Kate’s Problem Is Sympathy, Not Empathy
If Jack is a good person who sees the error in his ways and goes emo with guilt, then Kate is his shadow. Kate’s problem isn’t our problem, for the majority of us anyway. Lost’s Neilsen ratings for female viewers 18-35 who are locked up in the federal penitentiary system aren’t measured so perhaps we’ll never know for sure.
Who among us can sympathize with a murderer?
Lost is a unique TV series because it features detestable characters whose actions are beyond the scope of those we’d take in our daily lives. Yet every character on the show has fans. The characters on Lost split people down the middle. With the exception of “Fun Time” Hurley and Ana-Lucia, characters are either hated or loved.
Lost’s writing is good because of its reversals. Normally sympathetic characters like single mother Claire are seen as irritants by viewers. Minorities represented by Sun, Jin, and Sayid are well loved humanists, often reflecting the better part of ourselves. Charlie’s a herion addict who can’t escape his past even on the island.
Kate offers murder most foul and we’re hard pressed to sympathize with her actions. Thankfully we can empathize with her emotions once we discover how they’ve shaped her actions. The rational for every crime she commits is misguided by her love for one person, and her hell bent hatred of another. Her crimes are also an expression of the sorrow of her failed relationships with lovers and family.
We can identify with rotten characters but only if they’re interesting and the motives for their actions are fully realized. When done properly stories become stronger than the “you killed my father/I’ll kill you” brand of plots found in most action movies. If we truly hate or love Kate its because we can empathize with her emotions, though we can’t sympathize with her actions.
It also doesn’t hurt that they hired former fashion model Evangeline Lilly for the role of Kate. We’ll explore that another time…
