Lost: Audience response

Has Lost won any awards?
What are the criticisms of the text?
What have fans produced after watching the text?

Awards
Lost has won a total of 57 awards with 251 nominations. Some of the awards won include:

• Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
• J. J. Abrams was awarded an Emmy in September in 2005 for his work as director of "Pilot"
• Writers Guild of America Awards 2005 for Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Dramatic Television Series
• 2005 Producers Guild Award for Best Production
• 2005 Director's Guild Award for Best Direction of a Dramatic Television Programme
• Screen Actors Guild Award 2005 for Best Ensemble Cast
• Golden Globe for Best Television Drama Series in 2006
• Jorge Garcia and Michelle Rodriguez won ALMA Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a television series in 2006
• Saturn Award for Best Television Series in 2005 and 2006
• Terry O'Quinn won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a television series in 2005 and 2006
• Matthew Fox won Best Lead Actor in the Saturn Awards 2006
• Lost won consecutive Television Critics Association Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Drama for the 1st and 2nd seasons
• 2005 and 2006 Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Programme
• Young Artist Award for Malcolm David Kelley for his performance as Walt in 2006
• 2005 Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year
• 2005 Prism Award for Charlie's drug storyline in the episodes "Pilot", "House of the Rising Sun" and "The Moth"
• In 2007 Lost was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME"
• In June 2007 Lost won Best Drama award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival
• Terry O'Quinn won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in September 2007
• In 2009 Michael Emerson won the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards

Criticisms

As the series' of the show continued, the show got a lot of criticism. With its audience criticising the lack of information about the characters, in addition to the long drawn out enigma codes, which took multiple episodes and in cases series' to answer.
"After the first season, many viewers of the show began to grow tired of the flashbacks. They were perceived by some to be repetitive and recycling information we were already aware of; flashbacks have gotten less important than they were in the first season, taking away from the on-island story lines. The producers have found new ways to make flashbacks interesting, such as flashbacks of on-island incidents, both before and during the main protagonists time on the island and, from the end of season 3 onwards, flash forwards." - www.lostpedia.wikia.com
"Many complain that Lost moved too slowly and there is a lack of answers in the show. This has turned many people off, even Lost fans over time. Typically, Season Two of Lost has been under fire the most for having little or no action in most episodes. The season three premiere had twenty percent less viewers than the season two premiere, and many critics worried that the producers were just making it up as they went along." - www.lostpedia.wikia.com

"There's been a pervading sense that the creators really don't know what the hell is going on, and they're just as surprised to find out whats happening as the audience is." - Steven Simunic, critic

"ABC's 'Lost' has lost nearly half its live audience - more than 10 million people - from the days it was a sensation." - CNN.com

What have fans produced?
The Lost fan base created an online website, Lostpedia (www.lostpedia.wikia.com). The site allows fans of the show to share and view information and reviews about the show, characters and episodes. In addition to a forum, where an account can be created and fans can talk to each other online, sharing their predictions and views of the show. Photos and videos can also be uploaded and seen/watched, in addition to transcripts from each episode. All of these features have resulted in an online community of Lost fans to gain information, discuss the show and post their views. This could be classed as escapism of the uses and gratifications model, as the fans can divert their attention towards the site.
Here is an extract from the website's 'About us' page: "100 Million Fans Strong and ranked a Top 10 Social Network by Nielsen, Wikia operates the world's largest network of collaboratively published games, entertainment, and lifestyle content on the web. Our knowledgeable and devoted fans created hundreds of wikias every day on a trusted and customisable platform designed to help people share what they know and love".

Identify: Lost

Who is the intended target audience of Lost?

The main intended target audience of the hit 2004 television series Lost is mainstream. The show attracts a large mainstream audience and has been coded to be inclusive for both active and passive audiences. This is shown through genre conventions, and more specifically the narrative, enigma codes and ensemble cast. The shows hybridity counts towards its success as a mainstream text.

