"They're not who they say they are. They're pretending."
"Three Minutes," written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Note from Jan 24, 2010 -- That generated some fun discussion, but let's move on.
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7/10/10 -- I added my original post back in, because "why not?":
I didn't intend to write this post so early in my blog. As I mentioned in my first two posts, I wanted to at least start out this blog discussing only the show that we have already watched on our television screen. I thought that maybe if I built a case up one step at a time, perhaps some of my later posts would be easier to accept. I have shared a few of my thoughts about point of view, as well as the way identity is treated on the show. I have partially composed another post about memory in LOST. I also want to tackle the nature of narration on LOST and the question of what is "real" before getting in too deep into what fellow fan aohora a.k.a. "Amy Monroe" might call LOST GONE TOO FAR. Then there is one of the most important elements of my journey into this kind of storytelling--the connections--which I have not discussed yet. Also, I need to do a post on secret codes.
Instead, I skipped ahead and wrote most of this post in the middle of the night. I felt that I needed to write it for myself. Have you ever noticed that sometimes events in your life that you have numbed yourself to will suddenly hit you full force at 2 AM? I couldn't sleep thinking about the enormity of what has been accomplished. Warning: this post is actually probably about a different, bigger story than the one that has to do with LOST, but LOST is definitely part of it.
Okay, ready? "The Others" on the show aren't the only ones who are pretending...so are the characters who we have been following from the beginning. However, that particular revelation isn't going to be the focus of this blog entry. Instead, I am going to take a step back and look at the fans of the show."You look worried. I'd be worried, too, I was you. But you've got to stay positive, kiddo. You know, there's always that off chance that they'll believe your story. I know I sure did."
~"The Pilot, Part 2," written by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof
Many vocal fans of the show are plants. Those of you involved in reading and theorizing about LOST outside the show already know this fact, even if you don't know you do. You watched Paul Scheer stand up and babble about his black velvet painting starring Damon, Carlton, and a polar bear last summer at ComicCon. (I wasn't there, but I saw the YouTube video). Some people recognized right away that he was planted in the audience, but I wasn't 100% sure at the time. Maybe you winced and were embarrassed for this guy. He was so desperate and out of touch with how uncomfortable he was making the producers. Lindelof and Cuse politely smiled and nodded--looking like they would rather be anywhere else. (I imagine that they were dreaming of making a getaway on a yacht.) Were you as relieved and delighted as I was when you realized that Paul was actually there to promote a LOST alternate reality game?
Do you really think that Emerson and Garcia have had a grudge match since season one over who would play a better Hurley? (Hey, maybe they have!) I'm also going on record that the adorable Hurley lookalike fan that Garcia laughed at is also a plant of some sort. (I know why Garcia laughed, by the way--do you?)
So...who else isn't who they say they are? The short answer is that a lot of people aren't who they say they are. We shall focus our attention on the various incarnations of fans for most of this blog entry.
My father owns a jewelry store. I think I can spot a fake.
"Left Behind," written by Damon Lindelof and Elizabeth Sarnoff
FOUR DIFFERENT KINDS OF ONLINE FANS WHO ARE PLAYING PRETEND
1 -- Viral marketing moles
There are marketing moles online who are interacting with us online to get us to watch television shows and sell us the paraphernalia. I've known about them forever. Let's face it, some of them are really bad at it or only pay lip service to their so-called personas as fans. Listen--if you only show up to leave polls on message boards or try to create buzz about movies, DVDs, or other merchandise--it's pretty obvious you're a fake. It's difficult for me to begrudge these people. I assume they're just doing their jobs. Everyone needs to feed themselves or their families, pay their rent, and pay off any debt that they have. Some of them may actually be genuine fans of the shows. (Aside: Hey, viral marketing--now there's an idea! Could that be the infection on LOST?! I guess being a marketing mole is kind of like being possessed...but I digress again.)
Some of these plants get really into it, though. They have fleshed out characters, back stories, and unique personalities. I knew that they existed, but it took me longer than it should have to realize just how pervasive they are. Now, this part is the weird part--their characters appear to be paralleling the shows that they are fans of--and they seem to be leaving deliberate clues about future events in the shows. The question is, why? Before you dismiss this idea out of hand, take a moment and think of your favorite online fans that you have interacted with about your favorite shows. Have you ever found yourself thinking "what a coincidence" about how something that they say is happening in their personal lives is also happening on the show that you are discussing? Think about it.
Now, why are marketing moles' "lives" paralleling the shows? Is it because the writers were trying to include the fans in the game, and the marketing moles figured it out? Were they amused enough to join in? On the other hand, since it does seem like it is part of their mission to leave clues...maybe some of these "marketing moles" were actually planted by someone at the top of this game in an attempt to see if any of us would eventually notice how odd it is that all of our television shows not only seem to be riffing off of each other, but they also seem to be "breaching"* into real life. (I haven't told you about the breaches yet in this blog. The aforementioned fan aohora likes to call them easter eggs, but I think that they are more than that. The breaches are probably too complicated to explain in this post, but I'll make a note to try to come back to them in a later entry.)
