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'Lost': The (de)evolution of The Others' morality
"Lost" fans know that it's generally not a good idea to trust Ben Linus. He'll probably fry your brain through twisted logic and emotionally manipulate you to do his bidding, but you'll never actually trust him even while performing acts that go against everything in which you believe. But today, as a thought exercise, we're going to try and take Ben at his word for once.
This solitary time? At the Pala Ferry, bidding Michael and Walt goodbye:
Michael: My friends--I was promised you wouldn't hurt them.So let's assume NOT that The Others are in fact the good guys, as he states. Rather, let's assume that when he tells Michael this, he believes that he is telling the truth. "Good" and "bad" are of course in the eye of the beholder. The actions taken by The Others against the survivors of Oceanic 815 certainly don't cry out that they, not the survivors, are the heroes of this particular piece. But then again, you know what they say about the road to hell. Or, for instance, the runway for an airplane.
Ben: A deal's a deal.
Michael: Who are you people?
Ben: We're the good guys, Michael.
In trying to figure out the purpose of The Others, we must carefully consider the code of conduct under which they govern themselves. This being "Lost," we have at best a small glimpse into the workings of their society. Think of the full view being a clear front window of a car. Our current perspective is that of a driver trying to navigate traffic with a mud-covered window offers a mere sliver by which to view the traffic ahead. We've only seen the group in a few, relatively recent time periods, and often through the eyes of a person outside their culture. But solider on we will, because seeking these answers will take up a lot of Season 6.
Codes of conduct derive from a society's purpose. In other words, rules, regulations, and senses of right/wrong derive from that group's particular notion of utopia. A democratic society has its own complex set; totalitarian regimes have another. Trying to ascertain a sense of "right" and "wrong" for The Others presupposes we know the end goal of the group. The reason I framed today's assumption (that Ben believes himself to be leading the good guys) as such is due to the fact that while the current iteration thinks they are maintaining the path to utopia, they have in fact systematically charted a course towards their own demise.
So much of the actions taken by The Others over the course of the show derive from a need to protect The Island. For them, threats come from the outside world, staining the pristine land with their greed and need. In 1954, they killed a group of U.S. soldiers attempting to conduct hydrogen bomb tests. In the late part of the century, they waged war on The Dharma Initiative. In the early part of the 21st-century, they fought those from Oceanic 815 and The Kahana. It would be easy to paint these people based on these few actions as survivalists worshipping the local god known as Jacob, content to let the rest of the world be so long as they could live on their own small piece of paradise.
But Jacob's actions seem to contradict this notion. He's not for isolationism; he encourages outsiders to come to the shores. Why? "Progress," is the word he chooses when speaking to his nemesis in "The Incident," a word that calls to mind a Darwinian approach to the social structure of the Island. Seclusion isn't part of the equation in Jacob's mind. Think of his work as evolution, but not necessarily on a genetic level. He's aiming to change the very nature of humanity, to be sure. But he's also looking to increase man's capacity not to use tools, but to use their hearts and minds in a way that propels them to the next stage of existence.
Heady stuff. (Pretty pretentious as well, I know.) But science fiction consistently deals with humanity at the crossroads of its own history. Yesterday, I intentionally referenced Stanley Kubrick's "2001," a movie in which encounters with giant, black monoliths propel humanity to the next stage of its existence. Likewise, "Star Trek: First Contact" shows man's first warp drive flight raising their status in the eyes of other alien races. These are moments in which man's inherent capacity suddenly expands, revealing a larger reservoir than was previously considered. These are the moments Jacob seeks. And these are the moments that The Others have prevented through their misconception of their leader's wishes.
Jacob's "hands-off" approach might be the only way to guarantee that mankind lifts itself up on its own, but leaves a whole lot of room for misinterpretation. Maybe Jacob views the Island as the perfect place in which to mold humanity into better shape, but somewhere along the way those he brought there decided that Jacob wanted his chosen ones to stay there forever. Seen in that light, outsiders were largely seen as threats, foes, contaminants. The social, psychological, and humanistic evolution suffered by large of diversity in the gene pool.
Maybe that's why it suddenly became so damn hard to have children.
Tomorrow, I'll look at the issue of childbirth, and the most famous baby daddy in Others' history: Charles Widmore. Until then, what's your take on The Others? Good or bad? Vote and discuss below!
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The most famous baby daddy in Others' history: Charles Widmore. Kudos for the correct placement of that apostrophe, btw. tomorrow, I hope you will address the two blue eyed parents having a brown eyed child/Is Daniel Faraday really the baby in Ellie's tummy conundrum.
In reading this it occurred to me that the Others seem to be doing the bidding of the MIB. He is the one that doesn't want Jacob bringing people to the island but maybe you are going to discuss that possibility in a future column.
"...while the current iteration thinks they are maintaining the path to utopia, they have in fact systematically charted a course towards their own demise."
"he's looking to increase man's capacity not to use tools [as he did when they were apes], but to use their hearts and minds in a way that propels them to the next stage of existence."
