The Breasthetics of LOST

From its outset, Lost put itself on the forefront of the recent backlash against large-breasted women that preceded the end of the celebrity baby boom. By promoting Kate (Evangeline Lily) as its protypical sex-symbol, the show set a very definite type for feminine beauty. Beautiful women are very skinny, with small breasts, round asses, and muscular arms.

And Kate isn't alone. The majority of the women on the island have very similar builds, although they are variations from the model. Consider Sun (Yunjin Kim)

and Claire (Emilie de Ravin).

The exception to this, of course, is Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), who presents a softer more feminine form that is characterized partly by noticeably larger cleavage than the other women on the island, and for very good reason.

When Juliet was introduced as a character, she was an immediate love interest for Jack, at a time in the series when Kate was drifting decidedly Sawyerward. This sort of thing always presents a problem for writers and directors, since the audience is always going to be reluctant to accept another woman when a large segment believes that the primary romance is "right," and anything else is a mistake on the part of the character and a travesty on the part of the series. To attempt to circumvent such thinking, the producers introduced an obviously more feminine potential mate for Jack, one whose body said "domesticity, stability, and fertility" all important characteristics for a match to the most paternal male character on the show.

The producers also utilize breast size in a more subtle fashion. Through a combination of costuming and camerawork, I believe the apparent size of the actresses breasts is manipulated from week to week depending on their romantic configuration vis a vis Jack. In the episode "The Other Woman," Juliet's breasts were made to seem quite prominent, but since that episode, they have been de-emphasized, while Kate's have been given more attention, a trend that continued through the season finale. Of course, this could just be the product of changing directors/camera operators, or of my imagination.

In addition, I like that the directors and cameramen looks at cleavage the way Jerry directs George to: get a sense of it, then look away. There are a number of shots designed to show cleavage by looking down the scoop-neck blouses of our heroines, but they are nearly all designed using quick-cut edits. Subtle but effective.