Jonathan Jackson
The ABC television show “LOST” has a loyal legion of fans and followers, as does Milledgeville’s literary icon Flannery O’Connor. Now the two have something in common as the TV show pays homage to the Southern author in tonight’s season finale.
The O’Connor title “Everything that Rises Must Converge” will be used as a prop on the show in the episode, airing tonight at 8 p.m.
LOST is the story of an airliner crash on a strange island. Plot twists and turns, frequented by unexpected events have been the norm for the successful show since its introduction in 2004. Executive Producer Carlton Cuse says that O’Connor’s influence weighs in on his and partner Damon Lindelof’s writing of the show.
“Flannery O’Connor’s use of Christian theology in concert with sudden, unexpected violence was inspiring to us,” Cuse told The Union-Recorder. “She was truly an exceptional writer.”
Craig Amason, executive director of the Flannery O’Connor-Andalusia Foundation said that he was alerted by O’Connor’s publisher that the title would be a prop in the show.
“It’s just one more example of how influential Flannery O’Connor’s work is with pop culture. Over and over again we see this,” Amason said. “The lines from the Joker in [the film] ‘The Dark Knight’ could have come straight from ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ or ‘The Misfit.’ Pop culture is fascinated with Flannery O’Connor’s work. It is obviously a huge hit.”
With so many storylines running in so many directions, it seems only natural that at some point, they would intersect, or converge. When asked if the nod to O’Connor was a clue for “LOST” addicts who watch episodes looking for hidden meaning, Cuse wouldn’t say.
“Damon and I try not to specifically interpret why we place any particular book in the show,” he said. “We hope viewers will explore the books and find their own answers.”
Past episodes of the show have included numerous references to titles such as “Through the Looking Glass,” “Watership Down” and “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” among others.
O’Connor’s work has appeared in plenty of other areas of pop culture, and Amason and O’Connor scholar and Georgia College professor Dr. Bruce Gentry say the acknowledgments to the author keep coming.
“This isn’t the first time — in the season finale of ‘The Closer,’ a couple of years ago the woman who is the detective there had an interview from a man from Georgia,” Amason said. “She asked him to tell her something from Georgia he replied, ‘When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville’,” another quote from O’Connor.
Gentry was able to name a myriad of artists who credit O’Connor with influencing their work.
“Tommy Lee Jones made the recent movie ‘The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada’ and is a big Flannery fan.” Gentry, who edits the “Flannery O’Connor Review” said. “He handed out copies of Flannery O’Connor’s work to the film crew. Conan O’Brien is a fan, as are [film directors] the Cohen brothers.”
In the 1987 groundbreaking film “Raising Arizona” Holly Hunter plays Edwina “Ed” McDonnough who desperately wants a baby. She convinces her husband H.I., portrayed by Nicolas Cage, to steal one of a set of quintuplets. In a memorable scene, Ed refers to her husband as a “warthog from hell,” a direct borrowing from a line in O’Connor’s “Revelation” in which a young girl hurls a book at an older lady, calling her a “warthog from hell.” Dark southern gothic themes inspired by O’Connor also prevail in the Cohen brothers’ classic “O Brother Where Art Thou.” O’Connor’s use of sudden violence is also a credited influence on filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, according to Gentry.
“Bruce Springsteen is a fan of Flannery O’Connor and has said he was inspired for his ‘Nebraska’ album,” Gentry said.
Gentry said that folk rock singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams used to visit Andalusia as a child with her father. Poet Miller Williams was teaching at Mercer and would visit his friend O’Connor. Gentry said Lucinda chased peacocks in the yard at Andalusia while her father and O’Connor traded
manuscripts.
“[Filmmaker] John Waters likes O’Connor too,” Gentry said. “He said something along the lines of ‘Anybody who would make an outfit for a chicken is all right by me’.”
