spapeggyandmeatballs
04-10-2009, 06:45 PM
Seeing the clothing that the Others were wearing in "Dead is Dead" flashbacks got me thinking more about why they have worn what they have worn over the years.
In the first few seasons, the "Others" were dressing up in their "hillbilly" jungle-people costumes for the purpose of fooling the 815 survivors (sometimes intentionally- as in when Michael was taken to their "camp", sometimes perhaps just in case they were seen while traveling on foot though the jungle). We now know they were actually costumes because Kate found the costume kits, and we know that the Others were living in the dharma compound at the time, and dressing in modern/clean clothes when among themselves.
In the on-island flashbacks of the 50's, we see the Others (except Richard) dressed in military clothes taken from soldiers they had previously killed. I'm assuming that they wore the costumes to disguise their true lifestyle/identities from any other military people who might show up. Another con.
In the flashback when Ben met Richard Alpert in the jungle for the first time (The Man Behind the Curtain), Richard was dressed grungy and had long hair. Since Richard has had short hair and clean, neat clothes most of the times we've seen him over a 50 year span, I concluded that he was wearing a costume/wig during that meeting and that it was another con (maybe because he was actually expecting to meet Ben, or maybe because he was on his way to/from fooling someone else?). When we saw Richard come into the Dharma camp (to talk to Horace re: the truce) he had his usual short hair and clean clothes. This really puzzled me because if they were trying to pretend to be uncivilized (ie, his costume when he met Ben in the jungle), why would he show up in non-grungy clothes when he knew he would be seen by nearly all of the Dharma folk? Was he trying to give an appearance of civilization, even though they were actually living a simple nomadic lifestyle at that point?
In that same episode, the Others that we see with Paul & Amy are dressed in the grungy clothes. In "Whatever Happened, Happened", the Others who come out of the jungle to meet Kate & Sawyer (and half-dead Ben) are dressed grungy, but Richard is not. Richard's clean-cut clothing seems to contradict any illusion of uncivilization that they might be trying to convey.
The only other Dharma-era instance that I can think of (off the top of my head) when we see Richard in grungy clothes is the day of the purge (The Man Behind the Curtain). Richard and the Others come running in with gas masks, wearing grungy clothes (however, no wig for Richard this time, he has short hair).
The clothing situation in the "Dead is Dead" episode is making me even more confused. We see the Others (except Richard) dressed grungy in a primitive yurt-camp where Widmore meets Ben for the first time. Later, we see Ben & Ethan (both dressed grungy) bring baby Alex to a camp (this one with tents, I think) where we see Widmore and the Others (except Richard) dressed grungy. Based on these two flashbacks, it seems as if the Others (except Richard) seem to dress grungy and live in tents even when (presumably) not being observed by Dharma or any outsiders. Is this how they really live full-time, or are they on a camping trip in this scene? Why would they choose to live that lifestyle? OR were they pulling a "long-con" for Ben (who was still living at with Dharma, since it was pre-purge)? Did they wait to reveal their true lifestyle to Ben until later? What IS their true lifestyle?
We have never seen them at any sort of permanent community except for the Dharma compound and the yurt camps (that one near the ocean that they took Michael to and the one we saw in Dead is Dead that is in the jungle). Did they actually live in these yurts, before they took over Dharma housing? Or it always a con?
Later, we see Ben & Widmore dressed in clean/neat clothes after they started living in the Dharma-compound. Based on the conversation that Widmore & Ben have at the dock, it seems that changing to the Dharma-lifestyle was Ben's idea. Notice that even Widmore was wearing neat/modern clothing, even though he clearly disapproved of the choice to live there. Does on-island Widmore HATE TECHNOLOGY (as Ben said that Jacob does?) Is that why Ben said that HE wouldn't be "selfish" (implying that Widmore WAS selfish as leader)? It would certainly be selfish to make everyone live without shelter or technology if they didn't have to live that way.
At this point, the Others appear to be living the same type of lifestyle as the Dharma people, living in houses and wearing modern/clean clothes. They actually pretend to BE Dharma people to outsiders who are recruited (like Juliette), but eventually reveal their true identify (as the island's native people) to recruits at some point (that we haven't seen yet). For example, Juliette believes that they are Dharma when she first arrives, but later knows that they aren't (knows about the purge, knows about Jacob, knows about Richard's age thing, etc) but we don't know when they decided to break the news to her. At this point, they also dress in costumes as necessary to pretend to be hillbilly/jungle-dwellers to fool outsider new-comers into thinking they are uncivilized.
