I'm back in business now, so without delay, let’s get back to analyzing season five.
I’ll start recapping the finale at the end of this week. Today, I’ll be tying up a loose end I’ve been meaning to get to for some time: The symbolism of Ajira Airways. But first, in order to properly understand the symbolism of the airline that returned the castaways to the island, we’ll first have to revisit the symbolism of the airline that brought them to the island in the first place.
The symbolism of Oceanic Airways
As we’ve said before, the Oceanic flight that crashed on September 22 probably represents “America’s image prior to 9/11.” That image was of an America that – like Oceanic 815 – was safe, comfortable, high-flying, and surrounded by nothing but blue skies. It was an image of America as limitless, unbounded, and eternal, inspiring what Freud would describe as an “oceanic feeling.” It was an image of America as, in the words of Oceanic Airways’ tag-line, “Your ultimate destination.”
Just as America’s image of safety came crashing down on September 11, Oceanic 815 was brought down to earth on September 22. September 11 brought us a new image of America, one of crashed planes, burning jet-fuel, collapsing towers, and dazed survivors with white-powdered faces. Likewise, on September 22 on Lost, Oceanic stopped being an image of safety and became an image of unexpected chaos and vulnerability, as it crashed onto the island, the jet-fuel in its engines caught on fire, the towering wing collapsed, and dazed survivors like Hurley wandered about with sand-covered faces.
American imagery is even captured in the Oceanic logo, made up of blue swirls and red spots on a white background. After the September 22 crash, the red, white, and blue of Oceanic’s spots and swirls stops being emblematic of air safety, just as, after the September 11 attacks, the red, white, and blue of the stars and stripes was no longer emblematic of American invulnerability.
The symbolism of Ajira Airways
Now, using the idea that Oceanic Airways represents “America’s image before 9/11,” let’s compare Oceanic with the next airline used by the castaways: Ajira.
When they board Oceanic 815, the passengers are unprepared for the violence to come. But when they board Ajira 316, they’re ready for danger. They don’t know exactly what's in store, but they strongly suspect the plane might crash, and they might be thrust back into the island’s environment of fierce rivalries and violent conflict. In fact, not only do they suspect it might happen, they’re actively seeking for it to happen. Unlike the last time they flew together, the castaways are now taking charge of events and not just letting themselves be buffeted about by fate. On Oceanic the castaways had been helpless victims, but on Ajira they are purposeful doers, taking active steps to shape not only their own destinies, but also that of the world around them.
The castaways’ internal shift finds itself externally reflected in the imagery associated with their new choice of airline. Whereas Oceanic Airways is represented by images of unbounded serenity, Ajira Airways is represented by images of unbounded power, such as its fiery logo of an attacking tiger, and its tag-line of “Destiny calls”. Similarly, whereas the check-in for Oceanic is routine and uneventful, the check-in for Ajira is accompanied by much talk of “increased security.” Clearly, the two airlines have very different attitudes and images associated with them. While Oceanic is about blue skies, serenity, safety, and comfort. Ajira is about fiery reds, destiny, ferocity, and the enforcement of security.
The promotional materials for Ajira (which you can read about here, at Lostpedia), also reflect an attitudinal shift from Oceanic. They are full of assertive, adventure-minded phrases, such as:
“The skies have no limit with new destinies.” "Take an adventure anywhere around the globe and re-imagine your world as big as ours.” “No borders, now boarding.” “Into the wild possibilities of this infinite planet.” “The skies have no limit.” “Let time and space have no consequence.” “Step-aboard the grandest grab-bag around.” “Free your body, soul, and mind.” “Conquer this breathtaking icecap-covered wonderland.” “The only way to embrace paradise is hands-on.”
Rather than an oceanic feeling of bliss, Ajira offers the promise of adventure, freedom, conquest, and the ability to seize whatever you desire without concern for limits or borders. Unlike Oceanic, this airline is a staunch advocate of the aggressive pursuit of ones' desires. Even the airline's promotional videos (here) have an aggressive undertone, depicting passenger planes in a formation that calls to mind a fleet of military bombers.
