I received some questions from long-time reader Fazel from Amsterdam, who recently finished watching Episode 5×10 He’s Our You.
I was watching ep 5×10 (Sayid-centric) last week and I think I noticed some screw-ups in the script. But I want to run it by you, the Lost expert, first.
Sayid reacts to kid-Ben when he first introduced himself and then later on tells someone (Sawyer?) that he had met a kid-Ben in 1974(?). Now, tell me this… How the hell could he know that? Let alone even believe such a thing (he hadn’t seen the same evidence as the other Losties, thus his convincing was poor). The guy was separated from the other Losties, he was never on their journey of information and discovery. In fact, did he even participate in the meet of Hawkins? Didn’t he leave before they all went inside to meet her?
Had anyone even briefed him about time traveling and 1974? The first thing that seemed to have happened to him when crashed (he was there on his own and not on the plan of returning, thus makes him poorly informed) was being captured by Jin and Radzinsky. Their hadn’t been an opportunity to bring him up to speed up to that point, but yet he seemed very updated and convinced of these revelations (despite seeing little proof of it).
What do you say? =)
I was looking on YouTube for a clip of the scene where Jin saw Sayid in the jungle — and I saw that Disney recently pulled most of the clips for that episode off of YouTube! Boo! I hope that doesn’t leave too many holes in the archives of this blog and all the other LOST blogs, because we’ve all relied heavily in the past on embedding those clips.
Anyway there are just a few little clip-lets left. Here is where Jin sees Sayid in the jungle (this is from 5×09 Namaste):
The clip ends right at the point where Jin and Sayid recognize each other, so it doesn’t show how long they were alone together before Radzinsky shows up. As I remember it, though, they didn’t have very much time.
Even if there wasn’t enough time for Jin to say anything to Sayid, I think Sayid would figure it out. He must have thought that Jin had died in the freighter explosion. Yet there was Jin, alive, and wearing a Dharma jumpsuit!
In this next clip-let, Sawyer, Jin, and Radzinsky are bringing Sayid back to Dharmaville. Sayid sees Kate, Jack, and Hurley, who he last saw on Flight 316 — and they too are wearing Dharma jumpsuits! So he must just put two and two together to figure out that he is in the past. And as soon as Little Ben says his name, a lightbulb must have gone off in Sayid’s head.
Yet another inquiry. In the same ep as above, Sayid tells Dharma: “I know about, the hatch, swan, ‘the incident…’” etc. Now, I know that the season finale is named that and is about that, but I wondered where he got that information from. All the things he said, we the viewer had seen them too with Sayid. But the incident? When was this brought to Sayid’s attention?
I appreciate if you enlightened me without spoiling the finale
That’s another great scene whose clip I had linked to earlier that is now gone from YouTube (grumble grumble). Only this little clip-let remains:
I think that when Sayid said “the incident,” he was not seeing the future, not seeing “the incident” that will be shown in the Finale. I would guess he meant either (1) The “purge” that wiped out the Dharma Initiative (did the Losties learn about this from Ben??) or (2) What happened when Desmond turned the key at the end of Season 2.
I envy you not having seen the Finale yet, because you have a big treat to look forward to!
“My point was that just because I have read fictional stories about time travel doesn’t mean I’m going to be any more likely to believe that time travel is possible in the real world ”
Not believe, but to take in. To grasp the idea. It’s like explaining racism or sex to someone for the first time. You just can’t get your mind around it. But if you’ve had the opportunity to have it be presented to you many times and in different forms, even if it’s fiction, it becomes easier to grasp. I remember when I watched BTTF for the first time as a kid. I was soooooooooooooooooo confused, I just couldn’t get my head around “going back in time”. I bugged my brother with 100 questions. But after I had taken in multiple and various sci-fi and fantasy stories, there was nothing in the genre that I couldn’t “get” from there on. Or how about when the concept of a “prequel” was widely introduced with Star Wars ep 1. I was over on the IMDB board around that time and people just didn’t get the idea/the concept of what a prequel meant and entailed. Even when it was fully explained. It was another “first-time” scenario. People need time and room for let it sink in. I think that you really really have to put yourself in another’s shoes to grasp this mindset.
“There’s a very clear line in my mind between fantasy and reality.”
LOL! You don’t say?
“Also, you seem to be assuming that Sayid could not have had any exposure to science-fiction stories himself.”
Not really. But if they are gonna suggest that this guy, with a totally different and “unorthodox” background/life is exactly as the same as his American counterparts, then they have to offer some explanation of why that is. So I will assume the more logical, that a guy born and bred in Iraq has had no exposure to sci-fi stories, until they tell us that he did and why that is. If it was someone from the US, it would be the other way around (since comicbooks and fantasy has been prevalent for a long time).
“But even the most repressive countries usually have a thriving black market in banned books and movies — even before satellite TV and the internet.”
I’m sure there are, but we are again dangerously near the “wizard did it” excuse. From what we’ve seen of Sayid, especially the latest flashback in s5 when he was a kid, would suggest that entertainment of this kind was the farthest thing from his mind.
“Do the governments there allow LOST to be shown? Or are people bootlegging it off the internet, satellites, and/or DVDs?”
LOL, I have no idea.
“I guess I just don’t want to stereotype Sayid. I don’t want to think that just because he grew up in a certain place that he must think in a certain way.”
So it is stereotyping when we acknowledge that we are all basically products of our times? Are you ignoring that basic truth?
I am not stereotyping! I think they are already developing him (if you can call it that) in a stereotypical fashion.
And I am not talking about “thinking in a certain way”, it is the exact opposite! It is the writers who have written Sayid to act and think in a certain way concerning time travel! It is the same as everyone elses (Jack, Kate etc). Except, even if you don’t take in to consideration his cultural background, the guy didn’t go through the same process of information and briefing as his fellow passengers did!
“To me, he is a more interesting character than that.”
To me, with the writers ignoring the impact of his cultural background and Americanizing him is what is a disservice to the character and makes him less interesting.
“I think Darlton are very good storytellers — not perfect, but I’m not expecting perfection.”
To expect that every character doesn’t get written as wanting to kill or trying to kill someone isn’t a demand for perfection. LOL! Even then, striving for perfection is not a bad thing. Who aims for mediocrity? When you aim high and you get lower than planned, then that lower point could very well be above and beyond someone else’s “lack of trying to aim for perfection”. When you strive for perfection, as best as you can, it is THEN you get the best possible results. Anything else is mediocrity.
=)
To me, it’s a stereotype because it’s saying that just because someone grew up in a certain time and place, that you can predict he will act and think in certain ways. It’s ignoring that he’s an individual who may or may not go along with the way the majority of people from his childhood time and place acted and thought, especially now that he is out of that environment.
Also, the particular stereotype itself makes no sense to me. I just don’t believe that someone from a repressive country and/or an Islamic country would be any more or less likely to believe in time travel than someone who grew up in the U.S.
If you were to say that someone who grew up in Saddam’s Iraq would be more likely to be afraid of the police than someone who grew up in Iowa, then that would be a stereotype I could buy into — and even with that, there could be individual exceptions.
My own experience of encountering science fiction may have been different than yours. My father subscribed to the science-fiction magazines Amazing and Analog and there were stacks of them in the house. I must have started reading them at an early age, because I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading them.
I don’t remember struggling with the concepts. I think I just took them at face value, as part of the stories, the way I took the talking animals in children’s picture books at face value. That doesn’t mean I am any more open to the idea of dogs talking in real life than someone who hadn’t read those picture books!
Also, I think we just will always disagree about how much weird stuff Sayid encountered before the moment he met Jin. Remember that Sayid was “flashed” off of Flight 315, while it was at cruising altitude, at the same time that Jack, Kate, and Hurley were. (They just didn’t show it, at the time.) If that’s not profoundly weird, what is?
To me, the Sayid character makes sense. There are other characters that I think are inconsistent, so I agree with you to that extent. But I don’t think that Darlton are aiming for mediocrity. I think LOST is one of the best TV shows ever, so they must be aiming high.
Terri, it would be nice to have the usual options to make a text bold or italic.
