This is the first post of perhaps a few, on some minor mystery details from the show that I find intriguing, and ones that I hope will mean something when all is said and done. If I post more than this one, this is "Part One" of a series. If not, this post will be "Part One Only". :-)Since I love astronomy, one of my favorite Lost mysteries is something that was apparently picked up by a viewer in the episode "The Long Con". According to Lostpedia, a reversed view of Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, was spotted in the night sky shot during one of my favorite scenes with Hurley and Sayid on the beach. Maybe it was just the stars, and the beach at night, and the fact that one of the best Glen Miller songs was playing, so I really liked that scene. But for me the clincher was finding the notation and capture of the reversed constellation later online. The article in Lostpedia also mentions that the Connect Four pattern of the numbers matches Ursa Major, but that's too much for me to get into and I don't own the game to be able to check it out. Although, if true, it could solidify the fact that the Big Dip is actually shown here, and mirrored, for our viewing torture -- I mean, pleasure.
If this sky scene is not just another pointless (and I mean that in a nice way) "gotcha" moment and message from TPTB to the viewers, what could it mean? Does the island create or sit under some kind of magnetic lensing effect that makes it look like the sky's star patterns are backwards? Gravity can create some pretty weird astronomical effects, as in the "Einstein Lens" that creates a false visual of multiple objects/stars (or a ring), as the light of an object behind another is split around the front object's gravitational area in the field of view. A reversed sky view would contradict with the rising and setting sun directions though, and surely our highly intuitive Lostaways would notice that. Or maybe not, since the island's magnetic forces rendered the compasses unusable, so maybe they don't know which end of the earth is up, so to speak. If I were there I'd just assume that where ever the sun came up was East, etc., and go by that and not the twirling compass needles. But if the night sky is reversed, it's odd that at least one of the Losties (perhaps Locke the Hunter) did not notice it at all, and tell us. Ha ha.
So I do hope that this little quirky moment in the show (if accurate) will become one of the "Eureka!" moments we will have when we look back after Season 6 is finished. Not that TPTB will address it specifically, but that if remembered, it will cause one of those many little jolts that I suspect will zing us when we start re-watching the show from S1 to S6 for old time's sake. I get a sneaking feeling that once the show is over, it won't really be over in our heads.
4 comments:
The stars and whether or not there is some meaning in them has been one of those questions hanging around since the Pilot episode where there is a long shot of the night sky. I don't think Locke not knowing about the stars would be that unusual. Most bird hunting requires light, not stars. The hunting scene with his dad was in broad daylight hunting quail probably. The more likely place Locke would have learned the stars was at Pot Camp.
Stars also came up a couple of times explicitly in S3. First was Karl's pathetic Teddy Bear constellation. Maybe this is a clue that the stars are the real stars. Why wouldn't the Others teach Alex and Karl the real names of the constellations? Especially given the other overt reference in S3, the star chart on one of the walls of Ben's house.
Well, if Locke was on a survivalist and/or orienteering kick, that's one of the things that you need to know in case you get lost. The hunters that I know, or knew, liked to know a lot about nature too. Maybe when you have to get up in the tree stand in the wee dark hours, you have nothing to do till it gets light but look at the stars? :o) Or maybe it's because they were ex-military too.
Yeah, that whole Teddy Bear thing kind of made me wince. Maybe his Mom and Dad taught him that when he was a kid. Blech. :-D
I just think that it would be neat if one of the light bulbs that comes on in our heads after S6 is over, would be some insight, or hindsight, about all the star references and such. And, the backwards Teddy Bear Dipper, heheh.
My husband and his family are bird hunters and they know nothing about stars. They also have assumed they are south of the equator, but wait, that undermines my argument. Lockabout-ready Locke should know all this stars stuff. Good call Capcom.
Thanks. The thing is, even I -- who am not even good enough at it to rank as an amateur -- would notice that my favorite constellations were not quite right. You know, lying on the beach at night, next to the campfire, singing Kumbaya, and then you look up toward the stars and say, "Hey Waitaminnitt!" :o)
If there is some kind of lensing or EMG field type of anomaly, maybe it will pertain to what Fenry said (figuratively or otherwise) about how even God can't find the island. The reason why, might connect some of the freaky things we've noticed.
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