Welcome to the Island Man....
Why do viewers consistently miss the Themes on Lost?
Well, it because they are viewers. Sound simple huh? First, let me say it's not necessary to grasp every element in the story to enjoy it. However, you will enjoy it more if you think like a writer instead of just a viewer. Ask this question if you don't understand something. What was the writer, who is a student of storytelling devices, thinking when he wrote this scene?
I bet you have read on the forums or in reviews what happened in Cabin Fever..but did anyone wrap it up in a nice Big bow for you? Well, I'm gonna do that for you.
Cabin Fever was not about Alpert's travels, Abanddon's advice, or that John was good at science. It was not trying to explain that Horace Goodspeed was caught in a timeloop. Not only did most reviews considering this a timeloop but one popular blogger said it reeked of "Filler". This is the reason I created this blog. Some themes are "Lost" on viewers. The dream scene was a metaphor for one of the episode's Themes. Which was.........
Forces were trying to Kill John Locke. No matter how many times Horace cut the Tree down in Locke's Vision--the tree remained.
The Episode opens with an automobile impact that would kill any 6 month old baby. Then John has his vision. This is not about Horace caught in a timeloop. It is a metaphor for this idea-- What was --will be again and what is -cannot be destroyed. The tree symbolizes John Locke. "He's been wating for you a long time...man". In the very next scene John has survived again from infections and diseases that have killed every other preterm baby in that hospital. The nurse claims, "He's a Fighter".
Who is there to see this fighter?--Richard Alpert. Locke confirms he is a fighter--a Hunter--in the Buddha style confirmation test but Alpert is having none of it.
The episode then moves to the next attempt on Locke's life as Locke leads Ben and Hugo to the Dharma death pit. The "Pitstop" is the writers device in moving the story to Johns next miraculous escape from death. Yes, Locke was the only one to walk out that death pit. "I should have known better", Ben regrets.
Right on cue we move to Locke, right after he has been pushed out of an 8 story building. "That was a miracle" Abandon proclaims. For his whole life people have been putting John in a box and the writers tell this story metaphorically. His first days were in an incubator. Richard paints Locke into a box when he wont accept he is a fighter. He gets put in a locker in High School. He works for a box company.
Everything presented in Cabin Fever is a story meticulously built, brick by brick, until a map is found that leads to the ultimate box. Jacob's Cabin. Will he walk out of this box? Ben wont go in. Hurley wants no part of it, but John's entire life has been leading up to this moment. John is on his walkabout. He left the U.S. thinking he was one thing and has realized he's another---Chosen. Whatever the forces were behind the attempts on Locke's life, including a midair breakup of Flight 815...they failed..and John Locke has arrived at his Destiny.
From the beginning of Lost John has been claiming that they were all brought there for a reason. Cabin Fever confirmed that Locke certainly was. It opens with a Cabin being constructed with the very material Locke is made of---and ends with the fully built Cabin in which he enters. It starts with the Cabin in its infancy and immediately cuts to Locke in his infancy.
This, of course, was not the only theme, but the attempts on Locke's life were left out every review I read. There were many other threads in the story but I'm sure you have read about them. The only one that I would like to mention is that John is being paralleled with Ben. It is inferred that John was the Island's first choice. That there was some sort of prophecy that a child born preterm, in a certain time period, whose mother was named Emily, bore the Chosen one. John intuitively sees the parallels, we clearly see the parallels, and the writers confirm and contrast with the line written for Locke, "I'm not You".
Well, it because they are viewers. Sound simple huh? First, let me say it's not necessary to grasp every element in the story to enjoy it. However, you will enjoy it more if you think like a writer instead of just a viewer. Ask this question if you don't understand something. What was the writer, who is a student of storytelling devices, thinking when he wrote this scene?
I bet you have read on the forums or in reviews what happened in Cabin Fever..but did anyone wrap it up in a nice Big bow for you? Well, I'm gonna do that for you.
Cabin Fever was not about Alpert's travels, Abanddon's advice, or that John was good at science. It was not trying to explain that Horace Goodspeed was caught in a timeloop. Not only did most reviews considering this a timeloop but one popular blogger said it reeked of "Filler". This is the reason I created this blog. Some themes are "Lost" on viewers. The dream scene was a metaphor for one of the episode's Themes. Which was.........
Forces were trying to Kill John Locke. No matter how many times Horace cut the Tree down in Locke's Vision--the tree remained.
The Episode opens with an automobile impact that would kill any 6 month old baby. Then John has his vision. This is not about Horace caught in a timeloop. It is a metaphor for this idea-- What was --will be again and what is -cannot be destroyed. The tree symbolizes John Locke. "He's been wating for you a long time...man". In the very next scene John has survived again from infections and diseases that have killed every other preterm baby in that hospital. The nurse claims, "He's a Fighter".
Who is there to see this fighter?--Richard Alpert. Locke confirms he is a fighter--a Hunter--in the Buddha style confirmation test but Alpert is having none of it.
The episode then moves to the next attempt on Locke's life as Locke leads Ben and Hugo to the Dharma death pit. The "Pitstop" is the writers device in moving the story to Johns next miraculous escape from death. Yes, Locke was the only one to walk out that death pit. "I should have known better", Ben regrets.
Right on cue we move to Locke, right after he has been pushed out of an 8 story building. "That was a miracle" Abandon proclaims. For his whole life people have been putting John in a box and the writers tell this story metaphorically. His first days were in an incubator. Richard paints Locke into a box when he wont accept he is a fighter. He gets put in a locker in High School. He works for a box company.
Everything presented in Cabin Fever is a story meticulously built, brick by brick, until a map is found that leads to the ultimate box. Jacob's Cabin. Will he walk out of this box? Ben wont go in. Hurley wants no part of it, but John's entire life has been leading up to this moment. John is on his walkabout. He left the U.S. thinking he was one thing and has realized he's another---Chosen. Whatever the forces were behind the attempts on Locke's life, including a midair breakup of Flight 815...they failed..and John Locke has arrived at his Destiny.
From the beginning of Lost John has been claiming that they were all brought there for a reason. Cabin Fever confirmed that Locke certainly was. It opens with a Cabin being constructed with the very material Locke is made of---and ends with the fully built Cabin in which he enters. It starts with the Cabin in its infancy and immediately cuts to Locke in his infancy.
This, of course, was not the only theme, but the attempts on Locke's life were left out every review I read. There were many other threads in the story but I'm sure you have read about them. The only one that I would like to mention is that John is being paralleled with Ben. It is inferred that John was the Island's first choice. That there was some sort of prophecy that a child born preterm, in a certain time period, whose mother was named Emily, bore the Chosen one. John intuitively sees the parallels, we clearly see the parallels, and the writers confirm and contrast with the line written for Locke, "I'm not You".
There are a few other symbols being put forth in the Vision scene but its important to remember that when a writer contructs an episode, the answers are first and foremost about that particular episode. Reincarnation, whether symbolic or not was linked between the Buddha Test and the Tree that kept being reborn. Another idea that may be being expressed here was that Jacob's cabin is also indestructable. This "getaway" may be literally that. But what was expressed in Cabin Fever was the idea that the Cabin is a type of island itself. They mention in the episode that the Cabin moves and by the end John's says they must move the Island. It should be noted that this is not a literal moving--its about perception. Jacobs cabin does not actually move or no map could be drawn to locate it.
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