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Apophenia
From Lostpedia
Apophenia is the perception of patterns, or connections, where in fact none exist. Most psychologists agree that this condition exists in everyone, to some degree; it is a bias of the human mind.
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The Show
Lost is a television show that lends itself to the creation of apophenic theories, more than most. The fact that it features a large number of central characters (and many other recurring secondary characters) is a major factor in this; if you increase the number of protagonists, it follows that the number of connections between characters can increase at an exponential rate in comparison. One of the themes acknowledged by the writers, in fact, is about the serendipitous nature of improbable meetings, i.e., the "6 degrees effect".
Fansites
Some would argue that LOST fans get carried away in their analysis of details based on this phenomenon. Whilst many connections between characters do exist, it's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that there are connections between every character. Similarly, while many minor details can bear fruit as clues and Easter Eggs for the plot, some are not meant to be analyzed; some discrepancies are just coincidences, prop or continuity errors, or simply instances where applying Occam's razor is the best attitude to adopt. To quote a popular phrase: Sometimes a cigar is really just a cigar.
Examples in Lost
Numbers Game
Adding or subtracting any two of the the Numbers will produce another number which attaches some significance to the plot. There are only rare examples where such arithmetic will be beyond coincidence (due to minuscule probability), such as 7418880. Likewise, any random string or set of numbers (e.g. 491239744276467345) is likely to contain one or more of the Numbers unless the producers deliberately try to avoid having them show up altogether, especially considering that two of them are single-digit numbers.
- Example taken from Jacob: In the Bible, Jacob had two sons with his wife Rachael: Joseph (his 11th child) and Benjamin (his 12th) 11+12=23 ("The Numbers")
Don't Quote Me On It
Searching the transcripts for any common phrase (such as "I've got it", "Let's go" or "Oh my God") will produce many potential hits, not all of which are suitable for the List of commonly spoken phrases (reserved for unusual repeated phrases which likely recur due to writer's intent/emphasis).
Forced Connections
Believing two people of the same race or hair color to be the same person despite the fact that they are clearly portrayed by different actors.
- Following the initial airing of "Orientation", many fans incorrectly assumed Dr. Marvin Candle (played by Cambodian-American actor François Chau) to be the same character as Dr. Curtis (played by Japanese-Hawaiian actor Dann Seki). (See Persistent rumors)
- Following the initial airing of "Live Together, Die Alone", many fans insisted that Mathias (played by Len Cordova) was Jack (played by Matthew Fox), even though the latter was not known to be fluent in Portuguese.
- Various blonde women have been claimed to be the same character by fans, such as Sarah Shephard (played by Julie Bowen), the blonde Other who blew up the raft in "Exodus, Part 2" and Juliet (played by Elizabeth Mitchell). Ben actually remarked on the similarity between Jack's ex-wife and Juliet in "The Cost of Living".
- Following the initial airing of "The Glass Ballerina", some fans believed a background Other (played by Terren Zorne) to be Michael.
- Following the initial airing of "Further Instructions", some fans believed Mike (played by Chris Mulkey) to be the same character as Tom (played by M.C. Gainey).
Some of these claims still tend to pop up from time to time, even as late as post-season 4.
Unintentional Similarities
Due to budget and location restraints (Lost is still, for the most part, filmed on the island of Oahu), certain props and locations get reused in different contexts over the course of the show, causing fans to believe the prop or location to be the same.
- St. Andrew's Priory, for example, represented no less than four entirely different locations during the first four seasons, such as Eddington Monastery in "Catch-22" and Oxford University in "The Constant". Following the airing of "The Constant", this caused fans to wrongly attribute a photo from "Catch-22" depicting Mrs. Hawking and Brother Campbell as having been taken in Oxford.
- The infamous Golden Pontiac is another example.
The Rorschach Test
There have been fans who have been convinced that they saw certain unusual patterns in some screencaptures ("Execute symbol"-shaped clouds, letters in the sea after Dave jumped, Swan symbol shaved into Ben's neck), who persist in their beliefs even after they are refuted by statements in the official podcasts.
Theoretical Free-For-All
Entering a set of words related to the show into Google and trying to form a theory from whatever results, despite lack of logical and parsimonious reasoning. Themisfitishere is a satirical spoof of this theorizing phenomenon.
Theory Takes Priority Over Show
Some fans who came up with a theory will cling to it no matter what, even though it's not only not backed up by the show, but in fact directly refuted by it. Those fans will often insist that their theory is "obviously" what the writers had in mind, and all the established information from the show contradicting it is shrugged off as mere "continuity errors".
- The persistent rumor that Hurley saw Locke's fall from "The Man from Tallahassee" in "Numbers", even though neither the timeline nor any of the details in those two scenes match up aside from the recurring theme of a "man falling off a building", is a prime example.
- One fan theory suggested that Hurley's time as a patient at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute was due to his parents sending him there for believing that The Numbers were cursed. Nevermind that this doesn't make sense at all with the established timeline (it was during his time at SRMHI that Hurley got the Numbers from Lenny in the first place), nor does it match up with the details about the cause of Hurley's mental issues given in "Dave".
Unobservant Fans
Sometimes theories are caused by fan inattentiveness.