2 -- People Creating the Show
Have you ever noticed how many of the actors, writers, and crew love to tell us that they are "also a fan of the show"? I want you to pause for a minute and think about this comment, because my guess is that it is going to become very important next year on LOST. Most of them claim that they don't visit message boards, although some of them once did. However, even if they don't visit fan sites anymore, they still might have other people reading message boards online and selecting some of the more interesting ideas about the show to share. I know that if I were writing a television show, I would be curious about what people were saying about it.
3 -- Family and Friends Recruited to Help Out
If I was posting on a message board, and I knew someone on the show personally, I probably wouldn't mention that I knew them. I wouldn't want to be mobbed by questions. Instead, I would interact and theorize like everyone else, even though I might have the advantage of having more information about the show by nature of my tight relationship with Matthew Fox. Of course, maybe I might also be recruited to leave clues about the show, in which case--I probably would spend a lot of time leaving clues for free. I mean, it's such an amazing game, who wouldn't want to be a part of it?
4 -- Famous People and Media Personalities Recruited Into the Game
There are famous fans and people involved in the show who are using their real names, but they are also leaving clues for us. They are kind of on the borderline, because while they themselves are real, many of the stories that they are telling us about their own personal lives or interactions with other people are fabricated or exaggerated for our benefit. If they weren't part of the game from the beginning, I'm guessing that they were recruited over time.
"Fantastic, give it to the guy who's not even in the game! Hey, it's taco night, dude, let's blow this pop stand. What?"
~"Dave," written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Did I miss anybody? I think that only leaves the last kind of fan: the non-plant. I am one of those clueless fans who just wanted to watch and discuss my favorite television shows and blundered into this game of collaborative storytelling several years ago, quite unaware of what I was getting into. I am who I say I am. However, I am also part the game now...because as I have discovered, once you are plugged in, it doesn't matter if you know what is going on or not. If they notice you, you become part of the story.
"You trust these people? They are liars! Why would you believe a word that..."All of these people pretending online and in interviews doesn't keep me up at night as much as the people who have infiltrated my real life. It was easy to ignore at first--I just pretended it was all a series of coincidences. After awhile, I knew it couldn't be that anymore, but I just kept acting like I normally act. Most of the time I even forget. I believe most people are good at heart. I have to believe that the writers have a purpose for being this intrusive. It's not comfortable, but I'm trying to just be myself.
"I trust them because you told me to, Kate. When you asked me to save Sawyer's life."
~The Man from Tallahassee," written by Drew Goddard & Jeff Pinkner
Some days I have doubts, though. I think of how bad the budget crisis is at our school, and I worry that the students who are planted might be taking time away from other students who we could be helping instead. I think about how bad people at my job feel when these people in masks tell them about terrible things that are going on in their lives. I have to react to these confessions as if they are true--in case they are--even when I realize that it might all just be more storytelling.
I wonder if I'm supposed to be quiet and let them come to me, or if I'm supposed to turn to one of them and say, "I know. I know that you're pretending. Just tell me what all this is about. When are you going to tell me that I'm being Punk'd?" I wonder if I'm supposed to write more blog entries and expose the people who are pretending, or if I should have faith, stay silent and protect them. I don't want to choose sides in this game, but if I am forced to do so, it would be nice to know exactly what is going on in order to make an informed decision.
So there you have it. I know it sounds crazy. I have only told a select few in real life about the connections, and I have so far only told my sweetheart about the people infiltrating my real life. He is the only one who (mostly) believes me, and the others think that I am on the verge of a mental breakdown. Some days I worry that I have had a mentral break. I'm the right age for it. Then I remember my visit to Bumbershoot's LOST panel, or my fellow fans online who I can tell really want to tell me but aren't allowed to do so, or the amused glint in the eye of one of my student workers--and I think, okay, no, it's real. It's all pretend, but it's not only in my mind.
Has anyone else noticed this happening to them? Have you noticed that you fell into your favorite television show, or that your favorite television show broke out into your real life? What do you think about it?
~~~
*The use of the word "breaching" in this context came originally from Jane Eire, one of my favorite LOST fans from the Fuselage, and one of the few people to ever agree with me about any of my LOST theories. Thanks, Jane. You are an amazing storyteller. For better or worse, when you told me that we needed to trust each other, I believed in that.
I know what you mean about falling in to a show. One day you're a successful, well-adjusted person, and the next, you look around, and you say, "Dammit, I'm Michelle Tanner. No way, Jose!" I hate Dave Coulier so much.
