Oh, and by the way, LOST?

[vulgarweed]

Eat shit and die.



Dear PTB. I understand the series finale is upon us. I expect character deaths left and right as we build up to the climax. I understand why there are major deaths necessary for dramatic tension.

Therefore I am willing to cope with the fact that four of my five favorite surviving characters died in tonight's episode.

I am FINE with that, narratively speaking. I am NOT so fine with the fact that 3 of those beloved characters of mine who died tonight were people of color, and meanwhile a few WHITE characters survived 'against all odds.' Because white people are just that much more blessed by fate, apparently. And that I suspect it's going to boil down in the end to three white guys and a white chick and one token Latino guy because his Spanish skills are useful.

Because it's really all about the white people in the end, isn't it? No matter how many characters we got to know and fell in love with, the only people whose life arcs REALLY matter are Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, and maybe Whitmore, Desmond, Penny, and Claire....and Hurley, when necessary, for comic relief and Spanish translation.

LOST, you were doing so well for a while, telling the stories of people from all over the world who were brought together by an accident that really wasn't an accident...

and after 6 seasons, it turns out it was all about the white people all along.

At least that's my impression of the last episode. I'd love to be wrong, but the time-frame for proving me wrong is very short.



HATE.

Comments

[sarken]

CO-SIGNED.

I don't watch Lost, but through fandom and my mother, I'm vaguely familiar with the characters. During a commercial on tonight's TDS, she was telling me, "They killed a lot of people on Lost tonight. Jin and Sun and..." She had to stop and think, and I knew that it was going to be another character of color before she said Sayid. That's just the way things seem to work, and that is not only not cool, it is downright infuriating. Bah. HATE indeed.

[vulgarweed]

It's so frakkin frustrating, because in most of the rest of the series, they presented us with a vast range of characters from all over the world.

I guess those of us who got most drawn into the stories of the international characters of color (and Sun and Jin [S. Korea] and Sayid [Iraq] are all original Season One characters from 2003) got duped because apparently as far as the Season Finale is concerned, it's all about the white Americans.

[pauraque]

Ew. I watched the first couple seasons of Lost, and I had the same impression that they actually had characters of color who were well-developed, and I respected that. (I quit watching because the mystery part was uninteresting and frustrating to me.) It sucks that they went back on that in the end.

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

I might be less personally sensitive about race issues because I've never been on the receiving end of much, being perceived as entirely white (I'm not). Yes, I've been harassed by the rare individual who simply doesn't like anyone NOT of their own race, probably because they're used to being harassed themselves. And I absolutely have a fury for obvious racism of any sort. But the show really didn't strike me that way. In fact, it was the single episode that made me cry.

I suspect that the actors themselves might have protested a bit if they'd felt there was such racism going on in the show. They don't seem the quiet type.

[888mph.livejournal.com]

This.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

I don't think they're doing it consciously and intentionally. Subconscious racism is still racism, though. For many years, the show had a really good track record of fully-rounded compelling characters of color...but when it comes down to it in the end, they die off because they're not the protagonists. Never the protagonists, or even the last few standing at the end.

[musegaarid.livejournal.com]

Sad part? I suspect the writers/producers/whomever don't even realize. They probably just think those are the most interesting characters or something.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Eggggzactly, and that's the problem!

[mulder200.livejournal.com]

Sad but not unexpected. Sometimes, I really wonder if they writers are just that clueless or just don't care.

[htebazytook.livejournal.com]

SERIOUSLY IS HURLEY NEXT OR WHAT? IT'S PISSING ME OFF D:

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Who's left who's not white? Hurley and Miles. Anyone else? I can't remember.

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

Was it Sayid? I stopped watching in like season 3, so I don't even care about spoilers anymore. I keep meaning to forgive the show for Charlie and pick it back up again.

If it's Sayid, though, I quit for good.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It was.

And Sun and Jin.

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

WHAT.

Um. Wow. Yeah, the racefail's not hard to see there.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Sayid had died once already this season but mysteriously was brought back to life by the smoke monster dude who's taken Locke's form....yeah, it's LOST, it's insane.

The first time he got basically waterboarded to death, the second time he blew himself up. So he got not one but two stereotypical deaths.

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

...They really need to hire someone to notice these things and slap the writers upside the head once in a while. Seriously, how does someone write that script and not realize the unfortunate implications of the whole scenario?