MA THESIS LOST (2004-2010) A post-9/11 Manifesto Wessel Delst [email protected] Student number: 10150382 MA Media Studies - Television and Cross-Media Culture Supervisor: dr. S. Dasgupta Second reader: prof. dr. C.P. Lindner Date: 25-06-2015 Keywords: post-9/11 | narrative complexity | religion | paranoia | terror | morality | philosophy TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction 3 1 Television after 9/11 5 1.1 Initial response after the attacks of 9/11 5 1.2 Post-9/11 television 6 1.3 A post-9/11 zeitgeist on television 7 1.3.1 Militainment 8 1.3.2 Security and intelligence 8 1.3.3 Fear and paranoia 9 1.3.4 Othering 11 1.4 Hollywood and September 11 13 1.5 Conclusion 14 2 LOST: a post-9/11 television series 16 2.1 Lost and post-9/11: the first episode. 16 2.2 Fear, paranoia and a disorientating narrative structure 17 2.3 Terror 21 2.4 “The Others” 26 2.5 Conclusion 28 3 A post-9/11 philosophy, morality and religion in LOST 30 3.1 Integration of early modern philosophers in LOST 31 3.2 Morality: fate versus free will, reason versus faith and good versus evil 33 3.3 Religion 38 3.4 Conclusion 44 Conclusion 45 Bibliography 49 2 INTRODUCTION On the morning of 11 September 2001, four passenger airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists and flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and into a field near Shanksville, PA. Nearly 3,000 people died, and more were injured. The terrorist attacks had an enormous impact on the American society, as well as the rest of the Western world. The attacks left deep scars on the citizens of the United States of America. After the attacks, people felt insecure and were terrified about the possibility of new terrorist attacks. Security measures were taken on national and international airports, and the Bush administration signed several security and intelligence laws in order to prevent further attacks. In addition, the media was an important partner during and after the attacks. Immediately after the first airplane flew into the World Trade Center, television stations disrupted their broadcast schedules and aired non-stop live coverage of the events. But also in the months and years following, the media was affected by the events of 9/11. Content of television programs considered to be too aggressive and/or disturbing were cancelled or postponed. The declared War on Terror, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the hunt for al-Qaeda, and the increased intelligence services changed life in the United States after 9/11, but also changed the way television dealt with the traumatic events. Television dramas adopted the post-9/11 atmosphere, and took on the political and social environment thereafter. This thesis will discuss how the so-called “post-9/11 era”1 influenced the television series LOST (ABC 2004-2010). An essay in the academic guide September 11 in Popular Culture: A Guide clearly stated that “[if] corporate commercial broadcast industry executives wanted to invent a popular television show that somehow channelled the U.S. public’s complete sense of helplessness after the horrific events of 9/11, they could not do much better than Lost” (Williams 162). The first season of LOST, with an average of 16 million viewers in the United States, was extremely popular. In total, the series has been nominated for more than 250 awards, and of them has won 57, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2005, a 2006 Golden Globe for Best Drama, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2006 (Williams 162). The plot of LOST is that of the crashed passenger airliner Oceanic Flight 815 (flying between Sydney and Los Angeles), on a seemingly deserted and mysterious island: [A tropical] island inhabited by polar bears, ‘others’, and a smoke monster; [it] is an island that allows a paralyzed person to regain his mobility [and where] people move back and forth in time. The list of mysteries grows longer with each 1 In this thesis, “post-9/11” is meant as causality with the events of and after 9/11, and has not a specific designation of time 3 subsequent episode, with viewers being quick to point out that each season brings with it more questions than answers. (Burcon 125) 48 people in the middle section of the plane survive the crash, and must live under primary circumstances. Their life on the island is hampered by its mystery, and the castaways are forced to find their own ways in order to protect themselves. So the following research question arises: How does the ABC television series LOST address a “post-9/11” predicament of paranoia, terror, and “othering”2, manifested through discourses of philosophy, morality and religion in the wake of the events? In order to answer this, this thesis is divided into three chapters, with each chapter answering a separate part of the question. Chapter 1 deals with the question of how 9/11 affected the media via television. Chapter 2 debates which specific aspects of post-9/11 television – as set out in chapter 1– are interrelated with the series LOST. The last chapter will explain how the aforementioned dialogues on morality, religion, and philosophy are integrated into LOST, and how these discourses are interrelated with the post-9/11 era. The theoretical framework and the arguments made herein are focused specifically on the United States. The reason for this focus is based on the fact that LOST is an American series (ABC television network), and most of the academic research for LOST is done through an American perspective. In addition, the methodological approach for my analysis (described in Chapters 2 and 3) will rely on a qualitative textual analysis, whereas Chapter 1 is written in a historical context based on the academic research done so far by others. 2 a form of xenophobia to be explained later on in Chapter 1 4 CHAPTER 1: TELEVISION AFTER 9/11 The close connection between September 11 and television is not surprising. Since its inception, TV has served as a gathering place during difficult historic moments, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. […] Television programming addresses aspects of our lives and culture in its fictional narratives, documentaries, and talk shows. In its unique role in American life, television mirrors – and challenges – aspects of our cultural norms, politics, and societal practice. Through its programming, television provides an outlet for viewers to engage in processing the hopes, issues, fears, and dreams of the nation. As a result, significant events that impact our nation, such as the attacks on September 11, alter the television landscape and shape the way we understand such events. From early televised 9/11 benefit programs, to TV documentaries and specials, the repercussions of the attacks gradually began to appear in all kinds of TV programming. Eventually, new types of television shows would appear on network and cable channels across the country registering a post-9/11 world in both fact and fiction. Quay and Damico (131- 132) This first chapter will relay the reaction of television to the events and the aftermath of 9/11, beginning with the initial response. Thereafter shall be described the more long-term post-9/11 effects on television, followed by a definition of long-term trends more focused on television dramas and series of post-9/11 television. 1.1 Initial response after the attacks of 9/11 Immediately after the attacks of 9/11, Americans were glued to news programs provided by TV and cable networks who worked together in the days after the attacks (Quay and Damico 8-9). For a full week, American broadcasters aired non-stop news coverage to keep the audience up to date, without any advertisement breaks. The television shows originally scheduled for that week were put off, and news programs took over the broadcast. After one week, television and cable networks reduced the news coverage, and regular broadcast schedules slowly came back on. “In general, the television industry hoped to provide light, escapist entertainment as an alternative to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks being covered on news programming” (qtd. in Quay and Damico 132). However, some films planned 5 for airing on television, such as LETHAL WEAPON (1987), KING KONG (1933), and THE SIEGE (1998) were considered disturbing for the audience, because of the violent and terrorist-related topics, and were cancelled. Furthermore, “a scene with an exploding airplane was edited out of an episode of Fox’s 24 (2001–2010); an episode of CBS’s THE AGENCY (2001–2003), which featured an anthrax attack was cancelled; and NBC’s UC: UNDERCOVER (2001–2002) eliminated a script with a terrorist plot” (132). Conversely, some fictional series made a special episode because of the attacks. THE WEST WING (1999-2006) and the rescue worker drama THIRD WATCH (1999-2005) both produced new episodes to reflect on the attacks. THIRD WATCH took place in New York City and “changes were made, at least in part, because many rescue workers who participated in the production of Third Watch– in minor speaking roles, as extras, or as technical advisors– were killed in the attacks” (Quay and Damico 134). In addition, on September 21, 2001, ten days after 9/11, the celebrity telethon AMERICA: A TRIBUTE TO HEROES aired on more than 320 television and cable networks, live from New York and Los Angeles.