- At the end of "Par Avion", the tattoos on Jack's inner forearm were particularly prominent due to the lighting in the scene and the position of the arm. Many fans had never noticed these tattoos before. Some fans, concluding that they were new tattoos, speculated that the Jack Shephard seen there was a clone or alternative version. In reality, the tattoos are Matthew Fox's real tattoos and had been visible on Jack since "Pilot, Part 1", but due to their location, they are not normally prominently displayed.
- Much speculation has spun from fans misremembering Kate as being the only survivor of Flight 815 who remembers the actual crash, leading to wild conspiracy theories. However, all that had been confirmed in "Pilot, Part 1" was that Jack had blacked out during the crash, whereas Kate, in her own words, "saw the whole thing". There has never been any confirmation whether any of the other survivors remember the crash itself or not.
Random Errors
Because of intense scrutiny by fans, random errors in production can sometimes be taken as hidden clues. Themisfitishere also frequently spoofs this type of analysis.
- One example is the slightly different set dressing in the Swan between "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Adrift". This led some fans to believe that there were two different timelines, or even two different Swan stations. In reality the producers had simply chosen to dress the set differently.
The Latest Concept Explains Everything
Every once in a while, an episode will introduce a new concept to the show. In most cases, the concept will be in the spotlight of its introductory episode, but won't play such an important part in subsequent episodes anymore. Still, some fans will instantly try to retroactively apply this concept to events from previous episodes.
- The lines "What if everything that happened here, happened for a reason?" (spoken by Locke in"White Rabbit") and "Do not mistake coincidence for fate." (first spoken by Mr. Eko in "What Kate Did") are often cited as evidence that nothing happening on Lost is a coincidence. Everything is predestined, even down to the most minor details. For some fans, this isn't even limited to an "in-universe" perspective, but can also include a meta-level where every detail has been carefully decided upon by the production team, even those that have been confirmed to be production errors, as pointed out above.
- Mrs. Hawking's line "The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting" from "Flashes Before Your Eyes" has led some fans to speculate that everything that ever happened on Lost is related to universal "course corrections". The crash of Oceanic Flight 815? A course-correction, because all of the survivors had evaded death before. All the deaths since then? Another course-correction. The Others? Servants of the universe bringing forth course-corrections. And so on.
- The single most over-analyzed concept thus far is the eponymous one from "The Constant". Following this episode, fans went crazy trying to interpret even the most trivial events in the history of the show with "constants" (or a lack thereof). Even Kate's toy airplane was suspected of being her constant, while Kate's oftentimes irrational behavior towards Jack and Sawyer was alternatively a result of her lacking a constant, or because she was a time-traveller "on a mission". Even the death of main cast members was blamed on constants: For example, Boone supposedly died because his "constant" (Locke) had "betrayed" him. Nevermind that Boone died from injuries caused by falling down a cliff in a Beechcraft, not from a brain aneurysm like Minkowski.
Other examples outside of Lost
Ptosis' Dog
This is a short story by Chilean novelist and movie director Alexandro Jodorowsky, about the dangers of overanalysis. It was published in the anthology Paso de Ganso (Goose Step) Ed. Mondadori, ISBN 970-05-14352-1
Synopsis: In the futurist city of Lexgopol, imagination has been eradicated, which has led to massive suicides. As a means to counter this, the Lexgopolian Dictator reinstated ludic activities. But, as every manifestation of culture had been wiped out in the Prehistoric Wars, creativeness was impossible, until a single movie was discovered; Noches de Amor en Bombay (Bombay's Love Nights). The movie was opened with great ceremony by the science community. Lexgopolians would watch the movie times and times again, cataloguing every detail, analyzing every word said, every piece of scenery, silverware, drapery, every single minutiae was carefully and painstakingly recorded in the Great Encyclopedia of Noches de Amor en Bombay. Ptosis was a citizen that wanted to become someone important, he watched the movie ten hours a day for thirty years to discover something that remained undiscovered. One day he saw through the holes of a basket an opaque body, which he concluded was a fox-terrier. His discovery made him famous and celebrated, until a rival discovered it was simply a shadow. Ptosis was deleted from history books but lived on as a popular saying; "Lest we discover another Ptosis' dog!"
Significance: The story, published in 2001, makes reference to hyper-specialized encyclopedias devoted to a single phenomenon. (it predates the boom of wikis for a couple of years), and criticizes the devotion to details, overshadowing the big picture. In some Spanish-speaking literary circles the expression Ptosis' Dog, refers to some scholar who dedicates too much time studying a single aspect of a work ignoring or neglecting everything else.
This story is a cautionary tale about the danger of overspecialization and overtly aggressive attention to details. Concentrating in small details provokes losing sight of important issues. The stereotypical geek is savvy in finding inconsistencies that are overlooked by casual viewers, creating the popular perception of a compulsive obsessive individual. (The term Trekkie addresses this stereotype). The author chose the most inane movie possible to reveal that the object of attention is not even important.
Television
- Star Trek fandom has found logic in randomly spoken stardates. [1]
- The movie Galaxy Quest refers to an entire civilization built around a single manifestation of culture; a TV sci-fi show that they thought was real.
See also
- The Numbers
- Psychology
- Plot twist
- Pi
- ThEmIsFiTiShErE
- Character Relations (for an overview of connections that are confirmed to exist).
External links
- Wikipedia articles:
