It’s less than 24 hours before the 4th of July and that can only mean one thing: Twilight Zone marathon! For certain holiday weekends, the SciFi channel gives a 48 hour marathon of the complete series of The Twilight Zone, a.k.a. one of the greatest shows ever made. Rod Sterling, creator and primary writer for the series, (a guy who had some serious cerebral traffic), was in every way a genius writer and director. Each episode displays absolute mastery of writing, filming and acting. In less than twenty minutes a complete story unravels, with characters that have depth, plots that twist but close. The stories are simple but have no less of an effect on the mind; after every first viewing of an episode your brain will explode.
Sterling not only produced entertaining television full of horror, thrill and mystery, most of the episodes are also direct social commentaries on the 1960’s. The Twilight Zone is a place the viewer enters and leaves at the start and end of each episode. It serves as an imagined literal and figurative space to discuss many of the issues affecting Americans and the Western world of 1959-1964. The Cold War, space race, roles of men and women, capitalism, religion, the institution of the family and many other issues are constantly challenged and examined from many different angles. We enter the Twilight Zone with a warning, a dare. This challenge, like the eerie quality of each episode, is meant to carry on after the 20 minutes of the show have ended. These challenges and reevaluations are really what the 1960’s were all about.
Sterling not only produced entertaining television full of horror, thrill and mystery, most of the episodes are also direct social commentaries on the 1960’s. The Twilight Zone is a place the viewer enters and leaves at the start and end of each episode. It serves as an imagined literal and figurative space to discuss many of the issues affecting Americans and the Western world of 1959-1964. The Cold War, space race, roles of men and women, capitalism, religion, the institution of the family and many other issues are constantly challenged and examined from many different angles. We enter the Twilight Zone with a warning, a dare. This challenge, like the eerie quality of each episode, is meant to carry on after the 20 minutes of the show have ended. These challenges and reevaluations are really what the 1960’s were all about.
2 comments:
I am glad to know that I am not the only Twilight Zone enthusiast. Obviously, it appeals to me for many reasons, including the fact that they are like short stories.
Time enough at last, anyone?
Woah awesome, I never thought about it that way before.
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