The DHARMA Initiative Annual Report
Anyone who knows me knows I am an unashamed super-fan of the hit ABC show LOST. After flying through the first season on DVD three years ago in about three days, I was hooked. I quickly caught up and faithfully watched the final three seasons on television every week. I laughed, I cried, I mourned, and I celebrated with each characters as the story twisted and turned.
One of the final courses I’m taking before I graduate is a Corporate Publications class focusing on information graphics, annual reports, various promotional material. After have some experience in information graphics through my personal annual reports, I wanted to try something a bit different for the class.
I take the opportunity to approach each project as a way to explore another one of my interests and realized this was the perfect time to do a project around LOST.
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Lost
“I was trying to impress the audience with smart answers to life’s big questions,” he said. “It was all hype. But then I realized I didn’t have the answers to life’s big questions, and instead of writing plays that pretended to, I had to write plays that simply asked the right questions. I had to bring the audience up on stage with me, include them in the answering.” —From Jonathan Harris’s wonderful essay Baz
Like millions of other people around the world, I watched the Lost season finale last night and despite critics and blogs and tweets telling why I will be let down, I went into this final episode with the highest of expectations and full confidence that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will not disappoint me and craft a satisfying ending to what has been and will continue to be my favorite television show.
I’ve given a lot of time to Lost over the past few years. Aside from religiously watching every episode, I spent (wasted) countless hours reading theories, forums and interviews in an attempt to understand the mysteries and the myths. I enjoyed the lessons in physics and philosophy, the subtle references to great minds and the hidden books and clues that would help better understand the story the writers were telling us. And I don’t regret one minute of it.
Because in the end, to me, what I really kept coming back to episode after episode were the characters. Every single character I met in season one was flawed and broken and confused and lost. Like me. And like everyone else I know. These characters were real and I was seduced by their story. I celebrated with them. I mourned with them. I laughed with them. I cried with them. I spent six seasons with them.
And that’s why I remembered the passage I opened with from Jonathan Harris while Lost wrapped up last night. Throughout the six seasons the show asked questions of faith versus science, good versus evil, destiny versus random consequence, purpose versus and challenged out our perceptions of death, time, space, redemption and life. We all knew Lost would never answer everything and I think I like it better that way.
I found last night’s finale a poignant, moving and respectable way to honor the characters I’ve grown to love over the last few years. I laughed and cried and enjoyed every minute of it. They found redemption which is exactly what they were all searching for flying on Oceanic 815 back in the very first episode. Sure, every question wasn’t answered and some stories were left unresolved, but that’s how life is. And that’s how Lost is. Thanks for asking the right questions.
See you in another life, brother.
In what appears to be the same vein as Cloverfield, J.J. Abrams has released a mysterious trailer for his new film Super 8 currently being shown before Iron Man 2. According to The Huffington Post:
The super secret trailer debuted in the “Iron Man 2” release. It’s a movie about Area-51, or at least materials from Area-51, and the title is thought to be an homage to the type of camera, which was used by Spielberg in his youth. Abrams is a big Spielberg fan and there’s speculation that the movie is in some way an homage to him.
As a huge J.J. fan, I’m really excited about this and love his continual embrace of mystery and suspense. The trailer looks fantastic. I can’t wait.
And in other J.J. Abrams news, I just learned that NBC has picked up his next television venture, Undercovers, which is about a married couple who are reactivated as CIA agents after years of retirement. Abrams is set to write and direct the pilot; the first television pilot he’s written since LOST in 2004. Between this and his upcoming Fox comedy, I’ll surely be able to keep my Abrams fix in control once Lost is over and until the next season of Fringe starts up.
And finally, if you would just let me indulge myself for a minute, I absolutely love seeing House Industries’s Neutraface as the sole typeface in the trailer for Super 8. I’ve read Abrams is a self-confessed type nerd, so it makes me happy to see him picking some quality faces.
