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Message
Why is Lost so addictive?
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:37 pm
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:37 pm
I'd heard for years from friends of mine how addictive this show was, but I never really paid attention to it. A friend of mine recently forced me to watch it and I got sucked in and started from the beginning. I have to say, I have been a fan of several TV shows over my lifetime, but none have been as engrossing as Lost. What is it about this show that makes it like crack for so many people? I just can't put a finger on it, but, oddly enough, it's like I don't even care.
5
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:39 pm to RMFTBama
they insert nicotine.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:40 pm to RMFTBama
I think strong investment in each character is paramount to this show's intrigue. No matter how much people talk about the unique and winding plot or the Sci-Fi elements, it's the stake you have in the future of the characters. You feel like you've known them for their entire lives.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:40 pm to RMFTBama
quote:I know why, but I'm not telling.
What is it about this show that makes it like crack for so many people?
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:42 pm to Muppet
quote:
You feel like you've known them for their entire lives.
Could this be because it has taken ABC 10 years to produce 5 seasons?
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:42 pm to RMFTBama
quote:
Why is Lost so addictive?
It's not. I'm watching it purely out of rote to find out what happens since it's so close to the end. If there were 2 season left, I would quit watching.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:43 pm to RMFTBama
Pretty much because large segments of our population are idiots that will watch damn near anything if it come on TV.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:48 pm to CaptainBrannigan
quote:
Pretty much because large segments of our population are idiots that will watch damn near anything if it come on TV.
Yeah, that's probably it. Everyone who watches Lost is an idiot. In fact, everyone but you is an idiot. It must be lonely at the top, huh?
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:55 pm to Tiger JJ
quote:
It's not. I'm watching it purely out of rote to find out what happens since it's so close to the end. If there were 2 season left, I would quit watching.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 9:55 pm to CaptainBrannigan
quote:
CaptainBrannigan
Says one of the worst posters in the movie board.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:02 pm to OMLandshark
And to answer the questions, at first it was the mythology that made it addicting, but towards the middle of the first season it then turned to the characters, because lets face it, people who were in it solely for the mythology gave up early on since they weren't answering much at all during the first 3 seasons.
The characters are what really made this show. Aside from Kate and maybe Sun, I'd say that I am very emotionally invested in every single main character in the show right now, and I do not want any of them to die. And to people who say they are sick of the mythology and are just staying around to see how it ends, I'm willing to bet its more to see how the characters play out and not the overall mythology. LOST has some of the greatest characters to ever be put on television, and the flashbacks have helped you know their motives far better than almost any other television show can.
The characters are what really made this show. Aside from Kate and maybe Sun, I'd say that I am very emotionally invested in every single main character in the show right now, and I do not want any of them to die. And to people who say they are sick of the mythology and are just staying around to see how it ends, I'm willing to bet its more to see how the characters play out and not the overall mythology. LOST has some of the greatest characters to ever be put on television, and the flashbacks have helped you know their motives far better than almost any other television show can.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:12 pm to OMLandshark
for me it was the mythos, then the DHARMA and others and finally the characters. There are only a few characters that I really care about.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:15 pm to MSTiger33
I just can't watch a show anymore unless it has mythos
Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:20 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
And to answer the questions, at first it was the mythology that made it addicting, but towards the middle of the first season it then turned to the characters, because lets face it, people who were in it solely for the mythology gave up early on since they weren't answering much at all during the first 3 seasons.
The characters are what really made this show.
Disagree. I think it's still the "what is this?" question, not the characters at all.
quote:
Aside from Kate and maybe Sun, I'd say that I am very emotionally invested in every single main character in the show right now, and I do not want any of them to die.
Jack needs to die. Locke is already dead. Desmond doesn't exist anymore seemingly. The only interesting main characters are Sawyer and Ben.
quote:
And to people who say they are sick of the mythology and are just staying around to see how it ends, I'm willing to bet its more to see how the characters play out and not the overall mythology.
No way. I'm going to bet JT agrees with me too. I want Jack to die, he's possibly one of the worst characters in TV history. I'm not emotionally invested in any of the characters actually. I just want to know what the island is.
quote:
LOST has some of the greatest characters to ever be put on television, and the flashbacks have helped you know their motives far better than almost any other television show can.
We have our disagreements, but let's not speak in ridiculous hyperbole. Jack, as mentioned, is an awful character. The rest are serviceable for the show. These are not great characters. The only character I enjoy right now is probably Miles (and when I think about the show, I think Miles exists because he reflects certain fans...but that's another theory).
But when you write characters who talk in obscure, ridiculously stupid dialog most of the time, that's not good character writing, that's convenient marketing. I'm not saying the characters are bad, but they are clearly not real people, because 99% of the situations on the island could be resolved by having characters act naturally. You know, like real people.
Simply put, the characters are serving the plot, rather than the plot serving the characters. And any good writer will tell you that characters come first.
This post was edited on 3/13/10 at 10:24 pm
Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:21 pm to CaptainBrannigan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yea because LOST is comparable to american idol, my super sweet 16, the hills etc.
quote:
Pretty much because large segments of our population are idiots that will watch damn near anything if it come on TV.
yea because LOST is comparable to american idol, my super sweet 16, the hills etc.Posted on 3/13/10 at 10:34 pm to Freauxzen
quote:
Disagree. I think it's still the "what is this?" question, not the characters at all.
People still think the LOST's greatest moment was the end of "Through the Looking Glass", and none of the questions had to do with the mythology besides "How did they get off the Island".
quote:
Jack needs to die. Locke is already dead. Desmond doesn't exist anymore seemingly. The only interesting main characters are Sawyer and Ben.
Jack has gotten much better this season and he has completely redeemed himself in the last episode for me. Desmond is about to come back into the spotlight. Claire has actually become interesting this season, which is an accomplishment for her character. Sayid's character is still great and I don't think he's changed as much as we are lead to believe, because what he did in his last episode was completely in character, even without the darkness added in. I like Frank, although I think a flashback would help, Hurley and Miles are always pretty entertaining, and Jin has only improved as the series has progressed. So as I said, the only 2 characters I don't give a damn about are Sun and Kate.
quote:
No way. I'm going to bet JT agrees with me too. I want Jack to die, he's possibly one of the worst characters in TV history. I'm not emotionally invested in any of the characters actually. I just want to know what the island is.
To be honest, I doubt they are going to point blank answer that question. Sorta going into midiclorian territory that the writers have said.
quote:
But when you write characters the talk in obscure, ridiculously stupid dialog most of the time, that's not good character writing, that's convenient marketing. I'm not saying the characters are bad, but they are clearly not real people, because 99% of the situations on the island could be resolved by having characters act naturally, you know, like real people.
Aside from Dogen and Lennon, who has been evasive about answering things this season? MIB is sort of evasive, but he will tell that person what they want to know, something the Others haven't been doing. And so far it seems like they have been acting realistically so far. There is nothing that has happened so far this season that I thought an actual rational human being wouldn't do (unless thats the point, like Claire).
And you're acting like this is Heroes. There have only been 2 times in the series where I felt like the characters were serving the plot and not behaving rationally: "Live Together, Die Alone" (and that was on all fronts) and when Desmond went with Jack when the freighter came to the Island, just so Desmond could get on the freighter. Could you use an example when this season it feels like they are only serving the plot?
Posted on 3/13/10 at 11:05 pm to Freauxzen
Yeah, LOST really went off track when it got away from character-centric storylines, specifically the island as a character.
Now it's just a mush of attempts to be confusing for the sake of confusing in effort to build "suspense", which they really fail to do so at all.
I've watched every season, and this, the grand finale of them all, is the one I'm least interested in. In fact, I'm content with half-assedly watching and having my wife and or friends tell me what happened.
Now it's just a mush of attempts to be confusing for the sake of confusing in effort to build "suspense", which they really fail to do so at all.
I've watched every season, and this, the grand finale of them all, is the one I'm least interested in. In fact, I'm content with half-assedly watching and having my wife and or friends tell me what happened.
Posted on 3/13/10 at 11:05 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
People still think the LOST's greatest moment was the end of "Through the Looking Glass", and none of the questions had to do with the mythology besides "How did they get off the Island".
Just because one episode is "good," doesn't mean that's not what the show is about.
quote:
Jack has gotten much better this season and he has completely redeemed himself in the last episode for me. Desmond is about to come back into the spotlight. Claire has actually become interesting this season, which is an accomplishment for her character. Sayid's character is still great and I don't think he's changed as much as we are lead to believe, because what he did in his last episode was completely in character, even without the darkness added in. I like Frank, although I think a flashback would help, Hurley and Miles are always pretty entertaining, and Jin has only improved as the series has progressed. So as I said, the only 2 characters I don't give a damn about are Sun and Kate.
