Dharma Initiative
The DHARMA Initiative (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications Initiative)[1] is a fictional research project featured in the American television series Lost. It was introduced in the second-season episode "Orientation".
Background
Template:Spoiler Much of what has been revealed about the DHARMA Initiative comes from an orientation film found inside an underground bunker on one of the two islands. This film outlines the purpose and instructions for Station 3: The Swan. The film has a copyright date of 1980 and is designated as "3 of 6". Dr. Marvin Candle (played by François Chau) narrates the film, which is noticeably cut or damaged in places.
The film provides a background history of the DHARMA Initiative. It states that in 1970 University of Michigan doctoral candidates Karen and Gerald de Groot founded the Hanso Foundation which financed the Initiative. DHARMA brought together "scientists and free thinkers" from around the globe at a "large-scale communal research compound" to conduct research in various disciplines, including meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and a sixth discipline that the film begins to identify as "utopian social . . . ." before being cut off. American psychologist and Walden Two author B.F. Skinner is cited as an influence on the de Groots' work.
A section of film is discovered by Mr. Eko inside another, apparently inactive station in which the survivors from the tail section have been living. In "What Kate Did", this portion of filmstock, hidden in a hollowed-out Bible, is given to John Locke who splices it into the orientation film. The additional section completes an admonishment against station orientees attempting to use the computer system to communicate with the outside world.
In the second season finale "Live Together, Die Alone" it is revealed that the section was edited out of the film by a former inhabitant of the Swan.
In "?", Mr. Eko and Locke discover Station 5, "The Pearl" which has an orientation of its own on a video tape. It also has a copyright date of 1980. The narrator appears to be the same "Marvin Candle", but identifies himself as Dr. Mark Wickmund (he could be using a pseudonym in either or both cases, since a candle contains a wick.)[2] According to the video, the Pearl station is intended to observe and document activity in the other stations on the island. It explains that a psychological experiment is taking place in another station, where team members have been conditioned to believe their work is of great importance.
DHARMA Initiative members assigned to The Pearl are instructed to record every action performed in the monitored station, The Swan. Notebooks with these records are sent through a pneumatic tube. The other end of the tube is discovered to lead to a secluded spot, where a large pile of these notebooks lie seemingly untouched.
In Enter 77, it is revealed by Mikhail Bakunin, the inhabitant of The Flame (later revealed to be a member of the Others), that all DHARMA Initiative employees stationed on the island have been "purged" by the "Hostiles" (the name given to the "Others" by the DHARMA Initiative), who were present on the island long before the Initiative arrived. Whether or not this is true, or simply a lie given by Bakunin whilst under the guise as the sole surviving member of DHARMA Initiative, is as of yet uncertain, though producer's Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said in the Lost podcast that Mikhail was telling the truth, albeit from a potentially biased perspective.[3]
In the Lost Experience ARG, the DHARMA Initiative is revealed to have the purpose of finding a way to change the "Valenzetti Equation", a mathematical formula designed to predict the end of the world. Thomas Mittelwerk, a member of the Hanso Foundation, later says, however, that "The DHARMA Initiative failed".
Research stations
The DHARMA Initiative has placed several research stations around the island, which take the form of hidden, underground facilities or bunkers. The first to be discovered by the survivors is "Station 3" or "The Swan" which they refer to informally as "the hatch". They occupy it until the end of season 2, which culminated with the apparent destruction of the station. Five additional stations have since been visited: "The Pearl", "The Arrow", "The Staff", "The Flame", and "The Hydra". Each of these facilities has a particular logo associated with it: an octagon with an interior based on the bagua design, with a differing symbol at the center (pearl, swan, hydra, flame, caduceus (staff), or arrow). In "Enter 77" Kate, Sayid and John enter "The Flame" and find that it has long been abandoned and is now occupied by The Others. "The Flame" was destroyed through a self-destruction system which was activated by John entering "77" into a computer terminal.
Known members
Founders
- Alvar Hanso
- Gerald and Karen DeGroot
Swan Station
- Roger/work man(Swan logo on his worksuit)
- Radzinsky
- Kelvin Joe Inman
- Desmond Hume
Other
- Marvin Candle/ Mark Wickmund
- Roger, Workman
Notes
- As part of the associated alternate reality game, the Lost Experience, an actor portraying Hugh McIntyre of the Hanso Foundation, appeared in a staged interview on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, and claimed that the DHARMA Initiative was cancelled in 1987.[4]
- Marvin Candle's left arm does not move throughout the orientation film, and creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse confirmed that Candle's hand is a prosthetic;[5] however, in the episode "?" he appears in a second orientation film, identifying himself as "Mark Wickmund", and with both arms intact.
- Dharma is also a Sanskrit term with several meanings in different religious contexts particularly in the faiths of Buddhism and Hinduism, including "natural law", "reality", "truth" and "duty".
- The Sanskrit link becomes even more evident at the end of the second orientation film (Pearl station) when Mark Wickmund bows with his two palms joined and utters "Namaste" which is a traditional Hindu/Sanskrit salutation.
- The funeral that the "Others" conduct is one that is traditional Hindu, having the body float on a body of water.
- In Adrift, the shark that attacks the raft has the DHARMA logo tattooed on its tail clearly visible at 33:17.5. This was later revealed to be an "easter egg" by the VFX team, and has been removed from subsequent airings.
References
- ^ Revealed by playing a memory game not accessible anymore through the Hanso Foundation website, which was found here [1]. To reveal the acronym one must reach level 42, which is the largest of The numbers.
- ^ The character's name sounds like "Wickman" when spoken in the episode, but an official ABC display shown at the 2006 Comicon clarifies that the name is "Dr. Mark Wickmund" See the photograph of the display.
- ^ Lost podcast for March 20th, 2007.[2].
- ^ on Jimmy Kimmel Live
- ^ "Official Lost Podcast" 17 January 2006.
