Lost, Battlestar Galactica and the shame of science fiction
I haven't been a Lost watcher in a long time, but I felt compelled to watch the ending and see how the writers would wrap up this ungainly mess, or not.
My interest in Lost peaked when they were exploring the various DHARMA initiative stations and the scattered backstory of the Hanso foundation settling the Island. I was intrigued by the idea of ( Read more... )
My interest in Lost peaked when they were exploring the various DHARMA initiative stations and the scattered backstory of the Hanso foundation settling the Island. I was intrigued by the idea of ( Read more... )
Take the 2007 version of I am Legend. The theatrical release had an ending in which the protagonist's blood becomes a way of immunizing the other human survivors, becoming the "legendary" savior. The was the same ending as in the Omega Man version with Charlton Heston.
The alternate ending was closer to the original novel and the Vincent Price film adaptation. It shows that the mutated humans the protagonist have been fighting throughout the story are slowly developing a culture and society, instead of being animalistic. He realizes that they will develop a culture in which he is the monster who can live in the daylight that kills them. He is their Dracula, their "legend."
Not surprisingly, that wasn't the ending the studio chose. The idea that humanity could be surpassed, and that a hero could be a villain from another point of view, would be too challenging, or so the thinking went, I imagine.
So, instead of introducing science fiction concepts and adequately exploring them, Lost is basically a dramatic series that slums in science fiction once in a while. It depicts a reassuringly human-centric universe.
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