CLOTHING TIMELINE:
1950's FAKE ARMY CAMP: Richard dressed clean-cut, civilian clothes, all of the other Others shown dressed in Army clothes.
1970's (DHARMA ERA): Richard appears clean-cut to Dharma and when seen among the Others, except when he meets Ben in the jungle the first time. All of the other "Others" seen dressed grungy in various situations.
1977 (DHARMA ERA): Richard clean-cut when seen by Kate/Sawyer in the jungle, all other Others seen grungy. Widmore and more Others seen dressed grungy in this time period also at a yurt camp.
1988 (STILL DHARMA ERA, PRE-PURGE): Ben and Ethan dressed grungy, Others also dressed grungy (except Richard).
1992 (PURGE): Richard and the Others (except Ben, in Dharma gear) who arrive at the Dharma compound after the gassing are dressed grungy (no wig on Richard, though).
1992-ish through 2004: Dress in modern clothes to fool their "Dharma" recruits (and, I'm assuming, live a more modern lifetstyle for their own comfort as well). Dress in grungy costumes only to fool outsiders who arrive on the island some other way (plane crash, etc), even going so far as to pretend to live in yurts after capturing Michael.
2004/2005 (AFTER ABANDONING BARRACKS): Continue to wear Dharma-ish clothes, but appearance becomes increasingly grungy as they re-adopt the jungle-lifestyle (living in tents, no showers/washing machines, etc) on their way to temple.
Another related thought - When Kate found the costume stuff (in the hatch where pregnant Claire was held captive), the beard-glue, etc, was all clearly marked "Dharma". WHY would the real Dharma people have a need grungy/hillbilly costumes?!?!?!!? That confuses me EVEN MORE! Were Dharma employees also disguising themselves as grungy Others to move undetected in the jungle? OR, were Dharma higher-ups actually supplying these costumes TO THE OTHERS to keep the general Dharma population convinced that they were uncivilized (and too scared to try to interact with them)? This could explain where the Others were getting their costumes in the first place. Could this have been a secret aspect of the truce?
In the first few seasons, the "Others" were dressing up in their "hillbilly" jungle-people costumes for the purpose of fooling the 815 survivors (sometimes intentionally- as in when Michael was taken to their "camp", sometimes perhaps just in case they were seen while traveling on foot though the jungle). We now know they were actually costumes because Kate found the costume kits, and we know that the Others were living in the dharma compound at the time, and dressing in modern/clean clothes when among themselves.
In the on-island flashbacks of the 50's, we see the Others (except Richard) dressed in military clothes taken from soldiers they had previously killed. I'm assuming that they wore the costumes to disguise their true lifestyle/identities from any other military people who might show up. Another con.
In the flashback when Ben met Richard Alpert in the jungle for the first time (The Man Behind the Curtain), Richard was dressed grungy and had long hair. Since Richard has had short hair and clean, neat clothes most of the times we've seen him over a 50 year span, I concluded that he was wearing a costume/wig during that meeting and that it was another con (maybe because he was actually expecting to meet Ben, or maybe because he was on his way to/from fooling someone else?). When we saw Richard come into the Dharma camp (to talk to Horace re: the truce) he had his usual short hair and clean clothes. This really puzzled me because if they were trying to pretend to be uncivilized (ie, his costume when he met Ben in the jungle), why would he show up in non-grungy clothes when he knew he would be seen by nearly all of the Dharma folk? Was he trying to give an appearance of civilization, even though they were actually living a simple nomadic lifestyle at that point?
In that same episode, the Others that we see with Paul & Amy are dressed in the grungy clothes. In "Whatever Happened, Happened", the Others who come out of the jungle to meet Kate & Sawyer (and half-dead Ben) are dressed grungy, but Richard is not. Richard's clean-cut clothing seems to contradict any illusion of uncivilization that they might be trying to convey.
The only other Dharma-era instance that I can think of (off the top of my head) when we see Richard in grungy clothes is the day of the purge (The Man Behind the Curtain). Richard and the Others come running in with gas masks, wearing grungy clothes (however, no wig for Richard this time, he has short hair).
