“We have to go back to The Island”- Saying goodbye to “Lost”

Before I begin I am going to write this in massive letters to that I don’t get hate mail/comments:

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS LOTS OF SPOILERS, CRACK POT THEORIES AND INNANE BABBLE RELATING TO THE END OF THE TELEVISION PHENOMENON “LOST“. IF YOU HAVEN’T YET WATCHED THE SHOW THEN STOP READING NOW.

Ok. Good. So the only ones left will hopefully be those who have seen the show. Just had to get that out-of-the-way. Now to begin…

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On Sunday 24th (Monday 25th here in England) May 2010, I, along with millions worldwide, bade goodbye to what in my opinion has been one of the smartest, gripping, interesting, intelligent and infuriating shows of all time. Ever since it first aired, I have been gripped by everything Lost. I read all the blogs, studied the crazy theories and investigated all the theological and philosophical nuances included for those nerdy enough to notice them. Hell, I even used the characters of John Locke and Rousseau to help remember philosophers in my A Level Psychology exam! It has been a show which through the highs, lows, hatches and smoke monster chases I have always enjoyed. Above all though, Lost has never disappointed me…well, not all the time anyway.

I am going to come out and say it; I was thoroughly satisfied with how the show ended. Now, of course we didn’t get all of the answers; we still don’t know who created the Tawert state, where the hell Claire went between the end of season 4 and start of season 6, why the Island could time travel, how Allison Janey killed the whole village and filled in the Donkey Wheel, why the Donkey Wheel worked (the explanation they gave was NOT an explanation), why were babies so important to The Others, why did that guy look so much like John Lennon at the start of season 6 and how the hell can I look like Josh Holloway?, amongst other things. However, I don’t actually think that any of that matters (except the Josh Holloway thing, I really really want to look that good). The point of the show was never the mythological stuff, that was a side-show to keep us guessing and to make sure Lost didn’t turn into some crap soap opera like so many American dramas become. Lost was about the characters, their trials and tribulations, their awakenings and, importantly, their finding themselves after being effectively lost their entire lives.

I am not ashamed to say I shed more than a tear during the finale as well. Seeing Claire and Charlie reunited was a massive moment and during their flash I was reminded of the tragedy of their story (I lost it when we saw the ‘honey jar’ in the picnic on the beach). The moment when Jin and Sun ‘woke up’ and even when Ben finally got his wish and became important and special as Hurley made him his number 2 also had my bottom lip all a quivering. But that final image of Jack in the Bamboo field was truly special. Yes, there will be people who boo and hiss about the end being the easy way out and idiots who claim they ‘were right from the start! They were in limbo all along!’ Well, yes and no. All of the adventures on the Island, everything that happened, happened, to paraphrase the show’s favourite catchphrase. But in the end, in that final scene in the church we got to see the culmination of all of the characters journeys.

Some weren’t ready to move on yet. Ben, rather touchingly (and in another brilliant turn by Michael Emerson) stayed behind, living, I like to imagine with Rousseau and Alex, being important and part of a caring family as he was never able to as a child. Michael was trapped on the Island, forever whispering just out of sight in punishment for, well, being a general douche for the first 2 seasons. And Walt, well, Walt simply got too tall. Yet those characters who we did see in the Church at the end- those who did move on- all managed to find closure and safety with the others. We didn’t see them all die of course. Kate rather beautifully said that she had missed Jack so we have to believe that she lived the rest of her life, rather tragically without the person whom she clearly cared for more than any other on the Island. Sawyer as well went on living without Juliet but beautifully they met in, for want of a better phrase, the specially created purgatory, and were then able to spend eternity together.

The ‘real world’ events I feel were also handled incredibly well. Richard’s first grey hair was the first sign we had that things were changing on the Island and the rest of the episode continued in that vein. We were left with the sense that together Hurley and Ben managed the Island in a new way. There were no games, no rules, no stoppers and bottles. Instead they managed to create a place which protected the Islands gifts (it’s light if you will) while they were alive. I say when they were alive because in my head, when they died, no one else was left to protect the Island because it no longer needed protecting. Jacob and his crazy mum were wrong about humanity as we saw from the characters relationships and loves in the other world. Humanity isn’t evil but in fact the complete opposite. So, because of what Hurley and Ben achieved in their time in charge no one needed to protect the light when they were gone as it didn’t actually need protecting in the first place. You may have your own theories and think I’m mad and please, feel free to post them below. However, this is what I like to think happened. What can I say, everyone needs to think glass half full once in a while!

I guess what I am trying to say is that in the end then, it didn’t really matter about all the theories about what the light was, what MIB/fLocke/Smokey/Bad Jacob’s name was or why Jacob turned out to be such a mummies boy pansy. That’s never what Lost was about. Damon Lindoff and Carlton Curse said it was about a 4 letter word and whilst we joked it was “What?” it was actually love.

Yet, I feel that Lost was based around another word. One slightly longer but which sums up the journey that everyone on Oceanic 815; “redemption“.

