Hotel California theory

[Dmcquickly]

Alright, at the suggestion of Jacksgirlfriend, I'm throwing this out. I won't disown it, but just know that it's a theory, not completely thought out, which I'm tossing to you all for the intelligent consideration you all display on this message board. Seems like it'll charge a few of you up!

In the "If They Do Get Off The Island" thread, a few of us were tossing around humorous epilogues to the show. As this line of silliness developed, I remembered a line from Hotel California (something in response to Jacksgirlfriend, who actually started this whole thought process by suggesting a name for the post-show Island resort I thought the Rich Kids might open).

Anyway: In Hotel California there's a line that we are all familiar with (if you know the song): We are all just prisoners here of our own device.

I've written elsewhere that the only thing that bothers me about this show is that 48 or so people survived the freefall drop of a third of an airplane fuselage. That never happens.

Now, as Jacksgirlfriend has pointed out to me elsewhere, the producers et al. have stated that everything that happens on the island is rooted in science/pseudo-science. Which doesn't necessarily negate the possibility of this state of existence.

As I say, I have not thought much about this at all, since it just came up about an hour ago. So this theory is, in every respect, a tabula rasa for all of you to etch your own ideas into.

Have at it! I'll enjoy the responses. And thanks a million to Jacksgirlfriend for suggesting this new line of inquiry! It'll sure keep our brains fresh to keep revisiting explanations for the premises of this show!

[JacksGirlfriend]

I actually love this. And for all you science geeks I'm going to tell you why.

Let's start with Stephen King. SK bases all of his stories in reality, your science/pseudo-science world. He has real people, doing real things surrounded by the real world. But in a lot of SK's world, these people and events are surrounded by something else. And that something else is always based on the spiritual/psychic/supernatural or the monster under the bed. His books usually have something that can frighten us, entertain us and shock us and make us think of something beyond ourselves. Everything is still real... it's just something else as well.

I expect alot of people to jump down our collective throats for this and I'm waiting with eager anticipation. But if this theory is right, it's going to incorporate everything. It's going to allow for fear manifestation, a possibility of a physical purgatory, a higher power, a battle between light and dark, religious overtones, a Bermuda triangle angle, a rip in time, a French woman, a Philadelphia Experiment and just about everything else we've come up with yet. Plus real emotions, real reactions and real character development. I think it has everything we want.

Bring it on!

JacksGirl

[Dmcquickly]

lol Bring it on.

I'm not sure I'd want to be living on THIS island! lol I like the idea of a South Pacific resort better. :-)

But seriously, you have hit a few of the most significant points here, girlfriend.

And not only does it incorporate a lot of the other theories (resulting in a Grand Unified Theory, if you will), it allows room for future development beyond the context of the first few episodes (even the first season).

So even as our characters grow and develop richly in front of our eyes, it provides the writers with ample opportunity to present new challenges to them.

Something to this, I think!

[JacksGirlfriend]

I think it's more than a possibility... I think this might be it.

JacksGirl

[Dmcquickly]

It doesn't have the scientific backup of the Philadelphia Experiment theory, which was awesome and made sense, but it does have the kind of creative freedom a long-running tv show needs to keep it fresh.

[Spirit Shards]

Hmm... this raises another theory. "The prisoners of their own device" could mean that they are all criminals and that the island is their prison. Maybe in order to get rescued they have to redeem themselves? But then... why is Walt there? He's only a kid.
I can't wait to see the other theories that are spawned by this. :) It's really interesting.

EDIT: Damn spelling... :P

[JacksGirlfriend]

It doesn't need research. The show is fiction and a writer has the latitude to make up any story, however fantastic, he/she likes. You can't research someone's creative process.

JacksGirl

[Dmcquickly]

"It doesn't need research. The show is fiction and a writer has the latitude to make up any story, however fantastic, he/she likes. You can't research someone's creative process."

