The Metaphor Years: Writing Lessons from “The Twilight Zone”

“The writer’s relation is to beryllium a menacer of the public’s conscience. He indispensable person a position, a constituent of view. He indispensable spot the arts arsenic a conveyance of societal disapproval and helium indispensable absorption connected the issues of his time.” 

That’s a punctuation from Rod Serling, the creator of “The Twilight Zone,” which ran connected CBS from 1959-64. 

Today, “The Twilight Zone” is thought of archetypal arsenic a sci-fi and phantasy anthology, with a dash of the “morality play” and chill twist endings. The amusement was decidedly that. But it was besides a conveyance for Serling and his collaborators to critique the United States’ reactionary, xenophobic, and materialistic behavior, which included the censure and adjacent blacklisting of citizens with socialist oregon communist sympathies, and the enforcement of radical segregation done violence. The precocious 1950s and aboriginal 1960s were a clip of lingering McCarthyism, Cold War paranoia, rampant racism, and relentless unit to conform to a mediate American, white, heterosexual, three-kids-and-a-suburban-house thought of normalcy. Serling knew however to marque accessible, entertaining, politically astute creation successful an epoch that was repressive and conformist.

Since the amusement ended successful 1964 determination has ne'er been a clip erstwhile American popular civilization didn’t person either an updated incarnation of “The Twilight Zone” oregon thing similar. There person been 4 authoritative “Twilight Zone” remakes, the past of which was overseen by Jordan Peele, nary slouch astatine Serling-esque storytelling. There person besides been innumerable “Twilight Zone”-like shows and movies, stretching from “The Outer Limits” done “Darkroom,” “The Hitchhiker,” “Amazing Stories,” “Tales from the Crypt,” and “Black Mirror.” 

Both the amusement and its template endured due to the fact that Serling and institution made a constituent of moving successful metaphors and symbols and analogies. They borrowed from subject fiction, fantasy, parables, fairy tales and experimental theatre to remark connected American history, and what was happening astatine that moment. The stories were often designed successful specified a mode that anyone could “get” the episode’s aboveground communicative and astir basal alternate interpretation, but if they dug conscionable a spot deeper, they’d recognize the amusement was being much circumstantial successful its societal criticisms—though successful specified a mode that if web executives oregon censors oregon advertisers complained that it was “too political,” the storytellers could motion and say, “You tin work it galore antithetic ways. Make of it what you will.”  

Photo of Rod Serling from Wikipedia

The 1960 occurrence “The Monsters Are Due connected Maple Street,” for instance, is simply a informing against mob “justice,” i.e. violence, and the mentality that gives emergence to it, taxable substance that could beryllium fascinating and instructive nary substance who watched the episode. A suburban vicinity collapses into paranoia and menace, with citizens blaming extraterrestrials for a bid of electrical and mechanical oddities and suspecting each different of being concealed aliens, portion existent extraterrestrials marvel astatine however casual it is to power humans done fear.

But the occurrence is much specifically a effect to the heavy paranoia of 1950s America—not conscionable the McCarthy era, which had lone precocious started to merchandise its grip connected the nation, but the governmental strategy of choosing an interior force and scapegoating them, to stoke acheronian emotions and marque it easier for the atrocious guys down the strategy to execute their goals (profit, governmental dominance, conformity). “The Monsters Are Due connected Maple Street” lays retired the mechanisms of that benignant of manipulation and says that determination are ever hidden forces profiting from it—individuals who whitethorn not adjacent judge the communicative are marvel astatine the gullibility of those who do. (The 1950s subject contractors and the politicians whose re-election depended connected subject spending enthusiastically defended Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who saw a Red astir each corner, adjacent though they knew helium was an unhinged alcoholic who “lied each the time.”) 

Serling’s closing narration, which a modern penning teacher would astir apt disregard arsenic “too on-the-nose,” stops abbreviated of saying what, exactly, motivated the episode. “The tools of conquest bash not needfully travel with bombs and explosions and fallout,” helium says. “There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to beryllium recovered lone successful the minds of men. For the record, prejudices tin kill, and suspicion tin destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened hunt for a scapegoat has a fallout each of its own.” Today we tin readily place what Serling was really going connected about, but astatine the clip helium could accidental “make of it what you will.”

A screaming antheral successful “The Monsters Are Due connected Maple Street,” a “Twilight Zone” occurrence successful which a tiny assemblage is consumed by fears that aliens person taken implicit portion of their population.

The champion “Twilight Zone” episodes had layers upon layers. Possibly the astir celebrated episode, “Eye of the Beholder,” is besides an illustration of however Serling would supply an easy-to-get furniture of metaphor oregon motivation acquisition that hid a connection that lone precise attentive viewers would catch, and adjacent then, Serling could astir apt hand-wave that mentation distant if it seemed similar the amusement was astir to get canceled for offending the incorrect people. Most viewers who’ve seen it retrieve it being astir the relativity of quality standards, and it is astir that (Serling was Jewish and dealt with antisemitism). 

But the extremity suggests an further reading: the diligent tries to flight the infirmary wherever her captors person been trying to marque her pig-faced similar everyone other successful that society, we spot what is evidently immoderate benignant of uniformed authoritarian figurehead successful a frothing rant: “Now we cognize that determination indispensable beryllium a azygous purpose, a azygous norm, a azygous approach, a azygous entity of peoples, a azygous virtue, a azygous morality, a azygous framework of reference, a azygous doctrine of government! We indispensable chopped retired each that is different, similar a cancerous growth! It is indispensable that successful this society, that we not lone person a norm, but that we conform to that norm! Differences weaken us! Variations destruct us! An unthinkable permissiveness to deviation from this norm is what has ended nations and brought them to their knees!” This is each audio inheritance worldly successful the scene. The archetypal clip you ticker the episode, you’re apt truthful invested successful the woman’s flight from her captors that you mightiness not registry what was connected the monitor, different than that it was abrasive and scary.

Prior to creating “”The Twilight Zone,” Serling wrote archetypal worldly for immoderate of the play anthology and unrecorded theatre broadcasts that were communal connected web TV successful the ‘50s. Whenever possible, helium tried to remark connected modern American life, successful a nonstop and politically circumstantial way. It was imaginable to bash it successful a precise wide way, arsenic successful Serling’s TV play “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” remade arsenic a 1962 film, which was some astir corruption successful boxing and (the subtext) astir however capitalism is devoid of empathy and eats radical up implicit the people of their lives and spits them retired erstwhile they’re excessively aged to beryllium of use. But often Serling met with interference from skittish web executives and representatives of the companies that bought ads connected CBS. 

Serling created “The Twilight Zone” aft his demoralizing acquisition penning “Noon connected Doomsday,” a teleplay prompted by lawsuit of Emmet Till, a Black 14-year aged from Chicago who was abducted, pistol-whipped, shot, and posthumously mutilated by 2 achromatic locals, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, portion visiting a tiny Mississippi town, either for whistling astatine oregon simply talking to a achromatic pistillate (accounts varied arsenic to what the perceived discourtesy was). After 67 minutes of deliberations, Bryant and Milam were acquitted of each charges by a achromatic jury. According to RodSerling.com, “one assemblage subordinate said that deliberations lasted that agelong lone due to the fact that they stopped to portion soda pop. Not lone were Bryant and Milam freed, but they were treated arsenic section heroes.” The 2 aboriginal gave an interrogation to LOOK mag successful which they “claimed the execution was justified due to the fact that Till had claimed helium was arsenic bully arsenic them and helium had been with achromatic women before.”

Serling knew that if helium tried to archer the communicative of Till’s decease successful a straightforward way, it would ne'er get anyplace adjacent the nationalist airwaves, truthful helium changed cardinal details, including making Till into an aged Jewish antheral and the killer, successful Serling’s words, “a neurotic malcontent who lashed retired astatine thing oregon idiosyncratic who mightiness beryllium materially and physically the scapegoat for his ain unhappy, purposeless, miserable existence.”

Then a newsman who heard the summary commented to Serling that sounded similar it was astir the Till case, and Serling made the mistake of replying “if the footwear fits.” The resulting communicative led advertisers and assorted White Citizens Councils successful the Southern states to endanger a boycott of CBS if it aired Serling’s play. Serling past attended a bid of 30 meetings successful which astir each item of the Till lawsuit that had inspired him was removed, on with details that the web feared mightiness marque immoderate viewers think that the communicative was commenting connected the Till case.

Serling created “The Twilight Zone” a twelvemonth aboriginal nether the presumption that helium could find a mode to accidental immoderate helium wanted successful an indirect way, wrong the model of genre storytelling, and beryllium astatine slightest somewhat insulated against censure oregon dilution. Serling was pursuing a way laid down by writers and artists successful a batch of antithetic cultures who had much to suffer than their income—including ones who were, astatine that precise moment, being persecuted by dictators successful Eastern Europe, Asian and Africa for daring to critique the forces successful complaint of their societies, and had to either effort to flight to immoderate different state oregon sofa their critiques wrong of genre tropes and figurative connection (the strategy of sci-fi writers successful Eastern bloc countries).

Serling ne'er faced the benignant of miseries endured by Soviet writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who successful 1945 was imprisoned for 8 years successful a gulag for the transgression of criticizing Josef Stalin’s enactment during World War II successful a backstage missive to a friend. He had to person his three-volume publication 1968 bid astir the experience, The Gulag Archipelago, published by underground presses successful his location country, and it wasn’t published internationally until 1973 successful Paris. Serling ne'er experienced thing similar that. He was a well-off American successful a repressive but not-yet-openly-fascist country, and could spend bully lawyers if helium needed them.

But helium was an empathetic and imaginative idiosyncratic who was instinctively connected the broadside of the underdog, sympathetic to those who had suffered successful ways helium had not. He realized that the champion mode to explicit camaraderie and scope millions of viewers who mightiness respond to his marque of progressive humanism was to travel astatine the worldly from an unexpected angle—in specified a mode that helium could propulsion close up to the borderline of being explicitly governmental without crossing implicit and triggering retribution.

Make of that what you will.