Season four of LOST did a lot of things right. I think death, however,was not one of these things, with of course the exception of a couple moments presented terrifically. Differing from the three seasons preceding it, season four uses death less as a thematic device than before. The stories the writers tell this season rely more on the suspense and drama of who the people of the freighter are, whether they have good intentions, what the deal is with the “Oceanic Six,” and a sense of “Hey, check out how fresh the show is now that we flash forward instead of back.” With all this other focus, using death to tell stories about character and emotion takes a back seat for the most part. However, two key instances really shine through: Jin and Alex.

Alex pleads as Keamy has no mercy.

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I recently stumbled across some news from the producers of our beloved program, who have decided to hold a “Mock Theme Contest.” As the official website for the show states:

“For this year’s Comic-Con panel, our theme is about giving back to YOU…the fans!!! It is because of you that we are celebrating our 5^th year at Comic-Con, and we would love to incorporate your astounding creativity. We’d like to feature YOUR ideal version of what you think a LOST title song would be (if the show had one). Over the years, we’ve been witness to your incredibly innovative pieces on LOST, and would love to hear your fetchy melody for LOST which you were waiting to share!” (http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mocktheme).

Even though the show has never had any official theme song (aside from the lovely eerie tone that reverberates as the title comes into view, of course), LOST has always been a program that utilizes music to its fullest effect to capture the feel of a moment. My personal favorites are the distinct marching tunes that usher in an air of triumph and determination. These melodies usually make themselves heard near the end of each season, especially season finales. Possibly the one that sticks out the best for me is the driving rhythm that carried the survivors along during the finale of season 3, as they marched with certainty, determined to stand against the Others once and for all.

Needless to say, music within LOST also goes a long way to establishing creepy and frightening ambience to enhance the thrill of harrowing moments. What I find even more intriguing, though, is the use of an absence of music to up the chill factor. In season one’s “Raised by Another,” Claire has a nightmare in which she encounters Locke with black eyes and finds blood in a cradle. The complete lack of music coupled with faint sounds of a baby crying solidify this scene as one of the most terrifying over the whole five seasons of LOST.

I’m curious to see what you all think about the use of music in general throughout the course of the program. Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Now I would like to transition from discussing the masterful use of music to create mood to some fun speculation on what might make a good theme song for the show, and what the implications of the choice may be. I am fully going to break the rules of the contest, however, and not actually create a song of my own.

Theme 1: “(You All) Everybody” by DriveSHAFT. This choice is clearly a no-brainer since it is the hit song of awesome rocker and Claire-obsessed Brit, Charlie. It doesn’t really fit the mood of the show though. Something about lyrics that say “You all, everybody / You all, everybody / I don’t like you stupid people / Wearing expensive clothes,” fail to capture what the show is actually about. I do applaud the producers for basing a song on what I have heard were the insane ranting of a Jerry Springer guest…

Theme 2: “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller. Who wouldn’t love to see a montage of clips of the show paired with the lyrics, “Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin / Into the future”? Unfortunately the rest of the song doesn’t really work for the show. The Smoke Monster’s flight patterns are more serpentine than eagle.

Theme 3: Theme from “Sanford and Son” OR theme from “Benny Hill.” I can’t really justify these choices. I just personally think these are two of the most memorable and hilarious theme songs of all time. I would love to see Ben chasing Sun and Kate in bikinis before stumbling onto Sawyer selling junk. It’s moments like these that write themselves…

Theme 4: “HOUSE Theme.” Sure it’s already on television, but it’s an awesome song. (Yes, I am aware it is part of a real song, but this is the best part.) Add some darker and deeper discordant tones, slow down the track, and you adapt the song to better fit the creepier mood of LOST. Instant classic.

Well those are my brief thoughts on the subject. Let me know what you all think would make good – or funny – theme songs. Stupid people in expensive clothes need not reply…

My Name is What

A Rose by any other name still falls for Bernard. And yet, there exists a real power in tying identity to one’s moniker. Many cultures elevate names to lofty or even spiritualistic levels. Lewis Spence writes, “in many Australian tribes a man gives up his name for ever at the time when he undergoes initiation into the ceremonies which confer upon him the rights of manhood…New names are thus probably given at initiation, and carefully concealed for fear of sorcery.” He also reveals that “many Egyptians received two names – the ‘great’ name and the ‘little’ name, or the ‘true’ name and the ‘good’ name; the latter was that made public, but the ‘true’ or ‘great’ name was most carefully concealed.” In short, names are quite important.

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A couple of weeks ago, I initiated a topic of how the tremendously important theme of death played out over the course of LOST so far. After looking at the role of death in season one and taking a break to discuss leadership and LOST politics, I am ready to further the topic of death as it emerges during Season Two.

If death in season one served more of a social solidifying purpose, season two provides very little in this regard. Rather than examine how death impacts the group as a whole, death in season two seemed more about looking at the effect of death on individual characters.

For better or worse, death was used most memorably this season to stir up drama by putting an early expiration date on some romantic relationships. The sixth episode of season 2, “Abandoned,” closes with a cliffhanger featuring the oft-neurotic Shannon being shot by ever-so-lady-like Ana Lucia. This death event is dragged out to the point where it is featured in three episodes. The shooting takes place in “Abandoned,” is highlighted in a montage in “The Other 48 Days, ” and commences the episode “Collision.” The produces of the show clearly wanted to make the shooting of Shannon a big deal, and I imagine an important factor is the emotional impact the audience should feel for Sayid, who found Shannon’s affections to be a temporary escape from his musings of Nadia. Shannon’s actual death occurs in “Collision,” with a proper mourning from Sayid, who elects not to enact revenge on Ana Lucia’s accident, solemnly stating, “What good would it be to kill you, if we’re both already dead?”

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What Makes a Leader?

Take The Lead

In the world of LOST, groups continually form and shatter, each with its own primary identification and simultaneously a distinct opposition. At different times, certain characters take the lead while others are relegated to roles as henchmen (or henchwomen…), lackeys, and flunkeys. A look at the different factions at different points in the show’s timeline reveals some underlying themes of power according to the LOST universe. Take a seat and open your mind to the first session of LOST Politics 101: It’s all about style.

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Editor’s Note: Brandon is the newest member of the Lost Blog writing team. Every week he will be covering some of the larger thematic elements that run throughout the show. His first article, as the title implies, is the theme of death in Season 1. Enjoy!

Dealing with death has been a consistently controversial theme throughout the course of the show. Early in season one, in the episode “Walkabout,” Jack, Kate, and Sayid argue about what to do with a number of corpses that died during the crash of the plane. Sayid believes they should be buried while Jack insists that burning the bodies is the safest option to avoid attracting predators. Jack laments, “Look, I know this seems harsh, but that fuselage in the sun… it’s not about what they deserve. They’re gone, and we’re not.” Sayid replies, “What you say may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest… it’s not right. No regard for their wishes? Their religions?” This is an interesting point that raises some moral questions, but Jack brushes this thought aside with, “We don’t have time to sort out everybody’s god.”

The dead are initially neglected in favor of the living, the sheer need to survive. However, at the end of the episode, the characters hold a memorial service for those strangers who none of the knew, but who touched all of their lives in some way through death. The survivors were comforted through the funeral-like ritual of remembrance. The sociologist Durkheim wrote on the theory of how death and ritual can create solidarity. Durkheim writes, “When someone dies, the family group to which he belongs feels itself lessened, and to react against this loss, it assembles. A common misfortune has the same effects as the approach of a happy event: Collective sentiments are renewed which then lead new men to seek one another and to assemble together.”

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