Which makes this theory the most reasonable yet produced for the "backstory" of the show. Its nebulousness makes it supremely adaptable to whatever creative whims the writers might come up with. Unless they've pre-written 5 seasons of scripts...which I highly doubt. First off, who would pay for 5 seasons of tv scripts? lol

I think you're right, girlfriend. This theory holds lots of possiblities.

[JacksGirlfriend]

"This theory holds lots of possibilities."

And everything fits inside it.

We still have everything grounded in reality - their behavior, their reactions, what they find, what they see, what's been happening before and after their arrival. But there has to be a reason for them to be there, alive and well.

And I truly like that Locke fits so well into this scenario. The judge. The jury. The one who decides...

Plus it opens up possibilities about redemption. What will happen to these people when they're finished with the guilt they're carrying around? Will they die? Will they be released? To where? The possibilities are endless and also allows for the addition of characters later.

Plus it still allows for everything else. A small "island" of unreality where anything and everything is possible... If it can suck a planeful of angst filled passengers into it, the island can do anything it wants.

JacksGirl

[JacksGirlfriend]

Spirit: I think Walt is there because he has guilt over his mother's death. Maybe he was angry, consumed by rage and fear and now feels guilty because his last words were something like "I hate you for dying!" when his last words should have been "I love you."

JacksGirl

[Spirit Shards]

That makes sense! I never though of that! Maybe Walt is harboring ill feelings about his parting words to his mother... hmm... I can't wait to see his flashback. :)

[MEGA S michael surtour]

oh lala!!! it's so cuuute!!!
the poor lil' walt:(

me i think locke is here because... He failled in something he was really involved and he can't forgive him for this mistake because of his wiseness (i hope i has a sense lol, i my head i has a sense, but it's because it's in french lol)

and i think boone would be here because, i don't know...


Misss jack could you tell if i make mistake in my text??? not orthograph, but fot the sense, or the verbs... or if something are "bad sayed" (i don't know the englis expression to speak about something whic is not sayed like it would had been)...

[JacksGirlfriend]

Don't worry about how you're saying it, just keep talking. We'll figure it out.

JacksGirl

[Professor Liam]

Great theories.

[JacksGirlfriend]

DMC: Sent you a message.

JacksGirl

[Dmcquickly]

To my email? Nothing yet...

[JacksGirlfriend]

Lost email. Check the main page.
JacksGirl

[Abraxas]

Well, Spirit Shards had to explain it to me with his reply before I even got what this theory is about.
Hotel California is one of my favorite songs and I even remember thinking about it in relation to the show.
But I didn't get it from the inital post. I didn't find any theory there to be exact. Something wrong with me? :\

[Dmcquickly]

No--like the show, I kept it purposely vague--a tabula rasa, that is--so others could put their own thoughts down.

I'm actually developing a theory around this, but it'll keep for a while. I am much more interested in everyone else's thoughts on this possibility. A place they can't leave (until something specific happens to them, or because of them, or something.)

[Sleeestack]

"Mirrors on the ceiling and pink champagne on ice" might be a direct reference to the mammoth, the black rock laboratory and the French nuclear/genetic experimentation.

[Dmcquickly]

Question for the board:

If indeed there is some redemptive feature to this, and the characters become "redeemed"...as Jacksgirlfriend has suggested, something OUGHT to happen to them.

Admittedly, they could die, right there on the beach. Released for their journey to the afterworld.

But wouldn't that be too sad? To watch a tv show and have your favorite characters die? The writers/directors would have to indicate to us, the viewers, that this has happened--they've been sent to the Great Beyond--without the main characters knowing.

If they knew, it'd be like you and me knowing our own destiny ahead of time. (Whatever happened to that interesting thread here, anyway?) So they couldn't know...which means we would have to know.

On the other hand, the characters might simply "disappear" from the island without any explanation at all. Which wouldn't be satisfying to us until it was finally explained. (That would be a terrific final episode, though--we all finally find out what happened to all these people when they disappeared...maybe reappeared back home, wherever that was, or something).