When you say “usual,” you may be used to seeing that option (and the preview option you mentioned earlier) on Blogspot blogs.
But I’m using WordPress, and those features are not part of the WordPress theme I am using. In other words, they are not standard on the blogging platform I have here.
I would have to add in a different commenting system, and that would involve research, testing, and trouble-shooting. It’s something I may look into at some time during the summer, but not something I can do right now.
You can always use asterisks for emphasis *like this.* Or you can use caps (sparingly!) like THIS.
Or you can use simple HTML coding:
Use <b>for bold</b> and <i>for italics</i>.
Just wanted to add that I saw on Lostpedia that LOST is broadcast in Iraq. So if Sayid were living in Iraq now, he could learn about time travel by watching LOST itself! 😉 (In the same article, I saw that the show is also broadcast in Saudi Arabia, which answers my earlier question, though it doesn’t say anything about Iran.)
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Again, it’s not a stereotype. It’s about acknowledging that we are to an extent a product of our times and environment. There is no escaping that.
“especially now that he got out of that environment”
Especially now? What about his entire childhood and early adulthood? The years that shape us and set a course for us for what kind of people we will be: shy, outgoing, aggressive, gentle etc.
“that you can predict he will act and think in certain ways.”
Who said anything about predicting? Just not the nonchalant way they did it. So if someone would be made aware of time travel, it’s “predicting” when you expect some shock and disbelief from the person? That’s just expecting common sense.
“It’s ignoring that he’s an individual who may or may not go along with the way the majority of people from his childhood time and place acted and thought, especially now that he got out of that environment.”
Well, apparently he went along with the majority of his fellow survivors exhibiting the same reaction. So… not an unique individual after all?
“Also, the particular stereotype itself makes no sense to me. I just don’t believe that someone from a repressive country and/or an Islamic country would be any more or less likely to believe in time travel than someone who grew up in the U.S.”
Oh, my dear Terri (he said with an affectionate tone in his voice)… Less likely to believe? As I said before, it was not about that, it isn’t about that. It is about grasping the idea itself. It is much easier for someone who has been introduced to that kind of fantasy/sci-fi outlet.
I didn’t want to do it. But I feel like I have to now… Here is some food for thought. I am from Iraq. My parents are from Iraq. My grandparents are from Iran and they visited a decade ago, and a cousin also visited years ago. I tried to explain this concept of time travel to respective parties (yes, I was THAT curious if they would get it/a western make-belief), NONE of them understood what I was trying to explain. They just couldn’t understand it! As I said, it’s not about “more inclined to believe time-travel”. They couldn’t even grasp the idea/concept of the [fictitious] physic of traveling mind, body and soul through a past that has been and gone. So if they can’t even grasp THAT, how the hell do you expect them to even believe if such a thing would occur?
At least, if a Emmett Brown fellow (Doc from BTTF) would come to you and say: “hey, look at my Delorean, it can travel through time”. The very least, you can understand what time travel means and THEN you can maybe ignore and deny such claims. And then, if he would say: “hey, jump in and I’ll show you” and then you travel through time, you would eventually accept it.
It’s less likely that you won’t understand the time travel aspect. You have been raised in a culture, and especially in a family, that has embraced the concept/idea of time travel, among other things. Through books, films, comicbooks, friends etc. Your mind is more open on some level to understanding ALL this and thus accepting it much easier, than some poor individual that has never seen or heard about such make-belief.
For example, we have all grown up with the idea of a God and religion, we are used to the idea, so there has never been some sort of “grasp” the idea of God, cause we’ve been exposed to it since birth. But just imagine for a moment that you were an alien visiting planet Earth. Get in the mind of an unassuming and unknowing creature. Do you really think he would grasp the notion of God? An invisible entity that “we” worship. It is the creator of all things. Do you think that the alien would get that? Yes, he would understand the explanation, but the idea/the concept is so much bigger than explaining it in words. It’s not that simple. Cause it is a concept, it is an idea, it is not explaining instructions or a manual. An idea/concept is so much more than words.
