Dualism & LOST

Almost anyone who watches LOST probably realizes that Dualism has been the main theme of the television series. In an early scene in the Pilot, John Locke sits on the beach with Walter and holds high the black and white backgammon pieces, indicating that it is the oldest game in the world- a symbolic nod to the battle between good and evil. Since then, the writers have given us plenty of good and evil to go around.

The trouble is, it's never coming from where you'd expect.

In the first few episodes of the show, the roles were pretty clear. There were fairly solid distinctions between good and evil- the survivors of were cast as heroes while the smoke monster, the polar bears, and the Others were the villains.

But as the show continued, each character was further revealed through flashbacks and we began to see that each and every one of them were flawed. Every member of the cast was a in their own miniature battle between good and evil, right and wrong. So much so, that I began teasing my friends that if they didn't like how a character was portrayed, they should just wait two episodes because the characters they were frustrated with would surely be a drug addicts, saints, lairs, or leaders once again.

What keeps me coming back is that the dualism within the characters on LOST is a beautiful image that reflects the state of the world today. In the real world, it's no longer clear who the "good guys" and who the "bad guys" are. For example, we used to assume that everything the United States did was for the good of the world- but it turns out that we've got a lot of skeletons in our closet. Sometimes, we may even want what's worst for other countries.

And I see the same in my own life. Sometimes, I'm a wonderful husband and father. But there are other times when I'm a horrid wreck of a man- ruthless and arrogant. I'm not always the good guy and I'm not always the villain either. As my life continues, it seems that I'm engaged in a fight between these two- just like Paul, who wrote that he was conflicted between what he wanted to do- and what his flesh did on its own.

Of course, this hint of realism is an element that a lot viewers simply can't handle. A lot of the viewers are abandoning the show completely because they're tired of the endless twists and turns. They'd prefer their good guys to be good and their bad guys bad. They don't like how good and evil aren't always constant.

And even worse, they probably hate thinking that within them, too, are really nasty secrets and really surprising beauty. The reminder that things aren't as easy as we'd like them to be isn't easy to face.