ReplyDeleteReally, though, an interesting missive. When workplace chaos gets really hot, people start picking sides as if there's a side that's going to win. I don't know about your workplace, but in all of the office space I've ever occupied, any time that a war breaks out, there are almost never any survivors. Sure, some people get mad and quit or get fired and it looks like one side won, but then pretty soon the "winners" realize how disillusioned that they are and move along too (or management axes them when they find out who caused said storm of shit.) Truth be told, if you can't stay out of the middle of a shit storm (which is to say, keep your head down and ignore it), you'll probably end up gone before long, regardless of the side that you choose.
And that sucks, because no one wants to be uprooted from their familiar domain, but if things are as bad as you say at your workplace, when the dust settles, it probably won't be the same place that you went to work for, anyway.
Speaking of people with masks: it's interesting to think about those people more linearly. At work, those people tell stories and live their character, etc., but on some level, they can't shake their humanity. I mean, those people go to Kroger and buy Special K like everyone else. They pump gas like everyone else. They go home and there's a hook on which to hang their jacket, there's a stack of junk mail on their table, there's a standard GE 60 watt bulb in their bedside lamp. All of these things are part of the great mundane leveler that keeps me from "outing" people at work. I think of the people who come in and lie to my face about how "the situation upstairs" is, and when I'm about to say, "WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON?!" I think about this poor schmuck in suit standing in front of me with such a serious look who gets his tires rotated at the same tire store where I get mine rotated and it hits me: he's just trying to get by. He's just a human like me. And I just smile and nod.
"I know what you mean about falling in to a show. One day you're a successful, well-adjusted person, and the next, you look around, and you say, "Dammit, I'm Michelle Tanner. No way, Jose!" I hate Dave Coulier so much."
ReplyDelete:D
Anonymous, I think you have some good points. We all wear masks, even when we try to convince ourselves that we don't! We all have "roles" that we find ourselves "playing" in certain situations. I do think we often act how people around us expect us to act.
My office is actually a very pleasant environment to work in, fortunately...I was kind of jumping all over the place in this entry, though, so I can see how you might have been thinking something sinister was going down. I've seen situations like you describe happen to some of my friends that have worked elsewhere, though.
Thanks for reading and responding, especially since I was in a weird mood when I wrote this post and was probably half delirious.
In fact,I think I've forgotten what I wrote in this blog entry already! The good news is that will fit in with the topic of the next entry: memory. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled program of LOST discussion soon--hopefully with 42% less crazy talk.
Bring it, sister! I LOVE the crazy talk!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out!
As for masks, I think we each of us can't help wearing "masks."
1) there's no way for us to truly KNOW everything about someone else and there's no way for them to KNOW us. We go about our days wearing our masks (or IDs) like costumes. I think it's more normal and less sinister to have your 'work,' 'home,' 'customer,' or 'mom' IDs in easy access as you go about your life. I mean, I can be more of "myself" in front of my husband than in front of my kids or my parents.
2) Definitely think that masks can be sinister, and online IDs are by FAR the more sinister to me because there's NO way to verify anything about anyone online because everything can be fabricated and covered up. It's too seductive to think of an online pal like a pen pal or a phone pal. It's too easy to believe.
Although it APPEARS that I am very open and spill my guts freely online, I assure you - that is NOT the case. (I am not nearly as tolerant OR kind of/to people loyal to their own ignorance or who cling to denial in the face of proof and logic. I'm nice because I SHOULD be, not because I AM.)
3) The worst kind of masks/IDs, and the most damaging, are those masks/IDs created by someone else and forced on us. This would be the very definition of "The Other," wouldn't it? (Derrida would be so proud of me!).
As for LOST, I tell you what girl. You spill it, because I figure it's much worse to be hunted online by haters (that may or may not be plants to prevent information from getting out--THAT I can easily see happening!), then (right or wrong) to never be heard. What are we except our voice? Why should some effing pogue in an office somewhere get to decide what I say? Pfft. They should just keep their secrets better.
The Others are not who we think they are. These characters have had different IDs jumping in and out of them the entire show!
I tell you this: According to the undershow, the flashbacks and flashforwards are DOORS. The Others are using human memories to communicate with the folks they encounter. And guess what? There seems to be a desire to GET ON THE ISLAND. Eko's brother is a good example.
I'm blowing this all out on Donald's podcast next week, BUT if you rewatch Eko's story, it's the best example of what I'm talking about. Then compare Eko's story to Desmond's. Hmmm.
As for me, I'm losing heart because I don't think these guys will ever come clean. Why should they? My only hope is that they sit on everything long enough for me to figure out how to convince them to let me collect everything and write it all out.
Sigh. Season 6. Sheesh!