The clothing situation in the "Dead is Dead" episode is making me even more confused. We see the Others (except Richard) dressed grungy in a primitive yurt-camp where Widmore meets Ben for the first time. Later, we see Ben & Ethan (both dressed grungy) bring baby Alex to a camp (this one with tents, I think) where we see Widmore and the Others (except Richard) dressed grungy. Based on these two flashbacks, it seems as if the Others (except Richard) seem to dress grungy and live in tents even when (presumably) not being observed by Dharma or any outsiders. Is this how they really live full-time, or are they on a camping trip in this scene? Why would they choose to live that lifestyle? OR were they pulling a "long-con" for Ben (who was still living at with Dharma, since it was pre-purge)? Did they wait to reveal their true lifestyle to Ben until later? What IS their true lifestyle?
We have never seen them at any sort of permanent community except for the Dharma compound and the yurt camps (that one near the ocean that they took Michael to and the one we saw in Dead is Dead that is in the jungle). Did they actually live in these yurts, before they took over Dharma housing? Or it always a con?
Later, we see Ben & Widmore dressed in clean/neat clothes after they started living in the Dharma-compound. Based on the conversation that Widmore & Ben have at the dock, it seems that changing to the Dharma-lifestyle was Ben's idea. Notice that even Widmore was wearing neat/modern clothing, even though he clearly disapproved of the choice to live there. Does on-island Widmore HATE TECHNOLOGY (as Ben said that Jacob does?) Is that why Ben said that HE wouldn't be "selfish" (implying that Widmore WAS selfish as leader)? It would certainly be selfish to make everyone live without shelter or technology if they didn't have to live that way.
At this point, the Others appear to be living the same type of lifestyle as the Dharma people, living in houses and wearing modern/clean clothes. They actually pretend to BE Dharma people to outsiders who are recruited (like Juliette), but eventually reveal their true identify (as the island's native people) to recruits at some point (that we haven't seen yet). For example, Juliette believes that they are Dharma when she first arrives, but later knows that they aren't (knows about the purge, knows about Jacob, knows about Richard's age thing, etc) but we don't know when they decided to break the news to her. At this point, they also dress in costumes as necessary to pretend to be hillbilly/jungle-dwellers to fool outsider new-comers into thinking they are uncivilized.
CLOTHING TIMELINE:
1950's FAKE ARMY CAMP: Richard dressed clean-cut, civilian clothes, all of the other Others shown dressed in Army clothes.
1970's (DHARMA ERA): Richard appears clean-cut to Dharma and when seen among the Others, except when he meets Ben in the jungle the first time. All of the other "Others" seen dressed grungy in various situations.
1977 (DHARMA ERA): Richard clean-cut when seen by Kate/Sawyer in the jungle, all other Others seen grungy. Widmore and more Others seen dressed grungy in this time period also at a yurt camp.
1988 (STILL DHARMA ERA, PRE-PURGE): Ben and Ethan dressed grungy, Others also dressed grungy (except Richard).
1992 (PURGE): Richard and the Others (except Ben, in Dharma gear) who arrive at the Dharma compound after the gassing are dressed grungy (no wig on Richard, though).
1992-ish through 2004: Dress in modern clothes to fool their "Dharma" recruits (and, I'm assuming, live a more modern lifetstyle for their own comfort as well). Dress in grungy costumes only to fool outsiders who arrive on the island some other way (plane crash, etc), even going so far as to pretend to live in yurts after capturing Michael.
2004/2005 (AFTER ABANDONING BARRACKS): Continue to wear Dharma-ish clothes, but appearance becomes increasingly grungy as they re-adopt the jungle-lifestyle (living in tents, no showers/washing machines, etc) on their way to temple.
Another related thought - When Kate found the costume stuff (in the hatch where pregnant Claire was held captive), the beard-glue, etc, was all clearly marked "Dharma". WHY would the real Dharma people have a need grungy/hillbilly costumes?!?!?!!? That confuses me EVEN MORE! Were Dharma employees also disguising themselves as grungy Others to move undetected in the jungle? OR, were Dharma higher-ups actually supplying these costumes TO THE OTHERS to keep the general Dharma population convinced that they were uncivilized (and too scared to try to interact with them)? This could explain where the Others were getting their costumes in the first place. Could this have been a secret aspect of the truce?