I mean, it’s nice of you to believe that we are all the same (fundamentally we are of course). But I do take little offense that you could even think that that is the idea of fun or of any priority of a people who are just trying to get by, a simple people. That you push your own ideas of what kids/people want and desire is “your” culture. There doesn’t seem to be much diversity, despite you claim to be, in your expectations/beliefs of other people. I mean, even if we knew of comicbooks and such back in the day, we wouldn’t care that much. And that is also the thing, how can we want something we have never heard anything about?!
And if by some chance there were some kids that got their hands on it, I’m safely betting that those were the equivalent of Paris Hilton, who had the money and arrogance to waste money on comicbooks, while the rest were trying to just get by. But believe me, you wouldn’t find that many rich people there.
It seems to me that you can’t even possibly imagine what kind of culture is over there and how that makes for another individual, than the ones influenced by a western society you are accustomed to. I’m not even sure you are trying to understand. Are you trying to understand? Trying to put yourselves in to another’s shoes? Another’s POV?
So, even if you can’t understand what I am saying, at least believe what I am telling you from personal experience.
Fundamentally we are the same, but by extensions we are nothing alike! We are different. We have different values and reasons for those values. We have different POVs and culture and that shapes us differently. It makes for different individuals, than US, Dutch, French etc citizens. If we see anything we don’t like, we voice the disapproval. When “westerners” see something they don’t like, they are told to be PC (politically correct) about it. You see being judgmental as a bad thing, we see it as a good thing to keep us and others grounded. So really… we are different and that is not something we should be afraid to say. It is not a bad thing. We should acknowledge and embrace that we are different. Cause I noticed from a couple of your sentences and tone in your text that you went the PC angle: seeing different as a bad thing (me stating that Sayid should’ve reacted differently because of his background and you stating “why should he be different just because…?”). That is something I also see with feminism nowadays. It’s a propaganda that men and women are the same and thus should act and be the same. But the thing is is that it’s a lie. Equality has nothing to do with sameness, which these people are implying. Reducing everyone to sameness is really the sham and shame here. THAT is truly what’s not correct here. That is offensive. We are indeed different, and that is a good thing!
To finish of this section, let me add that the reason for why I said earlier I didn’t want to bring up the “I am from Iraq and so is my parents” card is because I really didn’t want you to think for one second that you would have to be from the place you are talking about to get across that it is different. Even if my ancestors would’ve been from… USA for example, I would’ve noticed and highlighted this Iraqi character acting like a complete westerner. I have met people who have never left the borders of their city and still they can so easily put themselves in other people’s shoes. It’s ashame that I have to convince you of how it’s not like how you imagine it is by revealing my background to you, for you to hopefully understand. I was hoping that you could come to that understanding all by yourself. But now you will probably always think that one can not put himself/herself in others’ shoes unless he/she has experienced it. That would be tragically limiting.
“and even with that, there could be individual exceptions”
Of course there are always exceptions (although you are never completely “free” from your past). So you are saying that of all the people, we just happened to come across the individual that was not part of the rule? How inspiring, creative and bold of the producers. Just in case; that was sarcasm. And if that is the case, why not cast the same ethnic-looking actor and just call him “Bob”?
“I don’t remember struggling with the concepts”
How could you when you were practically born with it in your hands? It was always there, according to yourself.
“because I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading them.”
And that might explain why you have such a hard time putting yourself in someone else’s mind that doesn’t even grasp it. You are too way in deep. It’s part of your “brain composition”, it has been since the beginning. I was “exposed” to such stories when I was 9-10 years old, so I remember a time before that. A time where I never knew such a thing, so I can contrast the before and after and know how it was like. You haven’t gotten that benefit or advantage, or whatever you want to call it.
“That doesn’t mean I am any more open to the idea of dogs talking in real life than someone who hadn’t read those picture books!”
Oh, that is not the same thing. Just because you put two impossible events next to each other, doesn’t mean that they are equals in unbelievability. Talking animals is so childish, so immature and simple. Time travel however is not. A 2-year old could laugh at talking animals, but time travel…?
Btw, time travel is still a heated debate among the scientific community. So don’t discount it as impossible completely.