Ajira, unlike Oceanic, appears to be associated with concepts such as pursuing ones' destiny, maintaining security, conquest, freedom, taking "hands-on" action, ignoring limits, and re-imagining the world. So, if the castaways’ first choice of airline – Oceanic – represents “America’s image prior to 9/11”, what image of America might the castaways’ second choice of airline – Ajira – represent?
Most likely, given the above, Ajira Airways is meant to represent “America’s image after the Invasion of Iraq.” It represents an America that supporters would see as freedom-spreading, destiny-manifesting, and justified in taking on an actively transformative role in the world. But it also represents an America that critics would see as militarily aggressive, disrespectful of international borders and laws, and empire-seeking. In typical Lost fashion, Ajira seems to represent an image of America that can be perceived as either good or bad, depending on the point of view of the observer. (Funnily enough, this dichotomy is even present in the various translations of the word "ajira," which in Hindi means "island" -- a patriotic image, in the context of Lost -- but in Sanskrit means "battlefield".)
Possible Extra Clues
For possible extra clues that Ajira Airways might represent America’s image after the Invasion of Iraq, take another look at the Lostpedia page on Ajira, in the section entitled “Easter Eggs.” There you’ll see a set of quotes that were hidden in the Ajira materials, two of which seem to refer to America’s post-Iraq image.
The first is from page 316 of the Penguin edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses:
"So off they started about Irish sport and shoneen games the like of lawn tennis and about hurley and putting the stone and racy of the soil and building up a nation once again and all of that."
While it appears that the word “hurley” is the key to the quote’s relevance, I think that might be just a red herring. The quote’s real relevance probably lies in its mention of “building up a nation,” a likely reference to America’s nation-building project in Iraq.
The next quote is the quote from the motto of Guam:
“Where America’s day begins.”
This quote calls to mind not just thoughts of an American empire-in-the-making, but also the name of a think tank that was influential in the push for Saddam’s removal: the Project for a New American Century.
The Ajira Water Bottles
In the past, I’ve argued that the labels on water bottles are significant on Lost, as they represent the attitudes and beliefs that sustain the drinkers. For example, after the crash, the bottles bear the Oceanic logo, because at that time the castaways’ are sustained by the hope of a return to an “oceanic feeling” of safety. Once they realize that such a return is not possible, the castaways turn away from Oceanic bottles and start drinking from DHARMA bottles, symbolizing America's thoughts turning away from the hope of safety and towards issues related to patriotism and America’s founding values. (Remember, the DHARMA experiment represents America’s longstanding experiment in democracy – or, if you like, “DHARMA-cracy” – and DHARMA's numerical values represent the Founding Fathers' values. Additionally, note that “DHARMA” is an acronym, as is the name “USA”).
This season, in the episode “The Little Prince,” we see a new label appear on the water bottles, one showing the fiery tiger of Ajira Airways. This new label probably indicates that the passengers drinking from those bottles – most notably Ilana and her forces – are sustained by and gain clarity from the image of America as a place of power, freedom, and aggressive interventionism.
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Okay, so that’s today’s theory: Just as Oceanic represents “America’s image before 9/11”, Ajira represents “America’s image after the Invasion of Iraq.” Furthermore, Lost appears to have made that image purposefully ambiguous, so whether you see it as something positive or negative is up to you.
See you at the end of the week, folks, when we start recapping the Season Five finale in detail.
Take care!
I love it when politics imitates the imitators....Here is a comment from a news blog about missing South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford:
What really happened....
Though Governor Sanford took off from our timeline just 7 days ago, in reality he crashed in 1999 aboard Flight 3142 of Buenos Aires- based Lineas Aereas Privadas.
Posted by: Holly | Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 08:32 AM