Now then, I’m off to re-watch it from the start to see what I missed first time around.

Namaste

xxxx

The Highs and Lows of Student Media

As I come to the end of my brief foray into the world of student media and aim to move into the world of actual media, I feel I must briefly look back on what have been, to say the least, some of the most infuriating, depressing, hard, pointless but ultimately rewarding experiences I have ever had. I’ve decided to start with the ‘Lows’ and move to the ‘Highs’ in attempt to leave a positive feeling before the end of this blog. However, make no mistake, it’s going to get angry before it get nice.

The Lows

The biggest low which I have experienced I guess in the last 3 years is the crushing sense of pointlessness. No matter what I’ve tried in the past few year it appears that at some point the proverbial excrement will collide with a couple of whirling blades. I have found that there is simply no way of producing an award-winning piece of work you can be proud of if there is a distinct lack of interest from those at the top.

I must make it clear at this point that I’m not talking about my fellow producers of student media- the struggling masses, as it were- I am instead talking about the people running our university guild, the majority of whom couldn’t see a good thing if it came up and smacked them in the face. The lack of support which I have received as a member of Guild TV and for 2 years as Deputy Manager of Burn Fm is astounding. Both of these media outlets are producing top quality talent, most of which will probably be working for the Beeb or other top class institutes very soon and yet they have been completely ignored.

I know what you’re thinking right now, I’m just being grumpy. Well, yes, you’re right. However, I think I have bloody good reason to be. Here’s a few examples:

• In October 2007 Burn Fm had to shut down operations due to the fact that our studio is located in a sweat box and our equipment was close to melting point. After 1 year, the problem was finally sorted out, but in that time we subsequently lost our listener base, DJ’s and all of the credibility we once had. During this year we pleaded with the guild to work faster and help us recover from an event which would have all but killed most radio stations but they simply weren’t interested. As a committee we did our best and I am ultimately very proud of everything we achieved despite the hardship that year but I felt then (and still do now) that with more support we could have achieved a hell of a lot more
• In the same year Guild TV had almost all of their equipment stolen. This event (caused by a receptionist giving out the keys to our studio to a stranger-note, not a member of the society but a member of university staff) left us with one handy cam and a broken computer. It took those in charge months to replace the cameras as they seemingly didn’t care we had a national awards ceremony to get ready for. As a group of just 10 we worked extremely hard and eventually managed to win 1 award and get 2 highly commended’s at the National Student TV Awards. Just think how many we could have won with the right equipment?
• In  2008 a Burn Fm DJ committed an act of libel on the air. The event was sorted out  by our committee swiftly and everything was sorted. About 2 months later the story was printed in our uni newspaper (with a lot of inaccurate facts) and somehow ended up getting a quarter page article in the Daily Mail (with even more inaccurate facts). This was of course about 1 months after the Brand/Ross scandal and we were made scapegoats of by the uni (even though they didn’t mind how we handled it to start with…?) Since then Burn Fm has been under intense scrutiny for no logical reason despite us complying with every ridiculous request asked of us.
• In 2010 the GTV hard drive wiped everything produced over the past few years. Every piece of work myself and many of my friends had done for the station was gone all because we were given a computer that was built from bits which were most likely found in the bargain bin of a car boot sale. An intense hard work drive followed and we managed to pull together footage and programmes eventually winning 1 award and getting 1 highly commended again at the NASTA’s.

These are just a few of the events I have had to contend with and it begs the question- What could we have done with support and decent equipment? The talent in these media outlets is amazing but non of it is nurtured or supported. We wonder why Leeds TV win every award going, why other Uni radio stations win awards at the SRA’s but the answer is so obvious it hurts.

Their uni’s care! They get funding, support and feedback. Not bans, restrictions and ridicule!

After 3 years of working in these environments I cannot wait to get to a place where people care about what they are producing. Where people are able to grow and develop and where success is rewarded with praise and promotion, not given a slight pat on the back and a blind eye turned. Make no mistake, I know I am going to have to wad through several years of shit to get to that place, but after some of the student media experiences I have had, I can’t help but feel that it’ll feel like paradise when I eventually get there.

The Highs

This is easy. The highs are everyone who has read the above and knows exactly what I mean. John, Hannah, Frankie, Clare, Franky, Tom, all the Sam’s, Hailey, Jo, Maz, Flic, Fiona, Grace, Frank, Will, Michael, Steve, Ariane and everyone else (sorry I can’t fit you all on). Every one of us knows the struggles and the annoyance but in a way it has all been worth it to meet you all. I know we’ll be working together for a long time in various different fields and I look forward to bumping into most of you at the Brits/Oscars/Baftas in 20yrs and laughing about the shit storm we trekked through to get there.

So to finish off this intensely long rant, I leave you with a parting gift. The first thing I ever did for GTV.

http://www.facebook.com/reece.lipman?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=9691096613

Until next time

Later Days

xxx