LOST: is the "magic box" just a metaphor?
May. 3rd, 2007 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stefanie_beanThe general consensus is that it's "just a metaphor" in this discussion of "The Brig."
I'm not sure I agree with "just a metaphor." For instance, if you were trying to colorfully describe a fierce, aggressive woman warrior, someone like Xena, for instance, you might say, "She's a tigress."
Of course she's not literally a tigress, i.e. with ears, stripes, and a tail - but neither is she "nothing" or insignificant to the story. The warrior woman is a concrete, real person - with an appearance, a history, etc.
So when Ben calls the "box" a metaphor, that simply means, to me at least, that the box is something so powerful that it can make manifest what people want or dream about. Just as the "tigress" really is a fierce woman, so is "the box" definitely *something* - we just don't know what yet. But we get some idea of its power by seeing its effects.
I'm not sure where the idea came from that "metaphor" means "nothing of importance."
I'm not sure I agree with "just a metaphor." For instance, if you were trying to colorfully describe a fierce, aggressive woman warrior, someone like Xena, for instance, you might say, "She's a tigress."
Of course she's not literally a tigress, i.e. with ears, stripes, and a tail - but neither is she "nothing" or insignificant to the story. The warrior woman is a concrete, real person - with an appearance, a history, etc.
So when Ben calls the "box" a metaphor, that simply means, to me at least, that the box is something so powerful that it can make manifest what people want or dream about. Just as the "tigress" really is a fierce woman, so is "the box" definitely *something* - we just don't know what yet. But we get some idea of its power by seeing its effects.
I'm not sure where the idea came from that "metaphor" means "nothing of importance."