Senseless Vibrations: the music of “Through the Looking Glass”(Not a Theory)
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By Dharmacide
- Senseless Vibrations: the music of “Through the Looking Glass”(Not a Theory)
- Created: Oct 11, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
“I hear the sound of a gentle word On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air”
Close my eyes She’s somehow closer now -from good vibrations
“Like most babies smell like butter His smell smelled like no other He was born scentless and senseless He was born a scentless apprentice”
Go away - get away, get a-way -from scentless apprentice
— Dharmacide
Given the nature of the flashfoward with the state of both future Jack and Kate, it seems like opposites are everywhere in that episode. Jack becoming his father, Kate becoming like her mother, and Charlie becoming heroic. A small thing I noticed was that the Nirvana song and the Beach Boys songs contain lyrics that are opposites and parallel.
Scentless Apprentice- Inspired by a story about an apprentice that has no body odor, and becomes obsessed with perfumes as well as becomes a murderer. The song lyrics reflect isolation and being unwanted. (like future jack?) Good Vibrations- A love song with a line refering to smelling a woman’s perfume. And also just the desire be close to someone. (desmond and Penny?)
Also, this made me think of how there is not alot of references to the sense of smell on the show. Yet in these two songs, there are similar and opposing references to this sense.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack | Jack Shephard | 1.1, 1.5, 2.11, 1.11, 1.16, 1.20, 3.9, 3.22, 3.1, 4.10, 4.12, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1460 |
| Kate | Katherine “Kate” Austen | 3.6, 1.2, 1.3, 2.9, 1.12, 1.16, 1.22, 3.15, 4.4, 4.12 | 714 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.22 | Through The Looking Glass | 5-23-2007 | Jack | 1252 |
Yeah, it definitely accentuates the light and dark aspects of the episode. Good observation.
Dharmacide: Welcome! Awesome observation, indeed! I wish I knew what it all meant, though! Thanks for bringing up the subject! +1
I’m with Dab. A Little bit confused (easily done) but intrigued. I guess smell is a hard thing to bring into a tv show but this certainly peaked my interest. Nuther +1 here.
I’m with the missus. :-)
lol. yeah, the answers we’ve been looking for for so long are found! it’s about smells! Man, wouldn’t that suck? Great points brought up.
Actually, I would agree with Shambalamba man! It is about the light and dark comparisons, I think. The smells, are simply a metaphor for the comparison.
Good observation! The main thing I thought about was Memory Recall.
We all know how our sense of smell can trigger memories. For example, whenever I smell the original Paul Mitchell hairspray…I think of the 7th grade girls bathroom in my Junior High School. lol! We all have experienced this in some way. Smelling ties into memory recall and Memories are definitely a theme on Lost.
Same is true about music. Certain songs can trigger specific memories. Which the title of the song Good Vibrations makes me think of sound waves…. as well as harmonics- But that’s a whole other issue all together. I might post a theory on it someday. Anyway, I hope this made sense.
:-)
Good point Dab. Lost is all about opposites after all.
And very good points PG! I definitely find smell is one of my strongest senses - well I’m so short sighted its untrue and I swear I have cloth-ears too. What you are talking about is almost like synesthesia…
Yes PG! Smells and music are hard-wired to memory in a big way and can instantly take one back to a moment in time.
Thanks for all the comments, guys. I just thought that it was a very odd choice of Lost to use “Scentless Apprentice”, and it was odd that Jack would be listening to it as well. I also noticed that Jack almost committed suicide, which is something that Kurt Cobain (the lead singer of Nirvana) did.
Nice observations.
Although, “Good Vibrations” is actually describing an acid trip. Everything in that song is metaphors for the drug. The perfume smelling and the desire to be close to “someone” is all about the acid. However, as I see it, Charlie being a heroin addict and all, the song works as a fine analogy to Charlie’s last high in life - saving them all in the ultimate heroic action (at least he thinks so). Also, Brian Wilson, who wrote the song, was sort of an Alice in wonderland-character in the pop-world, which ties in nicely with the “through the looking glass”-theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCti4BnTzEg
Love the way this song was used in “Vanilla Sky”. Definitely a mind trip.
Great eye, Paintgirl, or should I say great nose! Indeed, that is very true!
Shammie: That is why certain smells (especially cooking) reminds of the past!
KatOhIAlmostCrapped! There is one movie, I won’t be watching! Nor, will I ever wear perfume! I don’t anyway, I’m allergic, but if I did, I wouldn’t!
Shamtrivia here: The average American woman absorbs 4.5 pounds of makeup per year.
And I’m worried about my deorderant?
Good points PG—I think in fact the sense receptors for smell are located very near where the memory is? (If I’m remembering correctly, lol.)
kat-nel #5—I was kind of intrigued by that movie and the reviews were really good, but just seemed too dark.
Roger, I like your points about Charlie.
So, methinks Prof should weigh in on this one as he might be able to lend a particular insight (or whatever the relevant olfactory equivalent might be) on this question… :-)
ShamYouAreSoFullOfCrap!
The average woman soaks up a ton of BS from men, every year, and you don’t hear us complaining! LOL
So slap on a little bit more of that deodorant, my friend!
In response to RogerWorkman, According to Wikipedia, the lyrics were not written by Brian Wilson. It also does not say anything about the acid trip lyrics, but that would be a good parallel for Charlie. The genesis of the phrase/title “Good Vibrations” has been recounted by Wilson on numerous occasions, including his 1995 biopic, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times. When he was a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations”[1]. Wilson turned this into the general idea of vibrations (and Mike Love putting “good” in front of vibrations), and developed the idea of people being able to do the same with emotions.-wikipedia
Beach Boys frontman and bandmate Mike Love supplied the final version of the lyrics around August 24 1966- wikipedia
Nice work, Dharma! I never doubted you!
dab, i was joking. I’LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!
That was a public service announcement from Shamcrap. Thank you for listening.
Nothing gets by the dabinator. :)
Dharma my friend,
wikipedia isn’t always the best source to the truth. Believe me, the song pretty much describes an acid trip. I know my Beach Boys. Brian himself has for example talked about it in numerous interviews, and it has been revealed that the “vibrations” described by his mother was something he felt during the LSD-trip. If my memory isn’t that way off I also believe that this is mentioned in the documentary “I just wasn’t made for these times”. The lyrics are also almost entirely written by Brian. Mike Love’s contribution is, well, pretty much inserting the word ‘good’.
However, this doesn’t really matter, because Lost definitely isn’t written by Brian Wilson (thank god). So the original meaning of the song could be irrelevant. I really liked your interpretation and found it most interesting. I just wanted to give a view that directly considers the persona of Charlie.
JackIsMyMan: You must continue to joke, or Dab will hurt you! LOL
ShammieMyMannie: Even on a bad day, very little travels by the old, DabbieDoo! LOL You slay me!
When it is all sad and done, may I remembered for the following quote: “I laughed, more than I cried”!
Dharmacide: Welcome and a big congrats on your first theory!
Great ties to Lost and if I remember correctly, I read somewhere shortly after the season ended, that was the anniversary of Kurt Corbain’s death.
+1 Loved the connections to smell and music, definitely two of the strongest memory suggestors.
I… don’t know what you’re insinuating… jaz…
… or… do I…??
“insinuating”…that just blew me away…:-)
oh please
Some scientists claim that smell is a main trigger to the feeling of Deja Vu………..my 2 cents
My thoughts,for what theyre worth,in regards to the scentless apprentice song is that the story reminds me of Jack in regards to ‘He walks among us but he is not one of us”.The guy in the story being an outsider and different to everyone one else from the day he was born.
smells like teen spirit to me