Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
The Tempest. Act v. Sc. 1
Ok, first of all, I haven't read this theory board in quite some time, so sorry if I repeat things that others have said.
So, I've noticed that there's 2 types of episode on this show. There's the type (Type I) where we find out why the focus character was in Australia, and there's the type (Type II) where we don't.
Type I: Tabula Rasa Walkabout White Rabbit The Moth Hearts And Minds
Type II: Confidence Man Solitary All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues Whatever The Case May Be
Possible exceptions: (Pilot?) (House of the Rising Sun?) (Raised By Another?)
Now, Type I episodes all share a theme. To use Boone's terminology, that theme is "relief". The focus character is relieved of some strong emotion by finding something they'd lost (Kate's freedom, Locke's use of his legs, Charlie's sobriety), or gaining something they need (Jack finding fresh water/confidence in his leadership, relieving his resentment of his father, and Boone gaining insight into his situation with Shannon, feeling relieved that she was dead and, afterwards, I'm guessing, being relieved of his habitual obsession with her). All of these post-Walkabout episodes also share another thing in common - Locke provides guidance to these characters on their quest for relief. Is it a coincidence that he's also the only one who has seen "the monster" and seems to be connected with the island in some way?
This, I think, is the key to the mystical elements of this series. It's about emotion, it's ultimately about the characters (like any good mythology/metaphor show should be), but in the text of the show, the source of this mysticality is the island itself. Why? I'm guessing to keep itself in existence. How? The only scientific connection this has to real life, as far as I can tell, is quantum physics. Perhaps the island is in a superposition (a state of, essentially, non-existence), like Schrodinger's cat, unless there's people there to observe it and collapse its waveform. The reason this is a little silly is because QP rules dictate how sub-atomic particles act, but not usually people or islands or anything else "big". If someone feels like writing a "Honey! I Shrunk the Castaways" theory, I'm all for that, although, if QP really is part of the answer, I doubt the writers will bother explaining the micro/macro distinction.
The first episode I have listed as an exception is House of the Rising Sun. We did see them leave Australia and get on the plane, but we didn't find out why they were there. This may be why we didn't get the relief theme for them quite yet, making this a Type II (unless you want to argue that they were relieved of sun's father's bad influence). I imagine in a future episode, where we learn more about Jin's "business trip", that theme will become clearer for these characters.
Now, clearly Type I episodes are meant to give some "metaphysical" clues to theorists like myself, who are interested in this, the 1st type of mystery. Things like Jack's hallucination, Boone's dreams, Locke's legs, the rock God cave stuff, etc. Type II episodes are meant more for people who are interested in the 2nd and 3rd type of mystery, the scientific "what's the origin of the island? What's with that hatch? Why don't the compasses work?" questions, and the character-based "why is that airplane so important to Kate?", "Is Jin a hitman?", "What's Sawyer's real name?" questions. These are the questions that I personally prefer to just sit back and watch unfold. I don't really know what's going on, and the clues in the text aren't thematic, they're specific (trivial), so my literary approach stops me from really enjoying thinking about that sort of thing too extensively because, in the end, I'll either be right or wrong. With thematic interpretation, "right" and "wrong" don't really apply as long as they're consistent with the text, so the activity is meaningful in and of itself.
Ok, back to the show. Raised By Another and the Ethan/Others story doesn't seem to fit into either type of episode. It's not really a Type I, because Claire lives in Australia. We find out why she's on the plane, yes, but the episode just feels different. And since she's also the only native Australian, I don't think that's coincidental. This episode, and the fact that it doesn't fit into the usual mold, suggests to me that Ethan and the Others are in some sense enemies of the island's. Parasitic entities who have figured out how to use the metaphysics of the island for their own evil purposes... or something. Ethan was able to appear to Jack as a hallucination (maybe), clearly one of the island's tricks, but it wasn't to provide relief like usual, it was to threaten him and beat him up. Maybe they also somehow planted the bad feelings into Claire's psychic's head and the information about what flight to take? I don't really know about that. Ooooh, maybe the island "kidnapped" our characters in order to defeat the parasitic influence of Ethan and the Others. It tried the same thing with the french expedition, but, as Danielle said, they failed and were infected and she had to kill them all.
Well, now I'm just making it up as I go along. But I kinda like it.
Reading over this post, I didn't actually say much or make my points particularly clearly, but whatever. Discuss, anyway.
SelfProjectRealized
SPR--I really like your classification of Type I and Type II episodes! Good job!
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This episode, and the fact that it doesn't fit into the usual mold, suggests to me that Ethan and the Others are in some sense enemies of the island's.
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But what about Charlie being hanged (hung? something else? i'm not too sure on the right word to use)? Essentially, are you saying that the island itself/the monster or yet another mysterious entity was the thing who hung Charlie? And how do we know that Ethan and the Others are in cahoots?
Maybishudbahippy
I think Ethan hanged Charlie exactly why he said he did, to get Jack and the others to stop following him. I do think "the island" (i.e. Jack's thoughts rather than his cpr technique) played a role in bringing Charlie back, reversing what those damn power hijacking jerks did. Good evidence for my theory, actually.
For now, I'm assuming Ethan is in cahoots with the others because I think "Ethan and the Others" sounds like a good name for a band, or a group of evil parasites. Also, Ethan Rom is an anagram for Other Man.
SelfProjectRealized
I thought that Sun was leaving Australia to change her identity and to get away from her husband
ODammet
Sun was in the airport because her and Jin were taking a plane somewhere. The episode does not say where they were going or why. But Sun had arranged to be picked up by other people, who could take her away. So, Jin thought she was going on his flight, but she wasn't planning on it. At the end, she got on his flight anyway. (This is probably going to end up being important. Why, I don't know.)
