LOST’s Greatest Weakness
If you love Lost like I do (read my love letter to the show here), you probably find yourself in awe of its complex, intricate, intertwined plot. Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Sayid, and the rest are deep characters with elaborate, compelling pasts (and presents and futures, as it turns out). To me, the greatest strength of Lost is that despite its ensemble cast and growing list of unresolved mysteries, viewers of the show know there is one magnificent, overarching narrative governing the lives of everyone in the Lost universe. Unfortunately, that grand narrative is also Lost’s greatest weakness.
At Innovate 2007, Tim Stevens said something that really stuck with me. If you want new people to be able to get involved with what your church is doing, Tim said, offer continual onramps. Tim noted that the highway that runs through Granger does the opposite—if drivers miss an exit, it might be 10 miles before the next one. In the same way, drivers can only get on the highway at these sparse intervals. As a driver, it can really frustrating to find yourself a long way from an onramp.
On the ministry side, Tim suggested churches avoid 16-week sermon series that leave audience members confused if they miss a week. Instead, try 4-week sermon series that are still accessible if folks weren’t there from the beginning. By regularly offering people the change to invest and involve themselves with your church, more people can connect with God and others as soon as they recognize that need in their lives, rather than waiting a few months for they merry-go-round to stop so they can get on.
Lost features a great story that has millions of viewers hooked. But look at the numbers. Lost isn’t growing (much to ABC’s dismay, I’m sure), but it’s not because the show isn’t good. The show is great, but only for those who got in on the ground floor or invested the time and money into catching up on the first three seasons on DVD.
If someone hears about what a fantastic story Lost is telling and decides to tune in for the first time, odds are that they’ll find the story anything but fantastic. They’ll find it confusing, fragmented, and a little creepy. Why would they want to watch something like that? They wouldn’t. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy onramp for Lost, which is why its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The thing that keeps me tuned in every week is the same thing keeps millions of others tuned out.
Do you agree? If not, to what would you attribute Lost’s lack of growth? Furthermore, is the “continual onramps” principle at work in your church?
My wife and I tend to watch several episodes of Lost (and most other serial dramas) at a time. We do this exactly because it can be hard to track and remember all of the characters and story lines. So we get back into the story and then watch a couple episodes.
Our church pretty much always has short sermon series. The five part that we are currently in, is the longest that I can remember in the last couple years. Even that can be too long, in spite of the fact that our pastor is really good about bringing in those that missed a few parts.
It comes down to memory. It may be a great series, but I pretty much never remember what happened last week (whether in Lost or in the last sermon). About half way in, I usually remember, “oh, that is where that character fits in” or “Now I understand the first point of the sermon, because I finally remembered point two of last week’s sermon that point one was built on.”
I am not dumb, I have a pair of masters degrees from a very highly rated school, but memory is tricky, I remember lots of things that I don’t need and forget lots that I wish I remembered.
As important as short stories and entry ramps are, if I don’t care it doesn’t matter. If I don’t care what happens to John Locke, then I won’t watch the show. If I don’t care about the people around me, I probably won’t bother with the sermon, even if it is good. Because when it all comes down to it, I probably won’t remember what the sermon was about and I may forget the basic plot point by next week. As long as I care about the character and the people around me, a lot of other things can be forgiven.
posted at 1:25 pm on May 19th, 2008 by Adam S