[update in progress]
I dont always watch a show or movie when it first comes out. But the ability to download episodes or seasons of important media product (Thunderbirds Are GO!) has transformed my ability to self-medicate chronic insomnia with productive show review.
For the purpose of self-medicating insomnia, I can heartily recommend Lost (2004-2010). Six seasons of a group of people thrown together seemingly at random on a plane flight from Sydney to LA which goes off course and crashes on a mysterious island. Indigenous peoples, the struggle for survival, evidence of mysterious scientific projects and ancient cultic influence from thousands of years ago. It turns out that many of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 may have connections to each other in ways that are slowly revealed. A struggle for good and evil. An island with the ability to hide itself and move its position. A paralyzed man who is healed. A monster that appears to be black smoke.
But what does it all mean?
That was the question then and that is the question now. There are many attempts to answer the questions posed by this show Here are my two cents worth.
First, I think we are entitled to ignore what the writers / producers say about the meaning of the show. The meaning of a great work of art (like Thunderbirds) will necessary evolve as our culture evolves.
Second, there are many little mysteries planted all throughout Lost some of which are answered and many of which are just ignored. That may be too bad but I dont think it distracts from the bigger picture. To pick just one example, what do the numbers mean? It doesnt matter. Maybe it was just supposed to be entertaining.
Third, I think that there are important story elements that can not be ignored but are there to facilitate the next two points. The Island is clearly important as a place where these various things happen, it has its own fantastic semi-explanations for its power, pockets of exotic matter for example. And I dont think that there can be much doubt that Oceanic Flight 815 is iconic and central to the fates of our characters. Dont get me wrong, these elements are important but they are in a sense details leading up to the primary themes.
And those themes are as follows (4) our interpretation and understanding should be mystical not scientific, (5) our main characters have been brought together to work out issues that need to be resolved before they can go on to the "next place" and finally, therefore, (6) I think that Lost is clearly in that genre of fiction that is loosely described as the journey of the soul on its path from life to the hereafter.
There is an additional theme that involves our characters involvement in some sort of higher level battle between light and dark, good and evil. In that, Lost also falls into a genre that we might call Manichean. The struggle between good and evil. Maybe even Zoroastrian.
There is also some narrative device ongoing in parallel which suggests that the characters are experiencing some sort of alternate reality where Oceanic Flight 815 does not crash and where they are not on the island.
The characters work through serious problems as they prepare for transfer for what comes after. Those who are not ready stay on the Island for a while.
Although I am no expert in this, I think that there are various mystical belief systems that Lost is in some sense a variation of. Another cinema example of this is Jacob's Ladder (1991) in which our main character is subjected to a number of end-of-life experiences as he is prepared for his death and the soul's journey to another life/plane/existence or just termination. Ghost (1991) is probably another example of this genre.
We conclude that Lost is based on the delusion that there is some sort of system / mechanism for life-after-death, in which important issues can be worked out for those who are chosen, for those who are "candidates". There have always been fantasies, or of religion, that helps us feel better about our horrible fate.
