Actually, the question get's trickier than that.

I do know the Asian Media WatchDog website is rather upset about Jin at the moment, and are only holding off protesting what they see as a stereotypical Korean male because DDK stated publicly that all is not as it seems on the island. Sure, that's proven true with many of the others, and I expect it will with Jin, but it's taking an awfully long time to get to him. Sun's story did not shed enough light on Jin, imho.

But this question is equally relevant to Sayid. I know on the ABC boards there have been lot's of discussion with some just agreeing with Sawyer and calling Sayid a terrorist simply because he's Iraqi. Others jump on the other side and say "no, he was just a soldier on the opposite side of a conflict from us that is now over". But with that region still up in arms, is there any worry from ABC or any Arab groups about how you portray Sayid in the future? Are you guys free to do with this character what you like, or are some of the politics getting in the way.

hi yukailin -

at the end of the day our job is to present the characters in the way that has the most integerity and which is truest to our creative goals - and one of those creative goals is to present characters who are not stereotypical - though characters and actions might appear so, our job is to dig deeper to find the real reason why the characters behave the way they do and present that in a surprising way.

you will find in the future that jin's story is more complex than we have shown - but let's talk about what we already know about jin - he is a controlling husband - but he didn't start that way - he clearly is not a slave to some tradition or preconceived notion of gender roles.* he was, in "house of the rising sun" a sweet guy with dreams and aspirations who got stuck doing the honorable thing* - and was somehow corrupted into the person we see on the island - already that connotes that we are not in the business of throwing out there a one dimensional character.*

the same goes for sayid - does he have a difficult past that in some ways mirrors the modern history of his country?* yes - but at the same time he is a noble, heroic character who takes responsibility for his actions.* i for one stand behind the decisions we have made regarding our characters - we may not be able to please everyone, but iwe can't be accused of making a show that is thoughtless or that doesn't try address human nature in all of its complexity.

thanks for the question -

ja
vi

And thank you for the response. I wasn't accusing in either, just wondering how the response from the rest of the world was on those two.

I agree that you've started many characters with stereotypical behavior and then moved way beyond that. That's personally one of the reasons I like the show so much. I just also realize how tricky that can be when you are taking into account several different nationalities and cultures, because you want to be sensitive from your perspective, but also sensitive to those respective culture's views.

And this begs the question that Stereotypes aren't always a bad thing, since they help classify people in a way that's necessary, but how to do that without cheating or taking short cuts. Sure, a stereotype helps writers explain a character's motivations without actually having to do anything (cheating) or doing very little to flesh them out (short cut). It get's interesting when you present a stereotype, and then tilt it on it's ear, like you've done with Locke or Kate.

And I'm sorry I seemed to imply that Sun's story didn't give us a lot of background for Jin, but it was more hints and not explanations, which I'd expect in his own story. I fully expect there is a very interesting reason why he's become so much angrier, protective, insular and less loving and attentive. I've also read some of the spoilers for next weeks episode, which will be Sayid's and the intro of Mira Furlan, whom I'm just ecstatic to see on television again.

I must add that since I first saw the listings for this show in the summer, I was very impressed with the cast. The fact that you keep adding to it with such wonderful people as Mira Furlan is just awesome. It's a wonderful cast, and they are really doing wonders with the scripts you guys keep handing them, so I'm quite happy to see how things play out. Just wondered how much trouble some of those story lines were causing you away from the show, that's all.