collegethoughts

  My sisters and I have recently developed an addiction to Lost.  This addiction was developed at a disturbingly fast rate, and makes me wonder about human nature; Hannah likes her coffee, Emma is stubborn, and I go through various attachment phases, but I would be reticent to label any of us as unusually obsessive or addictive.    The writers of Lost have tapped into a proven formula for addiction–create a story with sympathetic characters, maintain constant action, and leave the viewer with questions that won’t be answered until the next episode.  The show, while well shot and well acted, isn’t anything spectacularly innovative.  The key is the questions–at the end of each episode, something dramatic happens, and the viewer is left with a burning desire to know what happens next, not unlike the Hardy Boys books I devoured as a child.    I find myself watching countless hours of this show (we have it on DvD) every day, even though it is a time waster–drama for drama’s sake; I gain no catharsis, no historical facts, and very few laughs.  What is it about the show that captures me?  Is it a thirst for knowledge, the desire to know what will happen next?  Real life constantly spirals out of control; this show is safe, it’s not real, it’s contained, and while it thrills, it never scares because it can’t affect me.  Or is Lost simply the first thing that presented itself to me as a possible pattern to fill my days with?  Are we all looking for the next addiction?  Can anyone be instantly sucked in?  Not to Lost, necessarily, but to any activity that has been designed to appeal to our craving natures.  Or does the activity even have to be designed to appeal to certain areas of our brains?  Maybe humans can be addicted to anything, and television writers, advertisers, business people are all competing to find the next really big one–the giant generic addiction that will generate the most money until the next one comes out.  Does it all come down to stability?  Supposedly no-one likes change, except for certain people who need change, but perpetual change becomes a constant–the net force is still zero.      I’m probably just rambling.  Ah well, it’s a better use of my time than Lost.

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