Frame story/historical fiction: understanding the lost experience
This theory seeks to better understand the world of “The Lost Experience” Alternative Reality Game (ARG), rather than the television show Lost, by separating what is considered factual on the show from what is embellishment by the show’s writers.1
Introduction
Real Events
Real Organizations
Real People
Importance of Cross-World Interactions
The Writers's Motivation Behind a Framed Story/Historical Fiction Combination
introduction
“The Lost Experience” combines two literary techniques: frame storytelling and historical fiction.
Frame Stories contain one or more stories within a framing story. A classic example is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where Captain Walton is told the inner story by Victor Frankenstein after Victor is rescued by the Captain. In this sense, “The Lost Experience” is fiction in our world, and the television show Lost exists in the world created by “The Lost Experience.” Now, just as one may hear only Victor Frankenstein’s tale alone, without the outer story of Captain Walton, one may watch Lost without ever partaking in “The Lost Experience.” In both cases, however, the full creation of the writers includes “The Lost Experience” as an outer, “framing” story.
Historical Fiction contains historical events, yet includes fictional embellishments added by the writer. Examples from literature include "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," which takes place during the Civil War. Movies that can be considered historical fiction, often containing the phrase “based on a true story” before the movie begins, include Erin Brockovich, Titanic, and The Perfect Storm, among countless others. This television show Deadwood includes real-life individuals such as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, George Hearst, Al Swearingen, Seth Bullock and Sol Star.
To the real world, Lost would not be considered historical fiction; there are not enough similarities between the television show and our world to make this connection. It is clear, however, that many entities on the show that do not exist in the real world DO nonetheless exist in the world of “The Lost Experience.” Thus, Lost is to the ARG world what Deadwood is to our world: historical fiction.
From this point forward, the word “real” will refer to what is real in the world of the Lost Experience, NOT what is real in our world; that is, “real” is what is true in the outer story. Conversely, the word “fake” refers to what is not real in the ARG world, yet is true in the context of Lost. Anything considered “fake” below may be proven true in the future, as “The Lost Experience” is ongoing.2
My assessment of what is real includes all sources from the Lost Experience, with the exception of:
1) The show Lost, unless it is proven real by other sources.
2) The story within Bad Twin, unless it is proven real by other sources. Text from the book’s “Note from the Editors,” the letters from Gary Troup and Christine DeVries at the beginning of the hardback version, and the video interviews between Gary Troup and Laird Granger are considered real.
3) Other sources within the ARG world whose statements can be considered untrustworthy, for reasons to be defined below
real events
In “Live Together, Die Alone, Part 2,” Locke tells Desmond that Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on September 22, 2004, as it traveled from Sydney to Los Angeles. The outer cover of Bad Twin verifies that Oceanic Airlines does exist, and that its plane, Flight 815, did crash. The “Note from the Editors” inside states
As many readers are already aware, Gary Troup has been missing since September 2004, when the jetliner that was carrying him from Sydney to Los Angeles crashed somewhere over the South Pacific.3
This statement verifies that the crash occurred in September 2004, though it does not confirm that it crashed on September 22nd. In addition, there is no proof that the plane truly crashed on an island. Therefore, FOR THE MOMENT, this should be considered false, as a written embellishment that enhances the program. This would not be unprecedented; the aforementioned The Perfect Storm was based on a missing ship, such that no one knows what truly occurred, and much of the movie was fictionalized
real organizations
The “Orientation” video on the television program introduced us to two organizations: The Hanso Foundation and a program within the Foundation, The Dharma Initiative. The Hanso Foundation is clearly a real organization, as verified by its website, commercials during the show, an interview with Hugh McIntyre on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse during their May podcasts and the July 22nd ComiCon panel.
The Dharma Initiative was revealed as be real on June 13th, with the anagram established to stand for Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications. (This anagram was verified by film clip 3gtvi0m11 on HansoExposed.) In addition, the first frame of video fragment r3pux4 contains images that are used to represent the Swan and Pearl hatches on the show, although whether the use of those hatches matches that in the real world is yet to be seen.
Yet other information from the show does not correspond with real life. Both the “Orientation” and “?” videos contain copyright dates of 1980. In “Live Together, Die Alone,” Kelvin says he joined the DHARMA Initiative after Operation Desert Storm in the 1990s. However, on Rachel Blake’s FAQ page posted on July 25th, she states:
There is also a seventh project…called the DHARMA Initiative. Little is known about this program, but everything I’ve discovered has led me to the conclusion that the scientists of the DHARMA Initiative disappeared over 30 years ago.