The text, in particular the episode that I analysed, series 1, episode 2, "The Pilot" part 2, features two flashbacks, which is part of a non-linear narrative and allows the viewer a deeper insight into the previous events. This narrative allows the audience to watch the episode without watching the previous episode, and still gain an insight into the current plot. This is displayed in scenes 1 and 2 of the episode, as the narrative jumps to a flashback within the first few minutes of the episode. Another common convention of the genre is binary opposition, created by Levi Strauss. This is demonstrated at the beginning of the episode on the beach, when Claire and Shannon are talking. Claire is heavily pregnant and fully clothed, whereas Shannon is fragmented in a bikini, showing of her body. Another example of this is when Kate is bathing in a bikini when she is approached by Sun, who is also fully clothed as she is controlled by her husband, showing different ethnic backgrounds and traditions, approaching a wider target audience.

The episode has a very large use of enigma codes. This keeps the viewers entertained and curious as to what is going to happen next. The enigma codes are usually given to the audience just before an advertisement break, which keeps the audience guessing and tuned into the programme. Throughout the series', the enigma codes are not always answered within the same episode and can be left unanswered for many episodes. Some examples of the enigma codes within this specific episode include the mystery of the handcuffs and the paranoia/questioning of the characters, which is unexplained until the end of the episode. The attack from the Polar Bear on the island is a mystery, as the island is obviously tropical and Polar Bears do not live in the climate. This question is not answered within the episode, in addition to the location. At the end of the episode, the question is asked, "where are we?", which is a question that the audience has probably been asking for the entirety of the episode and the previous episode. Again, the episode ends on an enigma code, as the group of characters attempting to find a signal to send for their rescue, discover a distress signal transmitted from the island 16 years ago, playing on a continuous loop. All of these enigma codes make the audience curious and want to watch the next episode(s). This is another mainstream convention.

Another convention used in the text is the stereotypical character roles. This text conforms to Propp's classic character role theory, as a few of the main characters act certain ways and are actually referred to as specific character roles. For example, Jack is referred to as being a hero by Sawyer. The females seek male approval, for example before the hike when Shannon asks Sayid if she can go on the hike. Her brother intervenes and refuses, but Sayid has the final say, allowing her to join them on their quest. Showing that ultimately, males have all of the power and dominancy. The large ensemble cast allows a wider viewing audience, conforming to more areas of the uses and gratifications theory. This is another mainstream convention, as the audience can relate deeper with the characters and certain scenarios.

All of these narrative themes and conventions prove that Lost is aimed at a mainstream audience.

Lost: Identify, choose and evidence.

Identify: Who is the main target audience?

Choose: Three conventions which will attract or are constructed to attract certain audiences.

Evidence: These conventions with narrative evidence/descriptions.

Lost is an American television series, first aired in 2004, directed by J. J. Abrams. The series attracted a wide mainstream audience, encoded to be inclusive. The enigma codes and narrative themes enable both active and passive audiences to be gratified by it.

• Hybrid genre
• Ensemble cast
• Genre conventions and enigma codes

The genre of the text attracts a wide audience, due to its hybridity combining action adventure, fantasy and science-fiction. This attracts a wider audience, conforming to more areas of the uses and gratifications theory. A larger audience can be reached as fans of the genres will watch the series, as the genres are very popular. People are already familiar with the genres and want to watch what they already know.
The ensemble cast enables the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time, therefore allowing flexibility for the writers to focus on different characters in different episodes. The audience can usually identify with 1 or more of the narrative issues or different cultural and society groups for example nationality, as the nationalities of the characters include American, English, Korean, Australian and Iraqi.

Through the genre conventions and enigma codes, the audience can be easily identified. The use of frenetic chase scenes and fast pace cuts increasing tension are all conventions of the action genre. An example of this is the scene where the hiking group are being chased by the Polar Bear. All of these conventions are used, creating tension and mystery in addition to creating an enigma code as to why the bear is on a tropical island. The quest for the radio transmitter signal is a convention of the fantasy genre, in addition to the supernatural phenomena of the Polar Bear living on a tropical island. Science fiction genre conventions are present throughout the series, however they are not very apparent within the first few episodes. The narrative explores rationally alternative possibilities, justifying unlikely events with scientific theories.