Analysis of the Season Five Finale: Installment One

Okay, I'm finally ready to analyze the season five finale in detail. 

For the sake of speed and (hopefully) clarity, I'll be doing things in a slightly different style today.  As you'll see below, instead of droning on at length in a big block of text, I've used storyboards with brief captions describing the episode's more important moments and the real-world events they might represent.  The language is a bit cumbersome and unrefined in parts, but you should get the gist of it. 

Eventually, I'll be doing a much more in-depth version of this for the entire series, with links to deeper analyses, supporting references, character breakdowns, and the like.  Plus, I'll be making it all look a bit more stylish.  

So, without further ado, here's the first installment of my analysis of the finale.  I'll be posting new segments over the next few days until the episode's complete.  Then, when I;m done with the finale, I'll be going all the way back to the beginning, to get us caught up on everything in the first five seasons in time for the start of season six.

[By the way, I've altered my idea about what the island represents.  It most likely represents "The current superpower."  Because, just as the super-powered island moves around the globe, super-power status has been located in different parts fo the globe at different points in history.  So, at the time the Egyptian statues were being built, the island would have represented "The Egyptian Empire."  At the time the islanders first started speaking Latin, it would have represented "The Roman Empire."  After the Black Rock arrived, the island would have represented "The British Empire."  And at present, the island is home to a DHARMA-cracy (i.e. a democracy), and represents the present superpower, "America."  Don't worry -- I'll be explaining it all in more detail someday soon.]

5.16 and 5.17: "The Incident" 

Installment One

FLASHBACK: Jacob creates a grand, elaborately designed tapestry, at the top of which is written "may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires" Liberal interventionists have grand, elaborate designs for improving the world, and they believe their hearts' desires will be granted	Jacob retrieves a fish-pot he has woven; just as Jacob hoped, a fish has swum in it and become trapped Liberal interventionists actively influence world events, with the intention of coercing other nations into conforming with interventionists' wishes	Jacob has an on-island rival The philosophy of liberal interventionism is rivaled by the philosophy of foreign policy realism	The Black Rock -- a British ship -- appears; it is just one in a long line of vessels to bring visitors to the super-powered island The British were just one in a long line of civilizations that once held the position of global superpower
Jacob's rival argues that people who come to the island end up fighting, destroying, and corrupting; he insists that it always ends the same Foreign policy realism argues that, because human nature is unchanging, every great civilization will inevitably self-destruct, as have all great civilizations throughout history	Jacob asserts that, despite these cycles of societal creation and destruction, visitors to the island have made progress Liberal interventionism asserts that, even though all previous great civilizations have self-destructed, humanity as a whole is making progress	Jacob's rival says that he wishes he could kill Jacob Foreign policy realism wants an end to liberal interventionism	There is a giant statue of Sobek on the beach, indicating that Ancient Egyptians once lived on the super-powered island Ancient Egypt was one of the civilizations that once held the position of global superpower
FLASHBACK: Jacob's intervention prevents young Kate from being punished for stealing; As a result, she doesn't learn her that there are consequences to criminal behaviour, and even though Jacob warns her,"Don't steal anymore," she grows up to be hardened criminal Even though liberal interventionism appears to be benevolent, it sometimes causes more harm than good	1977: On the sub, Kate -- who is no longer romantically involved with Sawyer -- describes Jack's plan to release a surge of energy from the US Army bomb; Kate tries to persuade Sawyer and Juliet to oppose Jack's plan Congress -- no longer dominated by Republicans -- debated President Bush's plan to use a surge of US army forces in Iraq; The Congressional leadership tried to persuade Republicans and Conservatives to oppose the Bush plan	Sawyer is angry and confused after losing the comfortable life he'd made for himself on the island The Republican Party was angry and confused after losing the comfortable position of being the dominant party in American politics	In the underground caverns, Richard assists Jack with his plan to use the US Army bomb Working in the background, Vice President Cheney supported President Bush's proposal for a surge of US troops
Sayid assists Jack with his plan to use the US Army bomb The CIA supported President Bush's plan for a surge of US troops	Jack is told that it is not necessary to use the entire bomb -- the bomb's core would be sufficient to counteract the destructive forces about to be released from underground President Bush was told that a massive increase in hardware and firepower would not be required for Iraq to be stabilized -- a simple increase in the number of troops from the US Army corps (and a change in strategy) would be sufficient to counteract the destructive underground sectarian forces about to be released	At the DHARMA building site, Chang becomes concerned over the consequences of drilling into the energy pocket; He tells Radzinsky, "We're in the midst of a possible insurrection -- do you really think this is the ideal time for your experiments?" Some proponents of America's democracy-building project in Iraq became concerned over the growing insurgency and wondered if the experiment in nation-building should be abandoned	Radzinsky refuses to stop drilling, and tells Chang, "I came to this island to change the world ... That's exactly what I intend to do" Some proponents of nation-building refused to abandon America's experiment in Iraq, insisting that they were changing the world for the better
2007: On the way to see Jacob, Ben states, "Everyone answers to someone, and the leader answers to Jacob" Neoconservatives believed that America's leaders should always follow the philosophy of liberal interventionism	Richard says he is surprised that Locke has come back to life Vice President Cheney was surprised that former-Secretary of State Colin Powell and his foreign policy views were making a comeback	Locke (his image now being used by Jacob's rival) implies that he will kill the rest of the Ajira passengers Colin Powell (now the face of foreign policy realism) wanted to disempower those who advocate for an aggressively interventionist America	Elsewhere on the island, Ilana and company wonder if Frank might be a "candidate" Desperate for their agenda to continue after President Bush, proponents of aggressive interventionism sought an interventionism-friendly candidate for the upcoming 2008 American Presidential election
Frank pretends to be unconscious as he is carried along by Ilana's team Some Americans were apathetic and simply let themselves be carried along by America's newly aggressive interventionist foreign policy agenda	Frank rises and asks Ilana, "So you smack all your friends in the face with a rifle, shove them in a boat, and kidnap them?" Ilana replies, "Only the ones we like" Occasionally, apathy gave way to concerns about detainee-related practices such as torture and extraordinary rendition; however, those responsible for the practices were dismissive of these concerns

