Symbol Watcher

I am always entertained by the ABC show “Lost,” but I was really intrigued this week when I saw the starburst, or spoked wheel illustration during the last few minutes of the season premier. 

Those of us who watch the series know Ben set the island in motion last season by turning a giant wheel located deep underground.  Now the island appears to be free falling through the spacetime continuum. 

During Wednesday’s show, ray-like spokes were being drawn on the floor of a dimly lit room by a giant pendulum. The pendulum was hanging from the ceiling with a piece of chalk (?) attached to the end of it.  That same spoked, or starburst, image on the floor also appeared in multiple places on a map of the earth. The map was visible on the computer screen of the woman working in the room.  All the starbursts on the map were in the ocean — I think in the sourthern hemisphere.  “Event Window Determined” was displayed in large letters across the screen.   (To watch the entire episode or fast forward to this scene, click here.) 

I enjoyed all the overt and symbolic representations of movement in the show and I’m wondering what clues they hold concerning the supposed catastrophe Ben and the white-haired woman are trying to prevent.

The images on the floor and on the computer remind me of both a wheel and a starburst.  The rays aren’t contained within a circle like the spokes of a wheel, but they do intersect in the center, so they have an axis, or common midpoint.  Yet the lines aren’t contained by a border and they’re not a uniform length, so in that way the pattern makes me think of a starburst.  

I think both the wheel and the starburst might hold clues to where the storyline might be taking us. The wheel is the solar image of cosmic momentum, ceaseless change and cyclic repetition.  A perfect image for an island on the move. 

A galaxy, according to Wikipedia, is: “. . . often observed to have a burst of star formation after a collision or close encounter between two galaxies.”  Stars often represent cosmic order. So all this makes me wonder if the impending doom is that the earth, or earth’s galaxy, might be in danger of ramming into another planet or galaxy. 

Is the pendulum swinging in concert with the earth’s gravitational pull or the island’s movement?  Evidently by reading the starburst patterns, the woman is able to tell there are only 70 hours before catastrophe strikes.  And if that’s true, then I’m wondering if the reason the island is so important and seems to contain so much raw energy is because it’s the portal to the earth’s center point, its axis. 

Any thoughts?

– Writeye

Posted on January 24th, 2009 under TV Shows • Tags: Lost season premier symbolism, star symbolism, wheel symbolism. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback