Rod Serling had the most ingenious ways of weaving his message throughout The Twilight Zone. The use of futuristic settings and narratives to convey social messages and political arguments is not new to science fiction in any form of media, but at that time being the late 1950s and the 1960s on a major television channel was a major deal at that time. Not only was that a feat in itself, but being a writer was difficult at the time and it was not unusual for writers to encounter regular interference with the content of scripts from sponsors who feared their products could be cast in an unfavorable light or that certain themes might alienate audience members and potential consumers. This adds another layer of genius that is Rod Serling. He would touch on many subjects such as Politics. It was around the time of the Cold War and Serling felt really passionate about his stance on fascism, dictatorship, and racism. He also would touch on the subject of social justice tackling freedom, capital punishment, law, and war. Lastly, he gave you, the viewer, messages to look at yourself. The temptation of greed and glory, but also reassured you that there are consequences and those are to be feared. The two episodes that have many more layers are The Obsolete Man and Eye of the Beholder.
Rod Serling and the rest of the creative team behind The Twilight Zone achieved horror by drawing upon contemporary American fears of nuclear war explicitly presenting them as threats to the safety of the home. Additionally, The Twilight Zone sought to undermine the power and authority of the government and let viewers know that home is no longer a safe haven, by portraying it as an inherently hostile environment. In the propaganda battles during the cold war era, American leaders promoted the American way of life as the triumph of capitalism, allegedly available to all who believed in its values. This way of life was characterized by affluence, located in suburbia, and epitomized by white middle-class nuclear families. Increasing numbers of Americans gained access to this domestic ideal — but not everyone who aspired to it could achieve it. Serling made sure the uneasiness was portrayed by having many of his episodes reflect the “ideal” society.
Rod Serling served as a U.S. Army paratrooper and demolition specialist in World War II from January 1943 to January 1945. He was a patriot in his own right and “These experiences potentially led him to spearhead episodes that were vehemently anti-Hitler, anti-fascist, and anti-racist,” said Melissa Phruksachart, an assistant professor in the Department of Cinema Studies at NYU. For example, the episode entitled, The Obsolete Man. tells a story about a futuristic totalitarian world, easy-going and mild-mannered librarian Romney Wordsworth finds himself on trial for being obsolete. This future society has decided on everything people need to know. There is no God and there are no books. Society doesn't need librarians. Romney makes an impassioned plea about his rights and free will but the judge in the case, the Chancellor, will have nothing of it. The jury finds Romney obsolete and orders him to be executed. As he can choose the method of his death, Romney's plans include a little surprise for the Chancellor. He requests a private assassination and for it to be televised. Aesthetics, lighting, and cinematography are very similar to the movie Metropolis. This was the era of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Many Americans were fearful during this time. There was not only the fear of a nuclear war but also the fear of being wrongly accused of being communists. During this time in our nation's history, it was the African Americans who were considered to be obsolete. Our state denied inalienable human rights to African Americans during most of the 1960s and can even be seen today in 2019. Like Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451, there are no more books in this society and therefore no need for a librarian. During his trial and the time leading up to his ultimate liquidation, Wordsworth debates the worth of literature, and knowledge in general, with the state’s Chancellor. He also believes in God, despite the state's claims of having proven that no such thing exists. The state's notion mirrors that of Karl Marx, who famously argued that “Religion is the opium of the people and the proletariat should not be subdued in the present with promises of heaven in the afterlife.” Again, Rod Serling, had viewers of the episode talking, and that as a writer is a goal to create discussion. Some view it as an anti-communist tale, while others argue that the fable applies more generally to totalitarianism and a state that oppresses individual rights. Regardless, his cautionary tale condemns the state's ruling to control thought and outlaw any divergent beliefs. Other than Fahrenheit 451 and The Obsolete Man, other dystopian fiction such as Brave New World, the lower castes are bred for low intelligence and serious literature is banned, while in 1984 rebellion is made impossible through the gradual destruction of words. Serling demonstrates how the American government is similar in that 'authority' is the ultimate decider on whether or not citizens are of value or obsolete. He proves that the State itself is obsolete if it does not recognize the value of man and their inalienable right to free will. Many governments try to create a dystopian world such as that in The Twilight Zone, but the people of these governments must realize that they ultimately have the last say. This is evident in the final scene where Wordsworth proved his worth to the State prior to his execution. Serling allows the audience to conclude that Americans too can use their power to fight for what they believe and not let the government dictate their lives. Wordsworth, the man of words, stands as a motivational figure against this oppression, and he draws on the Bible, not primarily as scripture, but as one of our most powerful examples of how literature may teach us self-knowledge, free thought, and inner peace.
Another one of Serling’s episodes that I remembered watching as a kid was Eye of the Beholder. Just like many of Serling’s episodes, they are tales that can be applied to today’s society. This timeless episode focuses on beauty. Beauty has always been something humans crave whether we know it or not. Some crave the beauty that comes with just being normal, but in a society where “normal” changes every so often, different procedures are exponentially on the rise on a daily basis, and is an uphill battle for not only women but men in our society today. Eye of the Beholder tells the story of Janet Tyler, a woman who has had up to 10 surgeries on her face to make it better. Janet is covered in bandages, lying in a hospital bed, and pleading, almost starving, for any kind of interaction beyond the darkness she’s forced to see. We’re introduced to her as she embarks on her 11th, but after this surgery, there are no more options for her except for one, to go to a place where her “kind” is joined together to keep out of the way of the normal. With these surgeries, she strives to be the “normal” that everyone else is and that the state requires her to be. We don’t see Janet’s face until the final moments of the episode when we see what is normal and abnormal in this world. I initially thought she had some kind of accident the way the doctors talked about Janet throughout the episode. Throughout the episode, they cleverly would hide everyone’s face behind the camera or in the shadows. The doctor says something that stood out to me, “Each of us is afforded as much opportunity as possible to fit into society.” If you apply that to today’s standards, you can say that as long as you can afford the opportunity to look like the ideal model in society, you can change whatever you want to your body, but just as long as it fits into the standards. Once we get to the shock of it all, we see the real face of what’s normal and what’s not. The nurses unwrap the bandages from her face for the first time. Slowly, but surely, Janet’s vision comes into focus. We follow her as the bandages unwrap around her and we are introduced to the light too. We hope for triumph but the doctors and nurses jump back in horror. The surgery didn’t work. We see Janet’s face for the first time. She’s beautiful. The doctor and nurse pin her down and this is when we see the difference. While Janet’s face is beautiful in our society, in theirs, she looks nothing like the duck-like lip and essentially melted-looking faces which is their beauty standard, therefore Janet is the ugly one. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” By saying this, it means that beauty exists in the eye of the person who is observing. It is created by the observer who decides what is beautiful to them. The ugliness that we would think isn’t beautiful is the most beautiful of all. The beautiful, that we associate with, are shunned and hauled off to live separate from that society. Another lesson that can be learned is conformity. The State’s leader on the TV says, “Glorious conformity. Delight and pleasure of our unified society”. Again, conformity of state can be seen in our society today with the beauty industry being in the billions in profit. They decide what’s beautiful and we are all guilty in some way trying to get as close as possible to that standard. Even due to racism, minority individuals will lighten their skin in order to seem “less threatening” to the norm. In the episode ugliness is a crime and those who are not up to the standards of the state are exiled. Similar to Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: Panopticism. Leprosy sent many to exile because they did not fit into the State’s standards. “The leper and his separation; the plague and its segmentation. The exile of the leper and the arrest of the plague do not bring with them the same political dream. The first is that of a pure community, and the second is that of a disciplined society. Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures.”
Ironically before the semester, I started watching The Twilight Zone and I definitely find comfort in knowing that there’s always something to learn from the series. In class, earlier in the semester, we analyzed, Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and A World of Difference and it really opened my eyes to the Genius of Rod Serling. I thought that they were great stories and very easy to watch, however, I noticed doing that assignment how many layers there are to his writing. I went as far as to purchase The Twilight Zone: Companion book to follow along with the episodes and maybe get some insight into how each episode was made. So far I’m really enjoying learning the behind-the-scenes of the episodes to give me more of an idea of why certain episodes were written the way they were because you start to see that Serling grew tired of being censored by the sponsors and started to appease them with some of the episodes. The only way he could express himself was through writing and that is quite evident throughout the career of the social justice warrior, Rod Serling.