In addition, the HansoExposed video contains a copyright of 1975. Finally, during Hugh McIntyre’s interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he stated that the DHARMA Initiative did once exist, but was discontinued in 1987. Are all these facts incompatible?
It is possible that the DHARMA Initiative scientists disappeared from public view in 1975, yet still had the means to create the video in 1980; they may have officially “closed” in 1987, but could still have contacted Kelvin in 1991. Given the insistence by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that Lost itself is a show, it is problematic to assume that EVERYTHING from the show is real.
With this in mind, we can still say that the 1975 video is real, the fact that The Hanso Foundation formally shut down the DHARMA Initiative in 1987 is real, and that Rachel currently sees the DHARMA scientists as “missing” is real. The television show’s orientation videos, however, as well as Kelvin Inman’s arrival in the 1990s, FOR THE MOMENT, should be considered fake, as embellishments by Damon, Carlton, and the Lost writing staff.
Finally, signs in “Fire + Water” and labels in “The Whole Truth” refer to Widmore Construction and Widmore Labs, respectively. On July 10th, Rachel revealed in her blog that she used to work for “Widmore,” suggesting that, though we don’t have proof that Widmore has a Construction or Labs facility, Widmore does in fact exist as a company.
real people
The following individuals on the show Lost are real:
Gary Troup—the name is seen on the manuscript of Bad Twin shown in the episodes “The Long Con” and “Two for the Road”, though as of yet Gary Troup has never been seen on the show. The publication of Bad Twin, and subsequent interviews with the author, show that Gary Troup is real. The individual videotaped in the interviews can be assumed to be the real Gary Troup.
Cindy Chandler—The Oceanic Airlines flight attendant has been seen on a few episodes encompassing seasons 1 and 2. The editor’s notes in Bad Twin, as well as Gary Troup’s interviews, reveal her to be a real person (and that Troup and Chandler were lovers). Her scenes on the show are restricted to the plane and the island. This person can be assumed to be an actress in this situation.
Alvar Hanso and the Degroots—These three individuals are staples of the “Orientation” and “?” videos. Alvar Hanso is also a central piece of the ARG, and the Degroots were named in the HansoExposed video. Thus, these individuals can be said to be real. The Degroots have not yet been definitively seen elsewhere other than the show, and those individuals on the show should for the moment be considered actors.
Alvar Hanso was definitively identified by the same image on The Hanso Foundation website. However, the following exchange at ComiCon:
Lindelof: [Alvar]'s an actor.
Cuse: He's in a window in our TV show.
Rachel: Alvar Hanso is real...
This suggests that Alvar Hanso on the show is an actor. The Hanso Foundation may have used the actor's image on its website to cover for the lack of a true image of the currently-missing leader of the organization.4
However, if video fragment 4kvklaydm0 is followed by tribalwars, as now appears to be the case, then this appears to be the real Alvar Hanso:
Magnus Hanso and Valenzetti—both have appeared on the show via the “Lockdown” Blast Door Map. A book posted on Rachel Blake’s blog in June revealed that a Magnus Hanso was involved in illegal slave trade in the 1880s. In addition, we have learned from Rachel Blake and DJ Dan that Enzo Valenzetti was a real individual who worked on a Valenzetti Equation. These individuals existed, but whether Magnus Hanso really appeared on the island, or Valenzetti’s Equation was really used in research on the island, remains to be seen.
In addition, it is more likely that the following are real individuals, though definitive proof does not exist:
The Widmores—“Live Together, Die Alone” introduced us to two members of the Widmore family: Charles and Penelope.
While Widmore has been proven to be a very important name, no reference to these individuals has been made. In addition, previous names and situations tied a character on the show to the real world; here only a common surname exists. The fact that I share the same first and last name with an MLB first baseman doesn’t mean I play baseball. This is potentially the same situation; therefore, I would not say for certain that Charles and Penelope Widmore are real.
The Paiks—Mr. Paik appeared in “…In Translation”, and has been referred to in other episodes. While references have been made to Paik Heavy Industries in the ARG, no official connection to the Mr. Paik on the show has been made. As with the Widmores, a similarity in last name does not mean this is the same person. That said, any future revelation stating that Mr. Paik is real would be VERY significant, because it would greatly increase the likelihood that his daughter, Sun-Hya Paik, and her husband, Jin-Soo Kwon, are real.
