Caution, this post contains spoilers.
Lost is a show that captured an audience for the past six years with an unparalleled ability to create fanatics across the world. It was groundbreaking in the U.S. as one of the most successful television programs that mixed so many nationalities into one story plot. It is also set apart with it’s intensity of philosophical, scientific, and mythological writing. Twists, turns, curveballs, questions, and more questions defined the series that seemed to change television writing in the last five years.
After six seasons, the series finale aired a couple of weeks back as they dedicated two and half hours to wrap up the lives involved in the flight of Oceanic 815.
I’m not writing this for Lost fans. Instead, I’m writing this for anyone interested in critically thinking about the message of death conveyed in the most influential show of recent history. In the end, we see a show about characters (specifically Jack played by Matthew Fox) who experienced tests to find redemption for their lives. In the finale, everyone who found redemption ‘moved on’ into an existence in an afterlife that included love, joy, and satisfaction in the relationships they established while living.
Redemption was discovered in four ways:
1) Sacrifice
2) Love
3) Giving
4) Enlightenment
In the most critical scene to understand what happened, Christian Shepherd explained to Jack the meaning of his death. He explained that those who loved each other created a world in which they could find each other and share life together as they ‘move on.’
During this emotional scene, a stained glass window that mimicked a traditional western style Church window exhibited all the major symbols of philosophical and religious thought. Presented were the Ying Yang, Cross, Star of David, Buddhism’s Wheel of Life, and the Muslim Crescent Moon. In obvious form, the message burned in the audience’s mind that redemption was found in personal actions and not specific to one religion.
After such a great show, they unfortunately ended with a terrible idea of redemption.
The writer’s goal was to give an idea of redemption and afterlife that included all peoples based on the performance of their life.
Matthew Fox, in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, claimed that the story summed up redemption but could be interpreted ambiguously based on one’s religious beliefs. Elsewhere, Michael Emerson, in an interview with G4 network, said that the ending could mean something different for him than for someone else.
How could some of the most brilliant writers and actors interpret death so differently than the Bible and yet hold the Bible as a valid means of finding redemption?
The answer is found in their basis of Knowledge. Unlike the Bible, these men and women find ultimate answers within man and not outside of man. They do not understand a transcendent God that ultimately judges over the actions of men, but they understand redemption is within man to discover with personal actions. That’s why anyone, no matter their religion, can find redemption. It’s based on what you do instead of what God does.
Where do you find your redemption? Is it in the sacrifice, love, giving, or enlightenment found within you, or is it found outside of yourself in the sacrifice, love, giving, and enlightenment of another person, Jesus Christ?
June 8, 2010 at 2:57 am
Ben, great thoughts on thinking critically about this particular cultural medium. Often times, the medium is the message, but in this case the medium contained the message that was preached – universalism.