"these are moments in which man's inherent capacity suddenly expands, revealing a larger reservoir than was previously considered. These are the moments Jacob seeks."
Excellent essay! I agree with the first 90 percent, but then at this point I have a problem:
"And these are the moments that The Others have prevented through their misconception of their leader's wishes."
"Jacob's 'hands-off' approach might be the only way to guarantee that mankind lifts itself up on its own, but leaves a whole lot of room for misinterpretation."
To call Jacob's approach "hand-off" is not only inaccurate, it's actually kind of humorous given what we saw in the two-segment finale wherein he went around touching some of our favorite characters long before they came to the island.
The idea that all the evil the Others do is simply due to "a failure to communicate" properly with Jacob would actually make Jacob quite a dufus for allowing such a severe misunderstanding while simultaneously so overtly intervening in so many other ways -- even, as we've seen, off-island. Not to mention all of the lists. I mean, if he was going to do all this, couldn't he have also written a paragraph or two explaining his desires a little better when he was handing over a list?
So I guess to me all this only makes sense if in reality the real Jacob has never had any interaction with people; that is, everything, including the lists and the touches, was actually TMIB in disguise. But I think someone said Darlton has confirmed that the "touching" Jacob really was Jacob, right? (I could be mistaken about that since I pretty much stay away from Darlton interviews and such.)
P.S. I finally saw "Walk the Line" recently and it reminded me that there is yet another MIB (in addition to the recently pointed out alien hunter comedy movie team): Johnny Cash!
But by that logic, people are unnecessary, as Jacob could simply make happen what he wants to make happen. It's like those comics in which normal humans resent having Superman around: his presence denies their capacity or incentive to excel, since they'll never on their best days be an iota of what he can be on his worst.
"Hands off" is not literal. He touches, but just the barest of touches, the vaguest of hints, at the most critical of moments.
actually i question the whole jacob "touching some of our favorite characters long before they came to the island". perhaps in the primary timeline but i'm not all together convinced those aren't flashforwards on jacob's timeline (ie, jacob is doing some RetConning).
I certainly agree that whether or not the Others are the "good guys", they certainly believe thy are. While I still can't figure our their small-scale tactics (Paul/Amy, Cindy & the kids), the two major exterminations (the Army guys and the Purge) are beginning to make a little more sense to me.
I always had trouble with why the DI was allowed to exist on the Islend if they were so antithetical to what Jacob stood for, but I'm starting to think now that they (as well as the Army in the '50's)were just another cyclical attempt at "progress" on Jacob's part. When the experiment went wrong (as every cycle has up to this point) to the point where they threatened the existence of the Island (see: Jughead and the Swan), drastic action was required to end the cycle and protect the "laboratory". So "Who ordered the Purge?" may turn out to be less of an important question than we all thought previously.
Jacob's philosophy seems to me to be along the Habitat for Humanity model: by limiting his influence, he ensures that humanity has a bigger stake in their accomplishments; to gain wisdom as well as knowledge (no, they're NOT the same thing!); and be less likely to misuse whatever "gifts" they receive in advancing to the next level of being.
Sorry for the length; I'll put my shovel away now. Of course, as always:
Or, I'm Wrong Again!!
Sorry about the typos; you should have seen it BEFORE I proofread! I'll be better after I have my coffee this morning.
well. until you are given reason to question something, you usually go along with the flow of things don't you?
ben has always gone along with the flow of what jacob tells him. having had no real father figure from his own father, yet still yearning for that love and sense of confidence in him from someone, he clearly has been quite reliant on jacob. he derived his sense of "power" from knowing (or more realistically probably assuming) he is doing jacob's work.
whether ben knew about the plane coming. or he did some quick research in the days after the plane crashed. either way. the first change came when the plane came. and that's when maybe he started to question jacob.
but true doubt didn't hit until he met locke.
which is the fascinating part because now i start to wonder. if locke really had such a sense of the island because of jacob or because of mib.
mib went to a lot of trouble to masquerade as jacob. richard only checked locke out because of what notlocke said to him.
it's like. ben lost his faith. locke found his, but was it faith in the right thing? i know, jacob touched him. but i can't help but feel like mib orchestrated everything that happened to locke once he got on the island. poor locke. maybe his real happy ending is because he's dead with helen now.
i know. i got off topic. but that's what this post sparked.
@snot: Good point. Reminds me of the line from "The Truman Show" about accepting the reality with which we are presented.
I'd also say that while Locke rattled his faith, the tumor probably loosened it first. Imagine if the tumor wasn't a test but a reason to meet a man who could help Ben and The Others reach that plateau: Jack. Jack could give him a literal second chance to do things right again.
Course, Ben screwed that up, but he's only human. Flesh and blood. A man. (Thank you, Human League!)
The Others are just as lost as the people who have come to the island. While they believe they are doing Jacob's will (which is actually inclusive evolution), they seem to be doing exactly what MiB wants (isolationist stability) by 'protecting' the island. I doubt that Jacob ever uttered the words 'protect the island' once in his existence, but by the will of MiB, this was the message the Others had received. Poor Others...