Okay, so I’ve been catching up on Lost. I was about a full season or more behind but am now, thanks to an iTunes season pass, only about 4 or 5 weeks behind. Is it just me, or is this entire show about “daddy issues?”ADHERER
It seems that just about every one of the castaways from Oceanic Flight 815 are in the midst of serious daddy issues. A few are the victims of maternal conflicts, but it just seems like an inordinate number of the characters are having serious problems with their fathers. Let’s look at the list.
John Locke most of all. His dad tried to kill him and put him in the dreaded wheelchair that he hates so much.
Sawyer, or James Ford, had a father figure that turned out to be a con-man. So he killed him and then turned into a con-man himself.
Jack Shephard’s dad was a drunken international womanizer with multiple families.
Claire’s father seems to be the same as Jack’s. I guess they’re half-siblings. She also seemed to have issues with her mom.
Hugo Hurley’s dad went to take a job in Vegas and didn’t return for 17 years, and then only to try and get at Hurley’s lottery winnings.
Desmond couldn’t impress Pen’s father enough to get permission for marriage, which led him to join the armed forces. But he wasn’t on Flight 815, so he might not count.
Jin had issues working for Sun’s father who had issues with the fact that Jin’s father is a fisherman.
Kate Austen blew up her stepdad and has been on-the-run ever since.
Michael Dawson had problems being a father and Walt was having problems with not having a father until now.
Mr. Eko had issues with his little brother, who was a priest (Father Yemi). Okay, that’s reaching, I know.
Anna-Lucia had issues with her mom.
And those without parental problems had problems with siblings. Boone and Shannon basically had problems with each other. Charlie had issues with his brother.
The only one that didn’t seem to have any parental issues is Sayid. Oh, and perhaps Libby, but she didn’t live long enough for us to find out much about her, why she was in the institution with Hurley or why she married a dude with a sailboat and went by Elizabeth. My guess is that her hubby’s death put her in the institution, but I guess her character wasn’t popular enough not to die. Which is too bad because Cynthia Watros is HOT!
Well, there’s Rose and Bernard too. No daddy issues there, that we know of. But we haven’t seen much of them.
Is that it? Did I name everyone? Can anyone answer why this is such a prevalent theme in the show?
I, for one, am going to keep watching. At least until I figure this out.
Sawyer’s dad killed his wife and then himself. Sawyer has spent his life hunting the con man who stole their money and ruined their marriage, but he killed the wrong man. Your facts are completely wrong.
Also, “Libby” is just a shortened form of “Elizabeth.” (As is Ellie, Lizzie, Liddy, Beth, Betsy, Betty, and like a dozen more.)
Thanks for the comments… I stand corrected. But in my defense, that episode aired over 2 years ago, and I believe I’ve slept since then.
But I believe the thesis holds: daddy issues!
But shall we go into the reason why you think events on a TV show about a magical island are “facts”?
Also, I know that “Libby” is a shortened form of “Elizabeth”. But people don’t just change the name they go by on a whim. If I used to introduce myself as “Hi, I’m Michael” and then started saying “Hi, I’m Mike” then there would almost assuredly be a reason. Particularly if that change came in adulthood.
I’ve known people to stop going by Ricky and start going by Rick as they reached maturity (16 or so), but Libby was clearly in her late 20s or early 30s when she made the switch.
Thanks for reading and commenting…
-Mike
“But shall we go into the reason why you think events on a TV show about a magical island are “facts”?”
The facts of the Lost universe are the character information that’s presented to us on screen. The facts of Sawyer’s history are the scenes we’ve seen in his flashbacks. I’m a writer myself, so don’t try to peg me as a crazy person believing in magical islands.
But yes, the Daddy thesis is of ultimate importance to the show. The creators themselves were asked at a conference about the coincidence, and they said something along the lines of “If you’re asking about father issues, you’re asking the right questions.” And now it seems those issues are getting ready to come to a climactic pinnacle for both Locke AND Sawyer (dealing with the same man), but I won’t go into that because I don’t want to spoil you if you’re not caught up yet.
adding to the father issues: Another common thread is Benjerman and his father.
Bejermans daughter has issues…