that openly and verbally say the opposite. Especially with the whole "darkness" nonsense in the end.
This made no sense and I'm so sorry for babbling PLEASE STOP TELLING ME TO KEEP GOING!
((I possibly have more thoughts, but I have to dash off to a meeting and ilu and poke me at some point if you want to keep talking about this))
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That is true. There was even a physical manifestation of the ~darkness, and who knows with the audience and how they read it. I suppose it didn't bother me much because Ben was always there to provide a counterpoint to ~darkness within, where he bought into the monster but always owned up to his own morality (or lack thereof) without othering it. But eh, there were so many ways to interpret LOST, idk.
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