Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Is "Guys Where Are We" The Right
Question To Be Asking?














Ever since the end of the Pilot, we and the LOSTies have
been wondering where they are. The Pilot says they are
1000 miles off course heading toward Fiji. Other location
information includes the fact "a" Flight 815 was found near
Bali according to Naomi. And there's a small plane that took
off from Nigeria on the Island.

As none of these things quite connect, I'd like to suggest that
Charlie was asking the wrong question. The question isn't
where the LOSTies are, but "Who are we?"

This question arose strongly in my mind as I rewatched
Charlie's first flashback episode, Episode 1.7, The Moth. How
Charlie defines his identity is a very strong theme in the episode.
It comes up over and over again.

First, Flashback Charlie tells Liam: I love the band. It's not who I am.
But as the flashback progresses we learn that a "bloody rock god"
is indeed the only thing Charlie thinks he is. He certainly tells
the LOSTies as often as he can about Drive Shaft. In fact my
favorite deleted scene is this one. Skip ahead to 1:30.
Without his music Charlie identifies himself as useless and a
junkie to boot.

But by the end of The Moth, Charlie has learned he has value
and strength that he hadn't been able to find in himself for a
long time. Perhaps Charlie should have died in "All the Best
Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" because by the time The Moth ends,
Charlie is starting to answer the real question each character
on LOST seems to need to answer and that is not
"Where am I," but "Who am I."

Use the comments to chime in on the progress you think each
LOSTie has made in answering this question and what you think
that may mean as to whether or not that person will ever leave
the Island.

1 comment:

Capcom said...

I have always felt that the Losties would have had a better chance to find their best selves on the island, if they had just been lucky enough to crash on a "normal" deserted island. Helping each other to survive, starting over in a new scenario (until they got rescued maybe), etc., would have made it easier for them to rise up to be their best selves in the situation, if they chose to.

Unfortunately they crashed onto Islandus Horribilus where almost every time they get the chance to try to be a better person, something else comes out of the jungle to threaten them and spoil their attempts. Charlie seemed to be always trying to find a way to help someone to regain his original purpose in life, i.e., to save people, like his Mum said. But he didn't find it until his mission to the LG allowed him to really do that with the ultimate sacrifice.