Narratives on TV

The definition of a narrative is thats a story created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. Narratives can be found anywhere, in life, books, films, music, and in other media. One form of narrative that sticks out to me is the TV show Lost. The story follows a group of survivors of a plane crash, and how their lives intertwine on an unknown island. It might seem like a simple and straight forward concept, but the narrative takes on a twist, each episode has either what they call a flashback, flashforward, or flashsideways.
The flashbacks were used as a device for the viewer to see how a characters life played out leading up to arriving on the island. Most of the time it would develop the character more, and at some points they’d show how they knowingly or unknowingly interacted with other characters prior to the crash.
Flashforwards came as a surprise to the viewer at the end of one of the seasons. Viewers were so attuned to the story being told in a flashback, that the writers were able to make the audience believe they were watching one the whole time, when it was actually what was happening in the future. This form of narrative, which was being told along side the present narrative, I had never seen before. I thought it was great to see the future and present, played at the same time.
Flashsideways came near the end of the show. This told the story of he survivors in what was thought to be a different reality, where the plane never crashed. Again, seeing both stories at the same time my sound confusing and annoying, but the way it was pulled off made the viewer want to see what happened in both.
I became a huge fan of how the narrative was told and the way it kept changing gave you the sense that the narrative was living and breathing, ever changing.