“Also, I think we just will always disagree about how much weird stuff Sayid encountered before the moment he met Jin.”
Disagree? There was nothing to disagree on as far as I am concerned. The obligation of offering proof that more happened before the meeting lies on you. So far, you haven’t put up anything legitimate. The best you did was claiming the “wizard did it” excuse. Sorry =)
“If that’s not profoundly weird, what is?”
Apparently they were confused and disoriented after the flash, so they have no clue what happened to be so awe-struck. It may have been the exact type of situation as in the pilot, when they first crashed (people were so perfectly safely positioned – Jack in the jungle and people with small bruises, while the plane was on the beach!). Besides, white flash implies just that… A white flash! What is there to see to deem supernatural weird? A dharma construction blinding them? That wasn’t weirder than the smoke monster for example (which had been the tentpole of weird, up until the time travel introduction).
“There are other characters that I think are inconsistent”
Ooh, do divulge =)
“But I don’t think that Darlton are aiming for mediocrity.”
Of course they are not. But a person’s aim for perfection is another man’s mediocrity. But you said that you didn’t expect/demand perfection, so what is one supposed to take away from that statement in this context?
“I think LOST is one of the best TV shows ever, so they must be aiming high.”
People love a good mystery. Without the mythology, people wouldn’t tune in. Look at the X-files, one of the most horrible narrative stories ever told on TV (I like X-files, but lets be objective here and look at the bigger picture), but it had high ratings and popularity for years. And why? It was built on conspiracies and mythology. The human race is a curious one.
“Just wanted to add that I saw on Lostpedia that LOST is broadcast in Iraq. So if Sayid were living in Iraq now, he could learn about time travel by watching LOST itself!”
Um, yeah… Sayid is probably near 40-years old. That means when he was a child there were no such things. You are now trying to defend your argument by speaking of the present? Of course now it’s different. But the backbone of my argument was that it was Iraq 30-40 years ago (although I don’t think that comicbooks and such are in high demands now either) – which makes all the difference. This was before technological advancements, heck, it was even before certain technological advancements in the US itself. Internet and digital media has come a long way and has helped bridge the gaps of understanding between citizens of different countries.
Hi Fazel. Your comments were very interesting. Since you are from Iraq, I’m sure you know a lot more about it than I do. So let me ask you — do you think that the character of Sayid is meant to be a typical Iraqi?
On the Lostpedia page about Sayid, it says that Sayid was the son of a national hero. He got to leave the country to go to Cairo University, and of course we know that he was in the Republican Guard.
How unusual is it that someone was allowed to go to college outside the country? And how difficult was it to get into the Republican Guard?
What I’m getting at is that I’m wondering if Sayid was in some kind of elite group, where he would have had opportunities not available to most Iraqis.
What about his entire childhood and early adulthood? The years that shape us and set a course for us for what kind of people we will be: shy, outgoing, aggressive, gentle etc.
It’s my belief that many of those types of personality traits are present at birth, rather than being a product of the culture.
I think we do see that with Sayid in the Sayid-centric episode. We see that even as a child, he was able to kill easily. And it was something that his brother couldn’t do. So it wasn’t the culture — it was Sayid. It seems he was just born that way.
I tried to explain this concept of time travel to respective parties (yes, I was THAT curious if they would get it/a western make-belief), NONE of them understood what I was trying to explain. They just couldn’t understand it! As I said, it’s not about “more inclined to believe time-travel”. They couldn’t even grasp the idea/concept of the [fictitious] physic of traveling mind, body and soul through a past that has been and gone. So if they can’t even grasp THAT, how the hell do you expect them to even believe if such a thing would occur?
Okay, maybe you’re right. Maybe Darlton should have taken more care with showing how hard it would be for Sayid to believe that he had landed in the past. But — and here I think we are just always going to disagree — this wasn’t the first unbelievable thing that happened to Sayid on Crazy Island.
You have been raised in a culture, and especially in a family, that has embraced the concept/idea of time travel, among other things. Through books, films, comicbooks, friends etc. Your mind is more open on some level to understanding ALL this and thus accepting it much easier
Understanding, yes. Accepting, no! That’s what I’ve been trying to say. For me, being exposed to these things in fiction doesn’t make me open to accepting that they could happen in real life.
But just imagine for a moment that you were an alien visiting planet Earth. Get in the mind of an unassuming and unknowing creature. Do you really think he would grasp the notion of God? An invisible entity that “we” worship. It is the creator of all things. Do you think that the alien would get that? Yes, he would understand the explanation, but the idea/the concept is so much bigger than explaining it in words. It’s not that simple. Cause it is a concept, it is an idea, it is not explaining instructions or a manual. An idea/concept is so much more than words.
I’m not so sure that I myself fully grasp the concept, but that’s another story. 😉
Actually, I think if the aliens lived in a social hierarchy, we could explain the concept. We could say our God is like their biggest boss, except he is even more powerful, and he is invisible. If they didn’t live in a hierarchy, then it would be hard to explain. (See, THESE are the kinds of things I think of because of all the science fiction I read. But if someone in real life told me they were a space alien, I still wouldn’t believe them! 😉 )
I mean, it’s nice of you to believe that we are all the same (fundamentally we are of course). But I do take little offense that you could even think that that is the idea of fun or of any priority of a people who are just trying to get by, a simple people.
I apologize for any offense. But again, I’d ask if Sayid is really a simple person? He seemed to have had a lot of priviliges in his life.
That you push your own ideas of what kids/people want and desire is “your” culture. There doesn’t seem to be much diversity, despite you claim to be, in your expectations/beliefs of other people. I mean, even if we knew of comicbooks and such back in the day, we wouldn’t care that much. And that is also the thing, how can we want something we have never heard anything about?!
And if by some chance there were some kids that got their hands on it, I’m safely betting that those were the equivalent of Paris Hilton, who had the money and arrogance to waste money on comicbooks, while the rest were trying to just get by. But believe me, you wouldn’t find that many rich people there.
So there wasn’t any black market in Western books and movies for people who weren’t rich? Okay, I didn’t know that.
It seems to me that you can’t even possibly imagine what kind of culture is over there and how that makes for another individual, than the ones influenced by a western society you are accustomed to. I’m not even sure you are trying to understand. Are you trying to understand? Trying to put yourselves in to another’s shoes? Another’s POV?
I’m trying to understand. Maybe I’ve been overly influenced by the books of Marjane Satrapi about her childhood in Iran, that I recently read, where she and her family did lots of stuff that was officially forbidden — dancing, drinking, buying smuggled records, etc. But her family was fairly wealthy, so maybe they were very untypical.
So, even if you can’t understand what I am saying, at least believe what I am telling you from personal experience.
Okay.
Fundamentally we are the same, but by extensions we are nothing alike! We are different. We have different values and reasons for those values….. If we see anything we don’t like, we voice the disapproval. When “westerners” see something they don’t like, they are told to be PC (politically correct) about it. You see being judgmental as a bad thing, we see it as a good thing to keep us and others grounded…. Cause I noticed from a couple of your sentences and tone in your text that you went the PC angle: seeing different as a bad thing (me stating that Sayid should’ve reacted differently because of his background and you stating “why should he be different just because…?”).
I was thinking that sometimes writers resort to stereotypes. I think (maybe) I see what you are saying, but it’s also true that it is very easy — and I think a mistake — for storytellers to paint their characters with overly broad brushstrokes.
To finish of this section, let me add that the reason for why I said earlier I didn’t want to bring up the “I am from Iraq and so is my parents” card is because I really didn’t want you to think for one second that you would have to be from the place you are talking about to get across that it is different. Even if my ancestors would’ve been from… USA for example, I would’ve noticed and highlighted this Iraqi character acting like a complete westerner. I have met people who have never left the borders of their city and still they can so easily put themselves in other people’s shoes. It’s ashame that I have to convince you of how it’s not like how you imagine it is by revealing my background to you, for you to hopefully understand. I was hoping that you could come to that understanding all by yourself. But now you will probably always think that one can not put himself/herself in others’ shoes unless he/she has experienced it. That would be tragically limiting.
But say someone who is *not* from Iraq comes along and says “Iraqis are X, Y, and Z,” and it’s all nonsense, stuff they heard from someone on the radio who just made it up out of thin air. Then it’s better *not* to believe this person. So it *does* make a difference to me, in this conversation, that you are from Iraq. Then I know that you are saying things based on your experience, not just making them up out of nothing.
I guess you’re right that I’m PC-ish, but I do hear a lot of stereotypes about a lot of people that are simply not true, and that I think are very harmful. It’s different, though, if someone is talking about their own background, rather than about the “other.” (Not to be confused with Lost’s the Others, ha ha ha.)
So you are saying that of all the people, we just happened to come across the individual that was not part of the rule? How inspiring, creative and bold of the producers. Just in case; that was sarcasm.
Well, despite your sarcasm, maybe so. Maybe Sayid really isn’t part of the rule. How many Iraqis were professional torturers? It’s not the average occupation.
And if that is the case, why not cast the same ethnic-looking actor and just call him “Bob”?
I imagine that Darlton don’t know much more about Iraq than I do. But I think the whole point of making the character Iraqi was because they wanted to give him a background where he was a torturer. I don’t think that their interest was in portraying Iraqi society as a whole, but rather just that one particular thing.
Every one of the characters in LOST is battling some demon from their past. Sayid’s problem is that he is able to kill — he seems to even enjoy killing — and yet he has a conscience. He is not a brute. He hates himself for being able to kill so easily. He hates Ben because Ben got Sayid back into killing. THAT, in my opinion, is what the Sayid-centric episode was all about. Sayid battling his conscience, and projecting his self-loathing onto Ben.
There is nothing uniquely Iraqi about that. So Darlton actually *could* have called him Bob (yes I know you were being sarcastic), and given him a backstory where he grew up in France. But I think that making him a torturer in the Republican Guard is much more dramatic. And I think that’s the one aspect of Iraqi experience that Darlton were really interested in.
But you’re seeing things that most people probably wouldn’t see. Maybe you should send Darlton a note.
Oh, that is not the same thing. Just because you put two impossible events next to each other, doesn’t mean that they are equals in unbelievability. Talking animals is so childish, so immature and simple. Time travel however is not. A 2-year old could laugh at talking animals, but time travel…?
To me, they are equally unbelievable. Actually, I would be much more inclined to believe in talking animals than in time travel. We know that chimps can communicate in sign language, and dolphins seem to have some sort of fairly complex vocal communication. 😉
Btw, time travel is still a heated debate among the scientific community. So don’t discount it as impossible completely.
Ha. The irony of all this is, is that if you and I were on a Crazy Island where we had gone back in time, I think YOU would accept it fairly easily, while I would be saying it was impossible! Even though I read science fiction before you did!
“There are other characters that I think are inconsistent”
Ooh, do divulge =)
Ha ha — ask me that again after you see the finale.
“But I don’t think that Darlton are aiming for mediocrity.”
Of course they are not. But a person’s aim for perfection is another man’s mediocrity. But you said that you didn’t expect/demand perfection, so what is one supposed to take away from that statement in this context?
I think that perfection is not the goal here. The goal is to create an interesting, exciting, and intelligent show. And I think they have done that.
Perfection — or anything near perfection — is simply not possible when you’re making a network TV show. There’s not enough time, there is not enough money, and there are too many things that can, and will, go wrong.
“Just wanted to add that I saw on Lostpedia that LOST is broadcast in Iraq. So if Sayid were living in Iraq now, he could learn about time travel by watching LOST itself!”
Um, yeah… Sayid is probably near 40-years old. That means when he was a child there were no such things. You are now trying to defend your argument by speaking of the present?
I was just joking about Sayid seeing it now. But I was actually surprised that Lost is being broadcast in Saudi Arabia and Iraq (and perhaps being pirated into Iran). Don’t women have to dress modestly when they appear on TV there (or am I wrong about that)? How do they deal with scenes like the one where Kate is taking a bath in the ocean in her underwear? Are the rules of what is allowed different for satellite TV?