JOSIE4
I'm very glad to see you expounding at length again here SelfProjectRealized. But please elaborate a little more on the three types of mysteries! I think I know what you mean, but I'd like to see you define them, so that we have something to build on.
I also feel that Claire's ep was significant for the fact that she originated in Australia, and thus was the only one "leaving home" when the plane crashed. The other part of your equation might be "do we know why everyone was going to LA?" We know why Jack, Kate (not exactly, though, because we aren't even sure why she was in custody), Claire, Charlie (but again, given that his brother didn't go along with him, we can only assume he lived or worked there), Locke, Michael and Walt were going; all but Kate and Claire we assume were going "home." We can only guess at why Shannon, Boone, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Sawyer and Hurley were on board. Sure, the Americans might be going home, but then again, they were all travelers, so where is home really?
Thanks for putting this all together.
drabauer
As for Raised By Another, it could be said that Claire was "relieved" of her painful decision regarding the baby. While it's true that later on the baby might or might not have been taken from her, at the time of the ep, being stranded on the island made the decision for her. And actually, having the baby abducted would be making the decision for her also, just in a different way. In any case, at the time of the crash, all her brain-racking, heart-breaking concerns were relieved.
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At the end, she [Sun] got on his flight anyway. (This is probably going to end up being important. Why, I don't know.)
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I feel like this is important for two reasons: First, (what has already occurred) that she decided to stay with Jin at least for the time being, and now she's really with him, and can't get away. It's like it's the culmination of her decision, she was going to try to work things out with him and now she can't change her mind. (Yes, she could avoid him, move her bedroll far away, admit she can speak English and sic Locke on him, but it seems she's accepted her fate and is determined to see it through.) Second, (what I think will happen) is that Jin is desperately in need of a change-- a change of heart, a change of perspective, a change in how he relates to other people, etc.-- and I think that she's there to help that happen.
In writing this, I see a parallel to Claire-- she (Claire/Sun) decides not to be parted from him (Jin/baby) and in doing so finds herself in a place where the decision whether to love/care for him or not is taken away from her, and he (Jin/baby) needs specifically her love and guidance (baby=because the psychic says so, Jin=because he loves and trusts only her, who else could get through to him?)
[OK, Claire did think temporarily that there was a family in LA and so you could say she HAD decided to be parted from her baby, but I was referring to the decision she made in the lawyer's office not to give the baby up. That decision led eventually to her being on the island.]
Having said all this, that would make House of the Rising Sun a Type I, because Sun was relieved of her painful decision (she had decided not to leave him for now but that didn't necessarily relieve her of her burden-- most women in that situation make several attempts to leave before succeeding to do so) and Jin was relieved of what his life had become and the things he was being forced to do. We still don't know why they were in Australia that day or why they were going to LA, but as far as relief, they both got some.
Jillian
This might be relevant...the "exception" episodes, as well as Type I episodes (with the exception of "Moth" and "Tabula Rasa") all start with the eye shot at the beginning. Coincidence?
Nevaraniel
That was an early thought I had too, about the eyes, but the Moth is a pretty glaring (no pun intended) exception. It's like a perfect Prototypical type I episode. I'm thinking the "eye" shots are just to convey how important the theme of individual perspective is in this show.
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Drabauer, the 3 types of mysteries thing I meant less as a comment about the show than one about just my own thought process and what's important to me in any endeavour like this. They are:
1) Mythological - examples: What is the nature of the monster? How did the survivors survive the crash? What's Ethan/the others' relation to the island? How, if at all, do the islanders' thoughts affect their world?
2) Trivial - note: I'm not using this term to mean that these don't matter, I'm using it in its more literal sense, like, trivia about the island. Examples: What is the hatch? Where does the cable lead? How is Danielle powering her signal? Why don't the compasses work? (although that might end up being mythological, depending on the answer).
3) Character-Based - examples: What's the deal with Kate's toy airplane? What's Sawyer's real name? What was Kate's crime? Was Sun's dad a gangster and was Jin a hitman for him? How did Locke end up in a wheelchair? Was Jack always so morose?
I'm majorly interested in theorizing about the type 1's, whereas I'd rather just sit back and let the 2's and 3's unfold on their own.
SelfProjectRealized
SPR, I find your Three categores interesting precisely because they coincide with my three main indices: The Meaning of Lost, Details (signs, symbols and portents) and psychology/interpersonal relations.
(great minds think alike)
drabauer
SelfProjectRealized says:
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...suggests to me that Ethan and the Others are in some sense enemies of the island's. Parasitic entities who have figured out how to use the metaphysics of the island for their own evil purposes... or something...
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You know SPR, this is something I've thought about on more than one occasion. I've had this feeling that there's more than two groups of individuals on this island. Our survivors, Ethan and the "Others", and another force, the one that Locke now belongs to. I think Locke, with the support of our survivors, are going to fight a battle against Ethan and the "Others", for control of the island.
Hodgepodge
I like your analytical approach, although I'm not sure I completely follow your classification scheme. Am I to understand that the distinction between the Mythological and the Trivial is the potential relative significance of the mysteries they concern? If this is true, how do we establish the significance when the subject is, well .... a mystery? For example, how do we know that where the cable leads is not more important than how the islander's thoughts affect their world? You list 'What is the nature of the monster' as Mythological, but Danielle, who presumably knows much more about what is actually going on than our castaways, says there is no monster (in fact we can assume that Danielle knows a lot of critical information just from the fact that the writers are so careful to keep her separated from the rest of the cast). You list 'What is the hatch' under trivial, but the producers have stated that it is central to the island's mystery. Some clarification, please!
Artuskan