No other character on the show has been referred to by the ARG at this point, and thus cannot be assumed to be real.
Importance of Cross-World Interactions
The three worlds of discussion can be described visually as such:
Here the boundaries between the worlds are not set in stone; there is some interaction by the same people, though their mission in each world is different.
Let’s simplify the discussion to the two-world model: the world of the show and the real world. Some similarities exist between the two worlds; for example, songs by bands such as The Kinks (“The 23rd Psalm”, “Fire + Water”) and Dave Matthews Band (“Abandoned”) show that these bands and the particular songs played/sung exist in both worlds. However, not everything is the same; Oceanic Airlines does not exist in our world, and Flight 815 (or any major airline, for that matter) did not crash on September 22, 2004. Yet this is a fact of World 3, as it is noted in the figure above.
Some persons do exist in both worlds, yet take on different roles in each. For example, in World 3, the man pictured above is Jack Shepard, a surgeon. In World 1, however, he is Matthew Fox, an actor. Treating him as Matthew Fox when in World 3, or calling him Jack in World 1, result in an awkward situation, because, although the same man exists physically in both worlds, his characterization is different in each one.
In the same way, someone could exist in all three worlds above, but be characterized differently in each:
In World 3, this man is Jin-Soo Kwon. In Worlds 1 and 2, he is Daniel Dae Kim, here seated at ComiCon. The band on his right wrist, however, has a different interpretations in each of two worlds. In World 1, Daniel Dae Kim was given this wristband before the panel, possibly by a backstage stagehand, in order to help reveal a clue to participants in The Lost Experience game. In World 2, however, Rachel Blake singled out Kim, as well as Jorge Garcia, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, as more than just an actor, with her “You’ve got blood on your hands” rant. Clearly, in World 2, these four were participants (willing or unwilling) in revealing the true nature of the Hanso Foundation.
How do we, the players, fit in? Well, online personalities themselves are creations of a new world. Very few of us reveal our full names online; instead, people are known by screennames chosen for media such as message boards or chat rooms. These can be based off of statements, characters, symbols, etc. Even when someone’s real name is known, the vast majority of reference to a person is to his or her screenname, in order to protect the relative anonymity that is inherent to the online community. Thus, by taking part in a message board, one actually becomes a member of two worlds: the offline world and the online world.
With this in mind, we see that it is easy for us to take on membership in yet a a third world such as TLE. The creator of the non-TLE affiliated oceanicworldair.com, who goes by the screenname Vincent Madison, told me that from the perspective of a character, “direct interaction with the players is not required, but can enhance the experience greatly.” He also noted “the players in a successful ARG take on their own characters and do not end up being ‘themselves.’”5 In other words, successful Alternate Realities such as The Lost Experience allow the players to become, even in a small way, part of the action.
Posting on the comments page to Rachel Blake’s blog, worried for her safety, putting together the Sri Lanka video on Hanso Exposed, conversing with the Retrievers of Truth on AOL Instant Messenger…these are just some of the ways in which participants in TLE have interacted with World 2. In these encounters, we are not ourselves, but are in effect taking on a different characterization.
These interactions are in some cases returned by World 2 characters. The May 24th update from RetrieversofTruth cited emri.perception.net, a website created by LostTV user lxicon. Maestra, another user at LostTV, conversed with the user “thejeepchannel,” an in-game character on YouTube:
I remembered reading here on the boards that someone had added thejeepchannel as a favorite and received a message from him. So I decided to send him a message and ask what he had against DJ Dan. Was I ever surprised to receive a response! He initiated contact twice, I believe, and rarely responded to my messages. But when he did, he was always very brief, and to the point. I got the feeling he was rushed (possibly contacting many people?) or anxious, trying to hide what he was doing. That, of course, added to the excitement.”6
Maestra was eventually cited in a video from thejeepchannel, posted on the official Jeep site, as a “true believer.” Cited by screenname, of course; her World 2 personality.
However, just as the “same” person may operate under two different characterizations in two different worlds, so too it becomes problematic to automatically apply one world’s characterization to another world. It is important to keep this in mind when attempting to apply one world’s truths to another. Again, what is true on the show is not necessarily true in TLE, and vice versa.
