The Merits of Being "lost" in Good Television

The Merits of Being "Lost" in Good Television

Television is often perceived solely as a vehicle for entertainment and self-indulgence, but it also compels people to think deeply about the world. It reveals that although some people turn to television to satiate their irrational craving for controversy, other people prefer to nurture their intellect through an active engagement with thought-provoking material. The television show "Lost" is a show that many people view as being confusing and misleading, but they fail to acknowledge that that is the point. During its six-year run (2004-2010), the show aimed to make people think deeply about themselves and the world rather than produce concrete, definitive answers to larger-than-life puzzles. It reflects how it is the viewer's responsibility to find meaning in the various ideas the show throws at them and in the process make sense of the confusion. This show exemplifies how television gives people the power to think about what they are seeing rather than merely lets them passively absorb images on their screen. "Lost" embodies television's ability to weave together philosophy and entertainment to inspire people to think and use their intellect to make sense of the world around them and their place in it.

Television reflects the world around us, but it also reflects how old ideas are incorporated in a modern and contemporary context. Television helps old ideas to become fresh again and thereby become resonant in today's audiences, which often neglect to recognize how the transcendence of a show's imagination must be coupled with the viewer's intellectual curiosity and involvement. "Lost" takes place on a mysterious, uncharted island that somehow resonates deeply in the fractured lives of the survivors, and hence it invites the viewer to better appreciate the subtle, diverse nature of art. The show effectively demonstrates that the island is an interpretive mechanism or vehicle that triggers the characters (and ultimately the viewer's) intellectual, philosophical thought processes. The island embodies how different people can look at a television and see something different. This notion reflects how television is a subjective reality that allows viewers to immerse themselves in what they are experiencing visually, but also intellectually. Johnson argues that television aims to spark people's intellectual outlook of the world as it compels them to internalize ideas and process them: "I think there is another way to assess the social virtue of pop culture, one that looks at media as a kind of cognitive workout, not as a series of life lessons" (Johnson 215). Every viewer has the power to see something that reflects their own individuality and uniqueness as well as the universality of human nature inherent in people's perceptions. The show embodies the power of viewers to better understand how they view the world in relation to themselves and in the process better appreciate things they normally do not fully understand.

The show is a highly illustrative example