Keep on truckin' MD - :)
MD: Think about it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous has WORK TO DO in the WORKPLACE.
Can you see it yet? :)
aohora, the problem is that I'm still trying to figure out who I should trust, *if anyone*. I am not sure your "blow it wide open" philosophy is good advice. I also don't want to be the person who keeps information to herself when she could be doing good by revealing it.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting the vibe online that A LOT of people are disconcerted and/or upset with me after my most recent post (even AFTER I edited out some of the crazier talk--perhaps you did not get a chance to see the part that I ended up cutting out after Anonymous commented? The part about my real life?).
All along this journey, I think I have been underestimated a bit. I have always known or suspected more than I have been saying, although I have also learned a lot more in the past year. With recent comments I think I might have brought too much attention on myself...look what happened to "Persephone" and Paul and anyone else who gets mixed up with this conspiracy! :P
On a different note, I have probably given away too much of my real self away online. I won't go into too much details about this part except to say that I trusted people who were not being as open with me as I was with them, and perhaps that was a dangerous move.
I think narratives are very powerful things, and the English major in me wants to protect them and the storytellers...but another part of me desires to question those same narratives. I want to know how these narratives are being used and if they are actually being abused. I have my suspicions about what the overarching story is about--LOST is just a part of it--but I don't like not knowing for sure what is really going on. Over and over, history shows us that _good people are convinced to do bad things when people tell powerful stories to them and they buy into it._
ReplyDelete"The worst kind of masks/IDs, and the most damaging, are those masks/IDs created by someone else and forced on us. This would be the very definition of 'The Other,' wouldn't it? (Derrida would be so proud of me!)."
Derrida, wow, I think I'm having a flashback. Anyway, this statement rings very true to me and is definitely something that I could be nervous about...I definitely understand where you are coming from there!
As you self describe yourself as the B-word and seem to enjoy trashing some people, I actually never have had the impression that you are polite! On the other hand, you do have many other fine qualities--you are super smart, and you have a VERY helpful POV on LOST to fit into the jigsaw puzzle. Also, I wish I could lip read like you do--that would be a handy talent to have! I can tell that the lips don't always match and that the voices change, but not what they are really saying...
Back to LOST, I definitely agree with you about the others not being the people we were introduced to across the island. Ben et al are of course some of the very same characters we have been following from the beginning. I have a few ideas as to how that will work out. In my opinion, the most likely are:
-possession (fantasy or SF-nal), -consciousness time traveling with a *Freaky Friday* twist
-a few people playing multiple characters somehow
-the old "in someone's head" scenario :P
-some sort of memory device or something that is breaking down and the data is all blurring together
The island IS important. I think that they are going to try to make us think it isn't important next season...but that's smoke and mirrors. As someone who is interested in what you call "the Undershow," you know that.
As to the the larger, beyond LOST story, I can't decide if they will come clean or not. There's definitely an end date, although it might not correspond with the end of LOST. Since there is an end date, that is encouraging for some sort of "come clean" scenario. Also,it seems like too many people are proud of what they are doing (and can't keep their mouths shut) for it to be ALL kept under wraps forever. (Also, why keep dropping clues if you don't want someone to figure it out? Or was that the point, to drop a whole bunch of clues and then be smug when no one figured anything out and there were all those clues right there in front of us? Who wants what?) On the other hand, there are some people who might get in trouble for things I really don't think they should get in trouble for--so perhaps if they reveal anything, they will only reveal a small portion of it.
Do you think that they were going to confess and chickened out? I agree that the show needs to stand on its own. On the other hand, how can you just mess with our lives like this and just run away without providing any sense of closure or way of dealing with it? I wish I knew what exactly was going to happen in the big game.
I don't normally listen to Donald's podcasts, so make sure you remind me when you're going to be on so I can hear the thoughts that you are leaking on Eko...and if you ever want me to comment on a blog post of yours, say so. I often read and don't remark.
Oh golly. Had I known that not taking the time to login to blogspot would have caused so much controversy, I'd have been a good sport and made the few extra keystrokes. I figured that you would know I was Anonymous based solely on a Full House joke in the first paragraph.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I can't tell if you're talking about Lost or work or personal life or some kind of alternate reality in which all three are merged (sounds wicked awesome, actually), but whatever it is, it sounds bloody intriguing and leads me to believe I should be hanging around on that end of the building more, poking my nose in to various situations and such, like some sort of mischievous cartoon mouse.
And I don't know anything about Lost, so this concludes my statement. ;)
Josh, of course I knew Anonymous was you (or maybe K or DZ). I was just being polite because you didn't name yourself. I wasn't talking about your comment when I said that I was getting the vibe that people were upset with me. :)
ReplyDeleteMostly I'm just talking about LOST. The part I cut out was about LOST and work.
Added it all back in. :)
ReplyDelete