Agree to disagree. I think Jack has been just as awful...more below.
quote:
To be honest, I doubt they are going to point blank answer that question. Sorta going into midiclorian territory that the writers have said.
If this happened, the show would be a complete sham, no question.
quote:
Aside from Dogen and Lennon, who has been evasive about answering things this season? MIB is sort of evasive, but he will tell that person what they want to know, something the Others haven't been doing.
Dogen, Lennon, Ben, Jacob, Christian(or pseudo-Chrisitan, whatever he is), the priestess lady, Richard, the new latina warrior girl, MIB, Miles' dad, Abbadon, and on and on and on
And it's not just the people who know the answers not saying anything, it's also the dumb characters who don't ask the right questions. The show is "mysterious" because everyone talks around answers rather than at them. Hence the maze analogy last week.
quote:
Could you use an example when this season it feels like they are only serving the plot?
Yeah that's easy. Jack destroying the lighthouse mirror. fricking stupid. You are staring at what is, by his character's perception, a magic mirror of some sort. And you destroy it? Yes, there is symbolism coming from that, and yes Jacob put Jack in that situation because "he knew he would destroy it." But would anyone in their right mind destroy the mirror before they knew EXACTLY what it was? He had no reason to do that, it was dumb. Ok so maybe it wasn't out of character because Jack is a proven idiot, but it is out of character for a normally functioning human being.
This post was edited on 3/13/10 at 11:12 pm
Posted on 3/13/10 at 11:19 pm to Freauxzen
quote:
Dogen, Lennon, Ben, Jacob, Christian(or pseudo-Chrisitan, whatever he is), the priestess lady, Richard, the new latina warrior girl, MIB, Miles' dad, Abbadon, and on and on and on
Most of these characters have been forthcoming with answers in recent seasons. But you do have a point about Ilana, since she apparently knows a whole lot more than Ben does. I would be asking her non-stop questions.
quote:
And it's not just the people who know the answers not saying anything, it's also the dumb characters who don't ask the right questions. The show is "mysterious" because everyone talks around answers rather than at them. Hence the maze analogy last week.
The characters usually ask the right questions, its just the Others (usually) are invasive in answering them.
quote:
Yeah that's easy. Jack destroying the lighthouse mirror. fricking stupid. You are staring at what is, by his character's perception, a magic mirror of some sort. And you destroy it? Yes, there is symbolism coming from that, and yes Jacob put Jack in that situation because "he knew he would destroy it." But would anyone in their right mind destroy the mirror before they knew EXACTLY what it was? He had no reason to do that, it was dumb. Ok so maybe it wasn't out of character because Jack is a proven idiot, but it is out of character for a normally functioning human being.
That pissed me off too, but that is exactly something Jack would do, and was therefore not just serving the plot line. I don't see what difference it would make to the overall plot of the series unless they needed to use the Lighthouse again.
This post was edited on 3/13/10 at 11:20 pm
Posted on 3/13/10 at 11:31 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
Most of these characters have been forthcoming with answers in recent seasons. But you do have a point about Ilana, since she apparently knows a whole lot more than Ben does. I would be asking her non-stop questions.
More forthcoming, but not forthcoming enough, mostly because of my answer to the next comment. But yeah, so at least you partially agree.
quote:
The characters usually ask the right questions, its just the Others (usually) are invasive in answering them.
No way. I could watch a random episode and find a moment where someone could ask a specific question that needs to be answered, but they don't.
quote:
That pissed me off too, but that is exactly something Jack would do, and was therefore not just serving the plot line.
Ok, it's something Jack would do, but Jack is not a human being. He's an idiot. That's not a good character, or as you said, "some of the greatest characters in TV history." Jack has been developed as an ignorant character because a smarter Jack would have ended the show a long time ago. Hence his character serving the plot at all times. It's become the M.O. for his character.
quote:
I don't see what difference it would make to the overall plot of the series unless they needed to use the Lighthouse again.
Umm what were we looking at? The side future? The present? Why didn't Jack point it at other people's coordinates to see what the deal was? Why not try to find some more information?
That mirror alone could have answered some questions, but because it would be more "mysterious" to shatter it for no reason at all, let's call in our resident rehtard to do that in a fit of rage. Brilliant! I rest my case.
quote:
. LOST has some of the greatest characters to ever be put on television,
Can we rethink this now? I could do this all day with any character (except for maybe Miles). Again, I like the show, but let's think of it in the proper context.
This post was edited on 3/13/10 at 11:36 pm
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