Or illusion?
July 27, 2012 (Friday)
When the television program, “Lost,” was introduced in 2004, I must have been very busy doing something else, because I never saw even one episode of the series during its six-year run. We have subscribed to Netflix, however, and for a couple of weeks I have been watching “Lost.” Since I never saw any of the episodes during the first time around, they are all new to me, and quite fascinating.
The basic plot centers around a group of people who were passengers on an airliner that crashed on a Pacific island. Most of the passengers died but many survived and set up makeshift tents on the beach while they awaited rescue teams which never came. Each episode recounts the adventures of the survivors as they contend with mysterious enemies on the island, which seems to be totally unknown and is not on any maps. I am enjoying the commercial-free recorded programs on Netflix.
Yesterday I began thinking about the island, its beaches and its jungle, and wondered where it was filmed. I looked it up and discovered that it was filmed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, mostly on the north shore.
There’s quite a difference between the unknown, uncharted island presented on “Lost” and the very real island of Oahu, a busy place with roads, cars, shopping, skyscrapers, and many people.
The makers of films perform a kind of magic with many productions, framing the shots so that what is seen on the movie or television screen is not the same as the original, real scene. For instance, the series, “24,” included some New York City street scenes that were actually filmed in Los Angeles, utilizing green screens set up on the California city streets. The viewer of the finished product never knows the difference.
Jesus upbraided the Scribes, Priests, Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy. They were like the movies, claiming to be something other than what they actually were. Jesus said they were falsely presenting themselves as the real thing. He cautioned all his followers to live genuine lives of faith, without the use of hypocritical illusion. He wants us to build the house that is our life upon a strong foundation that is Jesus Christ and all that he is and represents–he wants us to be “the real thing.”