Is LOST Science Fiction?
Ever since JJ Abrams alluded that the mega popular franchise was a Sci-Fi show in disguise fans of both the sci-fi genre and LOST have been at odds over the insinuation that the island mystery belongs in the company of solid Sci-Fi such as Star Trek. While allusions to programs like The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, and the works of authors Daniel Defoe and Jules Verne were a given, until the second season there wasn’t an indication that LOST resembled Sci-Fi in any concrete way.
Let us back up for a second. Just what is the criterion for Sci-Fi to begin with? Over the years, the look of sci-fi has changed considerably with many sub-genres, most notably the Space Opera, at times dominating the look and feel of the genre. Some sci-fi, however, is very light in the regards of space travel and unimaginable technology. So it’s easy in an age where sci-fi is primarily space faring civilizations or steam-punk sagas to say that LOST is not sci-fi by consensus. But to be sure, I needed to find out what SCI-FI really means…
I turned to the non-fiction work of none other than Isaac Asimov to get his definition of the genre; if anybody knew, it was Asimov! As it turns out, the criteria to be achieved if you want to be called Sci-Fi is pretty forgiving: the story must take place in a future or past world that differs from ours in at least one way technologically, physically, historically, sociologically, philosophically, metaphysically, and so on, but NOT magically. The presence of Magic gets you the label of fantasy. Historically, exploring the differences between this change and our own world is the purpose of Sci-Fi. I’ll admit, that was a paradigm shift for me from the beginning, and I won’t defend it other than to say I couldn’t find any works of sci-fi where the rules did not apply. So I’m ready, is LOST sci-fi or not!?
Well, it takes place in the past (as shown in the season two finale), and it takes place in a world that is different from ours in a technological sense with the work of the Dharma initiative and the islands “unique magnetic fluctuations”, so I’m on the border of saying yes, but there is a problem. We don’t know whether the forces behind the mysterious healings, and the black smoke monster, will ultimately turn out to be magical in nature?
I’m reminded of a comment by cosmologist Carl Sagan who said that meeting an alien civilization millions of years our senior could expose us to technology that would unidentifiable as of intelligent design, and would instead appear supernatural; or, magical. Oh, dear… that creates another problem.
What if we are telling a story from the point of view where the characters are exposed to such forces, but the author refuses to comment whether or not the source of the forces fits in a category other than magic? For all that matters, is the genre of fantasy tenuous in that should an environmental, or technological source for the difference between that world and ours be identified the tale automatically finds itself under the Sci-Fi genre?
Genre-labeling-obsessed fans will have to wait a while, I’m afraid, to know for sure LOST lands. On one hand, if JJ says it’s Sci-Fi, maybe he knows something we don’t, but one thing is for sure; my quest to answer the question just muddied the waters even more for myself. Talk to you after I re-organize my video collection. For now I’ll take the easy way out and just leave LOST in the “TV” category.
gıda said,
Wrote on November 12, 2006 @ 3:38 pm
true
ltclarke said,
Wrote on November 12, 2006 @ 6:16 pm
I wouldn’t say they know for sure if it is fantasy or scifi. I always get the impression they are just making stuff up as they go (or at most a season at a time). And you will never have them commit, until they get to their 7th season, and decide to finally answer all those mysteries.
millrgal said,
Wrote on November 13, 2006 @ 2:06 am
is LOST lost now> no new episodes for 13 weeks???? are they really putting the de ja vu thing on during lost’s regular wednesday timeslot for 14 weeks?! then the shows will alternate weeks. only TWO new lost episodes a month?????the writers have to be drinking too much red bull when writing the next show. do they get so desperate for ways to wow us that they lose sight of where they first planned to the show. must have sooo many wild ideas about the show’s future that they have to stop writing, slow things way down while they get their creative ideas to gel….might be why the show has been moving so slow….lost we need you give us more information…please!!!
Bari Tarmon said,
Wrote on November 13, 2006 @ 5:59 am
As a SciFi fan, I actually hope the show is NOT SciFi but rather one that will have believable scientific explanations later on, that may or may not be possible but nevertheless conceivable. If the show crosses over to include magical solutions where one will be forced to suspend belief, it will totally trash the whole concept and cleverness of it all. It would be too simple to just right off everything as a fantasy, much like many of the Steven King mysteries that start off as very intreguing stories and end up selling out with the mystery explained as an alien bug or monster. The whole premiss of the show in its first two seasons was the complex yet clever cross connections between the charecters and the mystique of the island and the Others. The trend has changed this season and teeters on becoming a joke: very little happens and Sawyer gets beaten up! Enough already. It is also a mystery to me that no one has demanded from the others an answer as to why they are being so nasty to the survivers whom they know didn not deliberately land on ther island. This is not normal and acceptable behavior as most people would demand to know why they are threatended, beaten up and otherwise being mistreated for no apparent reason. It seems as though some of the regulars have been missing for quite some time from the episodes. Is the reason nothing more than financial i.e. contract considerations? Is the story being written around Jin, Sun and others because the studio wants to save some money not using them in every episode? They better speed it up soon, or else risk losing many viewers.
JamesR said,
Wrote on November 13, 2006 @ 8:25 am
Lost is definetly sci fi drama. Sci fi doesn’t have to be a space drama, look at lot of the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes. Also remeber the some of Irwin Allen series of the 60’s, The 6 Million Dollar Man in the 70’s and Quantum Leap in the late 80’s. These were all considered Sci fi. I think it does fit the description for another type of fiction as well. That is Weird fiction, the short story style that came to popularity in 1930’s pulps. It was kinda a cross between Sci fi, horror fiction and fantasy fiction. A great example of this is some of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. “Lost” in many ways reminds me of a Weird fiction tale.
kari said,
Wrote on November 13, 2006 @ 10:46 am
Why does there need to be a genre label? This is a show that invites discussion & use of one’s brain. That’s a good thing!!
hnubea said,
Wrote on November 13, 2006 @ 10:53 am
I myself think of it as part of all but none. I classify it as a scifi illusion thriller since it is really in a class by itself.