Saturday, May 3, 2008

Lost: A Sloppy Map Isn't Storytelling

Whenever I watch Lost, I get this sick feeling that we, the viewers, are just rubber dolls for the self-indulgent masturbatory acts of the Lost writers. I don't like being fucked around. I don't like treasure hunts that promise big but only come up with a lot of bad clues and stinky prizes. What's so great about imposed confusion? Every episode reeks of a glorified Agatha Christie mystery with red herrings thrown to people who like doing dumbed down crossword puzzles. It's Monty Burns rubbing his hands, eyes narrowed, saying gleefully, "They want clues? I'll give them clues."

The best part of Lost is the cast of characters. It began with them and made all the silliness bearable, even at times meaningful. But now the characters are just cogs to an end that probably isn't justified. Or interesting. Because the show is now about the writers and how the writers are more clever than the viewers. Cleverness for the sake of cleverness. Surprise for the sake of surprise.

Lost is shitting on the head of light entertainment.

(Yes, I am angry. But as a writer, I just don't approve of writers abusing their superpowers.)

2 comments:

cheezfri said...

OK Kitty, how would you have had the storyline go? There is definitely too much hidden meaning in the current version. Each book title they sneak into a scene, practically every utterance from their mouths is dripping with nuance, subtext, and all that drek. I just wanna be entertained, not confused. But we're near the end and I have to see it through.

J.A. Pak said...

No what you mean. That's how Abrams got me on Alias, with that promise that things would make sense -- luckily for me the channel I was watching Alias on pulled the plug on season 2! I suppose some of my frustration stems from Alias.

I am so not going to get involved in alternate plots -- Lost just doesn't get my imagination going. Star Wars, on the other hand ... I was so disgusted with the Clone thing, I came up with my own script, which was a helluva lot more grown up and interesting with no Jar Jar Binks! ;) George, you should have called me!