The Writers's Motivation Behind a Framed Story/Historical Fiction Combination
When the creators behind Lost began planning The Lost Experience, they must have discussed how best to relay this information in such a way as to make people interested in following along, while not revealing so much through TLE that they might alienate those who only watch the television show. Though some TLE information has been revealed in live press conferences, talk show interviews, commercials and print ads, the internet was chosen as the primary vehicle behind the dissemination of TLE.
The internet has allowed communication to flourish in the past few years in ways that couldn’t have been imagined a generation ago. Its use has increased exponentially, to where many today can’t imagine a world without it. This near-dependence, combined with the large communities dedicated to Lost on the Web, made the Internet the prime location for TLE dissemination. But, as mentioned above, it was the ability of the online community to interact directly with TLE that proved vital to its success.
So how could TLE become and interactive part of the internet, allowing participants to take part in the story (without too much participation)? Let’s go back to the 2-world model, that of Lost and that of our world. Let’s also remember that the crash survivors in World 3 have no contact outside their island. How then can the players interact with people on the island? The crash survivors can’t have contact with us, as that would damage the continuity of the show. The “others” may or may not have outside contact; we truly don’t know this in the context of the show thus far, and revealing that they do may spoil “too much” in terms of future plot. Thus, TLE should focus on Lost’s backstory, away from the island.
What is important enough about this backstory that it could keep players’s interest over the summer? Here, I believe the “Orientation” filmstrip serves as an illustration. Online interest skyrocketed after its airing, with a surge of new fansites devoted to uncovering its secrets. Fans wanted to know more about this mysterious Dharma Initiative, and The Hanso Foundation that funded it. Not all questions could be answered on the show, lest the show dissolve into 44 minutes of expository dialogue. TLE, however, would allow this information to be distributed more easily.
But why a framed story, positioning TLE between our world and Lost, rather than as a part of the Lost world? And why write TLE so that, according to TLE, Lost isn’t completely fiction, but rather historical fiction? In hindsight, I think we were told this in May, and saw the confirmation of this reasoning during TLE’s third act.
In “?”, the Pearl orientation video told us that everything we saw in the “Orientation” filmstrip was a lie. In both cases, the moods in the viewing rooms accurately mirrored the audience response; after “Orientation,” the audience felt “We have to watch that again,” while after “?”, they experienced a feeling of uselessness. Even those of us who loved “?” heard, in the back of our mindsm a voice saying “Everything you thought was cool was a lie.”
This voice, however, was disproved in “Live Together, Die Alone,” the moment that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Michael and Hurley came across the empty pneumatic tubes in the field. At that point the viewer knew what the real lie was, two weeks after “?” aired.
Now remember that the writers behind Lost are also the brainchildren behind The Lost Experience.
How did the Lost fan feel when he or she heard Hugh McIntyre tell Jimmy Kimmel that Lost was a fictional show? At this point in TLE (May 17th), there were no show tie-ins other than the Hanso Foundation; no Black Rock, no Dharma, no numbers. Why should we spend all summer on something so loosely related to the show we all loved? If Lost was Friends, TLE would become Joey.
Coming after the disappointment of being told our beliefs were a lie, the decision to make Lost historical fiction produced an end result that affirmed the views of all interested participants. Just as the Season 2 Finale was, in my opinion, enhanced by the period of disbelief that followed our witnessing of The Pearl film, so will the final reveal of the true nature of The Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative be enhanced by the framing story, “just a show” revelation.
The writers of Lost and TLE have shown that they like playing with our emotions and minds.
And we like it as well.
Sean Casey is a graduate student in Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University.
notes
1. This essay represented what I saw as real as of August 25, 2006. "The Lost Experience" was then ongoing; the author has established an updated thread at Lost TV Forum. back
2.This essay does not reference the final reveal of TLE, an event which doesn’t change the relations between frame story and historical fiction outlined below. back
3. Bad Twin (NY: Hyperion Publishing, 2006. Daily Variety broke the news that the novel was ghostwritten by Lawrence Shames. back
4. When video fragment 4kvklaydm0 followed fragment tribalwars, the man narrating the Hanso Exposed training video appeared to be the real Alvar Hanso, a fact confirmed at the conclusion of the ARG. back
5. Vincent Madison, personal communication. back
6. Maestra, personal communication. back