White Tennis Shoe

Let's run through this nice and quick.

The theory goes that there's a white tennis shoe hanging from a tree in the jungle, as we saw in the first few minutes of Lost in the Pilot episode.



Later, days later, Christian Shephard appears to Jack on the Island. Bizarrely, in the episode White Rabbit, he appears to be wearing white tennis shoes!



Therefore comes the theory that Christian Shephard is alive and is physically on the Island and physically wearing the shoes we saw one of hanging in the tree. Never mind the fact that he appeared here. . .



. . . out of nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly into thin air. (Notice how we can't see his feet.) Never mind we only saw one tennis shoe and yet Christian appears to be sporting a pair on the Island. Just so we're clear, he doesn't always wear tennis shoes.



White tennis shoes would appear to be an odd thing for him to have on his feet to be buried in, right? So, for whatever reason, the real, living Christian took the tennis shoes he found in the jungle and that's what he wears, right? So the theory gathers dust for a couple of years, and then along comes the episode The Beginning Of The End. We see Christian in Jacob's cabin. Most notably, we see his feet.



Look! What is clearly (well, not that clearly) a white tennis shoe there on Christian's foot! Suddenly the fans of the Christian-is-really-alive have EVIDENCE that their theory is right!

Right?

Wrong.

May I point you towards the mobisode So It Begins. This was a scene that took place moments before the first ever episode of Lost began. It shows Vincent running through the jungle and encountering Christian Shephard. Brilliantly, we get to see Christian's feet.



He's wearing a pair! So therefore the white tennis shoe we see hanging in the tree just minutes from this moment cannot possibly be the same as what Christian has on his feet. The physical evidence is killed. The theory void. I can't explain exactly what is going on with Christian Shephard's appearances on the Island, but at least we can lay the matter of whether he's wearing the tennis shoe to rest.

Hurrah!

7 comments:

Michelle-Anè "Molly" Muro said...

I never noticed Christian Shephard's feet before. Does that make me weird?

Acharaisthekey said...

Agree this is not Christians shoe, but, the signifance of the shoe is baffling to me, it is. For ever I thought it was just to point out things could PROPEL that far into the jungle, so everyone don't over analyze why Jack is so far out in the jungle....however, we get this mobisode, and it looks as if there is a little order to the placement of Jack...and that Vincent understands the language Christian speaks...either way, the shoe, though solved is not Christians, still I think will prove to more of the ORDER of why Jack was in the jungle...and in the end, they can say...well, we gave you the hint (no not the hint everyone wants to theorize about...) in the pilot with the white shoe...the next solution here, will be...what is the significance of the "SHOE" hanging from the tree

Anonymous said...

So I was just reading this article in tv guide about lost and there was an interview with the exec producers and it lists 10 Episodes that have major importance over this season (and season 6) and one was "White Rabbit" (the one where Jack sees Christian). Each episode has a sentence or two describing why its important and this one says "Christian returns. And 'the fact that Christian's wearing white tennis shoes is a mystery that will be answered this season".

AngeloComet said...

Whitey, I have heard about the same article. All I can say is they better not try to suggest that Christian is wearing the shoes we saw hung up in the tree, because WE happen to know that can't be the case.

Personally I think the importance of him wearing white shoes will be because he was put in the coffin in those shoes, and perhaps there's some circumstance about his death, and the time just before it, that for some strange reason required him to be wearing white shoes.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only person who lives in primarily Latino town/neighborhood? Throwing a white tennis shoe or shoes over a telephone line is so commonplace here I don't pay much attention to it anymore. Think it has to do with marking 'gang' territory, sort of like graffiti...That's the only sociological symbolism in dangling white tennis shoes that I can think of. And graffiti does abound on the ISLAND (neighborhood) where gangs fight for territory. One more, off the subject, comment as far as the theories that the Island itself is alive .. Couldn't "The Island" be the name of the game itself? Maybe "Island' has it's own rules like "myst" One of the first and most brilliant digital games of the early '90's (1993). Lost intertwines with Myst (named after The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne) constantly on multi tiered levels.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst_franchise

Anonymous said...

Just because Christian talks to Vincent before Vincent finds Jack doesn't mean that the shoe can't be Christian's. If anything, it's almost a clue that the shoe IS Christian's. The instructions were to go find Jack in the forest - the shoe seems to be like a sign or reminder that Christian is present at this place and moment in time, but unknown to Jack.

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