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Previously I compared Lost to the "surface story" of Donnie Darko (http://www.kryptonsite.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=138660). But perhaps the similarities don't end there.
One of the interpretations of Donnie Darko was that everything was a dream of Donnie's in his last moments before death. Support for this comes from the song playing at the end, with lyrics:
"I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had"
Along with the fact that everything that happened was very fantastical and weird, with him at the middle of it all as a superhero figure with superpowers, ultimately sacrificing himself to save the world. Donnie wasn't ready to die yet (he was afraid of dying alone), and the idea is he was "given" this dream just before he died so he could come to terms with it.
And for Lost, the way they ended the series with Jack dying, makes it possible nothing we saw actually happened, and all literally happened in the "blink of an eye". (ie. both the island events and the flash sideways/"purgatory" universe were just figments of his own dying mind) In the moment before Jack died on the airplane, he experienced a fantasy world/dream life that would allow him to accept his coming death, to let go. Support for this comes from:
- the fact that the Island and its many mysteries were really quite absurd and nonsensical when it comes down to it. A cave with a mystical light and a cork covering it to stop the release of "Hell" on Earth. Smoke monsters and magic wheels and ghosts. The list goes on.
- the smoke monster in Jack's "death dream" could represent the looming death that was upon him, something that he couldn't face. So it was always in the shadows, in the background, an unwelcome presence that would rear its ugly head from time to time (more and more toward the very end of his dream/experience, when Jack finally had to face "Death" and was ready to).
- the other people on the island with him were just people he saw or met in the airport or on the plane, and his dying mind made up stories/lives for them. The names of some characters, like Locke and Hume, are of famous philosophers. Jack being an educated man would have probably read their work in his life at some point.
- Jack had daddy issues. And so many other characters had them as well. Jack transplanted his own issues on to all his "creations" (which were really just parts of himself, his own strengths, weaknesses and flaws, fears and desires, and things he wished he could do or be).
- Jack had a thing about fixing/helping people. And basically all the losties were "broken" in some way. And in the end, he literally "saved the world"/saved everyone, sacrificing himself in the process. This was his dying wish/fantasy, for his life to have meaning and to have lived a life that not only mattered, but to have mattered in the most ultimate and extraordinary of ways.
- the last thing we saw was Jack's eye closing/dying (and the series started on him as well) -- telling us he was the central figure of the story. Possibly telling us a bit more, that this entire series was just the final seconds of Jack's life, a "flash before his eyes", his own personal last-second struggle to come to terms with a life, to hopes and dreams, all about to be dashed away.
If there's any other support for this possibility you can think of, feel free to add to the list.
One of the interpretations of Donnie Darko was that everything was a dream of Donnie's in his last moments before death. Support for this comes from the song playing at the end, with lyrics:
"I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had"
Along with the fact that everything that happened was very fantastical and weird, with him at the middle of it all as a superhero figure with superpowers, ultimately sacrificing himself to save the world. Donnie wasn't ready to die yet (he was afraid of dying alone), and the idea is he was "given" this dream just before he died so he could come to terms with it.
And for Lost, the way they ended the series with Jack dying, makes it possible nothing we saw actually happened, and all literally happened in the "blink of an eye". (ie. both the island events and the flash sideways/"purgatory" universe were just figments of his own dying mind) In the moment before Jack died on the airplane, he experienced a fantasy world/dream life that would allow him to accept his coming death, to let go. Support for this comes from:
- the fact that the Island and its many mysteries were really quite absurd and nonsensical when it comes down to it. A cave with a mystical light and a cork covering it to stop the release of "Hell" on Earth. Smoke monsters and magic wheels and ghosts. The list goes on.
- the smoke monster in Jack's "death dream" could represent the looming death that was upon him, something that he couldn't face. So it was always in the shadows, in the background, an unwelcome presence that would rear its ugly head from time to time (more and more toward the very end of his dream/experience, when Jack finally had to face "Death" and was ready to).
- the other people on the island with him were just people he saw or met in the airport or on the plane, and his dying mind made up stories/lives for them. The names of some characters, like Locke and Hume, are of famous philosophers. Jack being an educated man would have probably read their work in his life at some point.
- Jack had daddy issues. And so many other characters had them as well. Jack transplanted his own issues on to all his "creations" (which were really just parts of himself, his own strengths, weaknesses and flaws, fears and desires, and things he wished he could do or be).
- Jack had a thing about fixing/helping people. And basically all the losties were "broken" in some way. And in the end, he literally "saved the world"/saved everyone, sacrificing himself in the process. This was his dying wish/fantasy, for his life to have meaning and to have lived a life that not only mattered, but to have mattered in the most ultimate and extraordinary of ways.
- the last thing we saw was Jack's eye closing/dying (and the series started on him as well) -- telling us he was the central figure of the story. Possibly telling us a bit more, that this entire series was just the final seconds of Jack's life, a "flash before his eyes", his own personal last-second struggle to come to terms with a life, to hopes and dreams, all about to be dashed away.
If there's any other support for this possibility you can think of, feel free to add to the list.
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