by Bryan8063 [Lorebrary Editor]
“There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be”
-The song Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Why do people do dumb things? We hear this all the time in the horror genre. Well, it is partly out of experience, so for Wendy and the Lost Boys, do they know better?
As viewers, we know what will happen, but these “children” have no experience with this creature; much of the world is unfamiliar, so it’s normal to look deeply into the tank. However, this moment leads me to a bigger idea, something I noticed early in this series, an idea that I am watching closely through the episodes. It’s about putting a child’s consciousness into an adult machine, and what is the impact of this?
Since episode 1, I asked myself what the neurological difference is between a child and an adult. This is something the show creators are thinking about, as well. As a parent, I have witnessed this firsthand (although my children are still teenagers). Here is what I have:
A Child's Brain
Less complex reasoning.
It is an inefficient brain.
It needs more energy as it’s building neural pathways, always cutting them and forming new ones. The brain is not as efficient as an adult brain. Over time, experience maps pathways. What works? What doesn’t work? As an adult, I have done this before. The tracks are laid down, and I can quickly take away options, which creates efficiency. For a child, most things are new.
It processes information more slowly.
A lack of focus or attention, leading to impulsivity.
Then, as I thought more about it, the boy trillionaire didn’t do a brain transplant, but just moved the kid's consciousness to an adult body. But is the brain an adult one? Does it process information like adults? Can it calculate reasoning? From episode three, there are hints that they have more advanced brains. However, can an immature consciousness handle an adult brain?
There is a mismatch here. It’s like playing the board game Monopoly. They might be able to calculate rent and $200, but they will forget or misinterpret rules, like how auctions or mortgages work. Perhaps they will get frustrated and throw the board game.
Even if they have the brain of a computer, there is a reason it takes 13 years to educate a student and not download all the knowledge as quickly as possible. My daughter, at Wendy’s (Marcy) age, could not handle calculus. There is a lot of cognitive work to go through. (We also see this in episode 1, where Wendy thinks breasts are strange. The girls in the Lost Boys missed puberty. There is no time to understand all these changes and self-actualization.)
Their consciousness has less experience. Being an adult comes with experience, and it makes sense that Wendy and the others don’t know better. Sure, Wendy is going to save her brother. She doesn’t have knowledge of the world about the dangers. She never touched a stove or looked closely at a dog who might have snarled or tried to bite her. She is not constrained to what has been done before.
Imagination
“…access to a world of infinite imagination.”
Boy Kavalier’s quote is an important one, because this is the possible upside of a child’s consciousness in these adult machines. Since experience has not been mapped in their consciousness, there is no failure, and it brings fearlessness and innovation, or, as Boy Kavalier says, imagination.
Curly is about to embark on an education tutorship with Boy Kavalier. Limitations or constraints do not hamper her. She can try all solutions as she learns. All the Lost Boys can do this. They can do things adults wouldn’t try because they haven’t experienced failing in specific contexts.
Truth
And what about truth? Truth corresponds to objective facts about the world. Wendy and the Lost Boys do not have much experience with objective facts. They live in an idealist world where reality is shaped by consciousness rather than existing independently of it.
Could they be more susceptible because of this lack of experience? They could be more susceptible to the truth being fed to them (see Boy Kavalier). Because everything is new, people in authority can persuade them to do good and bad things, which leads me to…
Guardrails
Adults create guardrails out of fear, safety, and, over time, appropriate behavior. If Curly learns and is tutored by Boy Kavalier, then dangerous things might result. He has his own issues with all of the above. Kirsh tries to be the adult, but his lack of emotions and empathy is problematic. Wendy and the Lost Boys might have learned some of this, but I suspect not enough. All this is worth watching as they navigate the world filled with all possibilities, “living free.”