Black and white

From Lostpedia

Image from "Pilot, Part 2" of Locke holding two backgammon pieces

Locke's eyes are shown black and white in a dream during "Raised by Another"

Black and white stones found in a pouch on one of the bodies in the cave in "House of the Rising Sun".

The colors black and white are often depicted together in Lost, perhaps to show the symbolism of contrasts.

Occurrences

Every season

• The title and credits screens are a black background with white text.
• The DHARMA Initiative logo is black and white.

Season 1

• When Kate is getting prepared to sew up Jack's wound she asks him if he had a thread color preference for the stitches, and Jack replies, "No. Standard black." ("Pilot, Part 1")
• Locke told Walt that backgammon is "two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark." ("Pilot, Part 2")
• Jack found a leather pouch in the pocket of one of the bodies of Adam and Eve. Inside were two small square shaped polished stones; one black and one white.("House of the Rising Sun")
• Claire had a dream in which Locke has one black eye and one white eye. ("Raised by Another")
• Jin is hitting black rocks with the golf clubs. ("...In Translation")
• Mr. Paik's "assistant" wears a white suit while Jin drives him in a black car in a black suit ("...In Translation")
• A nurse tells Michael the joke: "What's black, white and red all over?" ("Special")
• Sayid created Sawyer's glasses from a black frame and a translucent (white) frame fused together. ("Deus Ex Machina")
• When Locke is driving up his dad's drive, there were three cars: one black, one white and one red. ("Deus Ex Machina")
• When Sarah Shephard plays the piano with Jack, she's wearing a white shirt with and a black 44 on the back. ("Do No Harm")
• When the raft launches, Sawyer is wearing a black shirt, Jin is wearing a white shirt, and Michael is wearing a red shirt. ("Exodus, Part 1")

Season 2

The black and white countdown timer

Clever use of cinematography to bring out the theme in "Collision"

• The mural in the Swan was first shown, and it prominently displays a black face and a white face at the top. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")
• The Swan station's countdown timer was first shown, and has digits that are black on white and others that are white on black. ("Adrift")
• Jack and Ana-Lucia confront one another as the respective leaders of two groups who had once met, but walked very different paths since the crash. Ana has just killed Shannon, a member of Jack's group. She is seen wearing black, while he is wearing white, standing silently with a large divide between them, at the end. ("Collision")
• John Locke (white) and Mr. Eko (black), watched the Swan Orientation Film together. Both characters are considered men of faith. ("What Kate Did")
• The Monster was revealed as a moving plume of black smoke. However, Locke claims the Monster appeared to him as a bright light the first time he saw it. ("Exodus, Part 2")  ("The 23rd Psalm")  ("The Cost of Living")
• Eko and Yemi are seen wearing black and white priest suits. ("The 23rd Psalm")
• Bernard chose black volcanic rock for his S.O.S. sign, in order to contrast with the white sand. ("S.O.S.")
• A chess game with black and white pieces was seen at the listening station. ("Live Together, Die Alone")

Season 3

• A white bunny with a black number '8' was shown to Sawyer. ("Every Man for Himself")
• A black-and-white yin/yang symbol appears on the octagon-shaped lamp beside Rachel's bed. ("Not in Portland")
• Some speculate that the black and white stones (seen on Adam and Eve) are on the table in Desmond's flat. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") However, these "stones" are likely the bottle caps from Desmond's beer bottles rather the rocks Jack finds on "Adam and Eve."
• The chess pieces are black and white. ("Enter 77")
• Claire dresses entirely in black through most of the flashbacks in "Par Avion". Her hair is black, in contrast to her blonde hair on the Island. ("Par Avion")
• Claire has a white cast on her left arm and black bangles on her right arm during flashbacks in "Par Avion". ("Par Avion")
• When Locke takes a plate of chicken from the refrigerator in Ben's home, Ben informs him that he has already eaten the dark meat, leaving Locke with the light meat.("The Man from Tallahassee")
• Ben is often shown with his face half dark, half light, which reflects the ambiguity of his character.
• Just before Locke talks to Kate and tells her that he's leaving with the Others, Kate is shown moving white backgammon pieces around on a backgammon game board. ("Left Behind")
• When Locke talks to Kate and tells her that he's leaving with the Others, he has a (bruised) black eye. This recalls Claire's dream in "Raised by Another" in which Locke has one black eyeball and one white eyeball.("Left Behind")
• Ben's kitchen is red, white and black. ("One of Us")
• Charlie loses his black and white shoe when he dives into the ocean. ("Greatest Hits")
• The Looking Glass is named after a Lewis Carroll book in which the main character Alice has a black mischievous cat that is blamed for all the chaos in her dream and a white cat deemed innocent.
• Juliet uses white coral to mark the tents of the women to take. ("Through the Looking Glass")
• When Jack is crossing the street to the funeral home, a police car passes. ("Through the Looking Glass")

Season 4

Ben's half shadowed face while visiting Charles Widmore in the episode "The Shape of Things to Come"

Widmore's half shadowed face while speaking with Ben in the episode "The Shape of Things to Come"

• Hurley has two visitors at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, Matthew Abaddon (black) and Charlie (white). ("The Beginning of the End")
• In Sayid's flashforward, while he's playing golf in Seychelles, he's wearing a white glove, whilst Mr. Avellino, who is killed by Sayid, wears a black one. ("The Economist")
• Locke is seen playing backgammon again, this time with the black pieces. Sawyer plays against him with the white pieces. ("Eggtown")
• Juliet's Zen garden shows two stones in the sand - one (black) one (white).("The Other Woman")
• In Jin's flashback he is seen delivering a Panda in the hospital, an animal with (black) and (white) fur. ("Ji Yeon")
• In Ben's flashforward he confronts Charles Widmore in his bedroom where each of their faces is bisected by light. Ben's left side is illuminated in white, while his right side is dark. Widmore's is framed just the opposite of Ben's. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
• In Jack's flashforward, Aaron has a whale doll in his arms, which is black and white. ("Something Nice Back Home")
• The young Locke drew a picture of someone being knocked down by a large curly feature which looks like the smoke monster, using only black ink or crayon on white paper. ("Cabin Fever")
• Two individuals connected to the island have approached Locke in the past, Richard Alpert (white) and Matthew Abaddon (black). ("Cabin Fever")
• Hurley plays chess with Mr. Eko in his room, when Sayid visits him. Hurley plays the black pieces.("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3")