***

Okay, that's it for today.  I'll see you all in a few days with the second installment.  Until then, feel free to offer questions or suggestions in the comments section below.

Take care!

Comments

[Alastair]

I'm confused that you're bringing Ancient Egypt into this. I thought that the statue represents The Statue of Liberty and that its decay represents a creeping isolationist stance, followed by an individualist and unilateral approach to foreign policy.

[Alastair]

Also ... the statue, if I'm not mistaken, is a of a fertility deity. Could this be analogous to an attempt, on the part of the US, to 'impregnate' the rest of the world with its ideals? I see a parallel between a unilateral stance on foreign policy and a kind of 'penetration' at the level of ideas.

[Holly]

Interesting that we would finally come back to the idea of rising and falling empires which we looked at during the very first season of Lost. We looked at the author Chalmers Johnson who has written a trilogy about US interventionism and he references similarities with the Roman and British Empires. I read the first 2 books but the third sounds best...
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/2/27/chalmers_johnson_nemesis_the_last_days

[Michel]

Great article, I find it very clever when you talk match the different outer civilizations that made touch with some of the biggest (if not THE biggest) empires that had great power in the world. The statue is STILL an ancient remnant of egyptian culture. An ABC recap said the statue was of the fertility goddess Taweret, but Taweret most of the time (if not all) was represented with the body of a pregnant woman, and a hippo head. The statue we saw had most definetely a crocodile head, which indicates the staute was of the crocodile-headed egyptian god, Sobek. And, thematically, Sobek makes much more sense... As Taweret, he carries ankhs, of course, which were fertility symbols. But look what Sobek's Wikipedia page says:

"The god Sobek, which was depicted as a crocodile or a man with the head of a crocodile was a powerful and frightening deity; in some Egyptian creation myths, it was Sobek who first came out of the waters of chaos to create the world. (...) Sobek's ambiguous nature led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself (...) He was also said to call on suitable gods and goddesses required for protecting people in situation, effectively having a more distant role, nudging things along, rather than taking an active part. (...) He was also shown with an ankh, representing his ability to undo evil and so cure ills."

Doesn't that sound like... uh, Jacob?

[Michel]

As always, I only disagree on my usual complaints. I still have a hard time seeing Jacob as representing an outright interventionist stance, although I do like his Nemesis being foreign policy realism.

My main concern keeps being Alpert, representing Cheney. And other stuff. If we are right abuot our most popular theories, then the guy that took Locke's image (the Nemesis) also took on Christian Shephard's appearance. Wouldn't that mean that George Bush Sr. became a poster face for anti-interventionist action? But that wouldn't be even far from accurate, right? Not to mention that, by the end of the episode, Neocons KILL the Interventionist position... and that isn't really right, is it?

Other stuff is dead on, like Sawyer representing the GOP losing its priviledged position in Congress and the country. And who is calling "his" shots? Well Juliet, the Conservatives, who were truly the leadership of the Republican Party.

Interestingly enough, she and Michael had similar fates.I deem them both as counter-parts... people willing to double-cross sides and do whatever in their power to leave the Island and reunite with their loved ones. They also seem to represent the temporary but main leadership of two different parties, the Liberals (Michael) and the Conservatives (Juliet). And how did they both die on Lost? They were blown off by manipulating and stading right next to massive explosive forces. Michael died trying to prevent the C4 in the ship from exploding... and Juliet died trying to explode (and succeeding) a nuclear bomb that lied next to her. ... TOO coincidental? Yes, especially when they both have one scene together in the Mobisodes, where the only things they talk about is their similarities and differences.

That is a very clear confirmation that now, both Sawyer and Walt (the GOP and the Dems) are leaderless. And it's a great confirmation of your theory.