Posted on 11/16/2002 5:26:51 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator
I have often wondered if there are any conservatives who are fans of "The Twilight Zone," the classic series created by the notorious liberal Rod Serling.
Then earlier today I saw a PBS show about J.R.R. Tolkien and was reminded that this conservative icon not only was a hero to radical flower children in the Sixties (with which his work seems to have no connection whatsoever) but also spawned the entire "fantasy" genre, which many conservatives condemn as being evil and satanic, even while giving Tolkien a free pass.
What was there about Tolkien and his decidedly pre-modern vision that appealed to those "ultimate modernists" of the Sixties? How did their "peace and love" philosophy find anything in Tolkien's extremely dualistic, military epic that appealed to it?
As to Serling (my original intended topic), while he was well known as a militant liberal, many of his shows seem to contradict the liberal stereotype (for example, the alien plot to destroy manking through the drinking water, in which the paranoids are right and the normal people are wrong).
It is often claimed that Serling had to disguise his liberal messages to get them past the censors, but some of his liberal messages seem to be buried very deeply. Are not his critiques of the totalitarian, groupthink society (in such eps as "Eye of the Beholder" or the episodes in which everyone picks an attractive body to be transplanted into or the episode in which Hollywood leftist Burgess Meredith defends the existence of G-d) just as "conservative" as they are "liberal?" He also used conservative actors a lot (perhaps because they were available) and he also cast or presented several stories in which the upland South "hillbilly" culture is presented sympathetically (perhaps as a cipher for Black culture). Chr*stian references are also quite common (Serling was born on chr*stmas day).
I am sure that he became in his later years--and would be today were he alive--a much more conventional leftist, but I am asking specifically about the classic series of 1959-1963.
Does Serling have any conservative fans here? Any thoughts about Tolkien's seemingly unusual fandom?
Elves.
Don't assume ZC has ill intentions in writing Chr-st
Well said.
At that time we had the Vietnam war and riots and unrest at home. Adding to that the normal angst and turmoil of being a teenager, I found Middle Earth a most welcome escape.
This is based, as I believe, on the commandment not to take God's name in vain. Similar piety is evidenced by Jesus Himself when he uses "reverential periphrasis" to avoid saying the name of God. Even today people will speak of the "will of Heaven", when what they mean is the will of God.
The avoidance of spelling God or Christ completely is a sign of pious respect. Certainly it can be disagreed with, but to suggest that the person who does so is "ashamed" of God, as I believe another poster did, is to miss the point.
I am in a minority, though. I have consistently found Twilight Zone episodes to be astonishly bad. The series is hailed as one of the greatest of all time, but I think that 10% or so of the episodes are very good or better, and about 90% or so are mind-blowingly bad.
Rod is VERY heavy handed. His stories are simple and crude - very linear except for his 'twist ending,' which, once you see 2 or 3 Zone episodes, is pretty predictable.
Serling's dialogue is poor. People talk 'at' each other rather than with each other. Long monologues that are preachy and heavy handed. Most of his characters have the same 'voice,' that is, Rod's voice. He has no real range.
His stories are very simple. An old variety show called 'The New Show' (which I love, by the way) did a skit once, Twilight Zonettes. The premise was that since the typical "Zone" story could be told in under 30 seconds (which is true by the way), the producers would shoehorn 4 or 6 stories within a half hour - pretty funny cayse they acted them out and it was so damning!!! Zone stories are just too simple.
As it stands, the show stretched a 30 second idea into a half hour. You think that's bad, try seeing the hourlong "Twilight Zones." Now, THAT'S BAD STUFF!!!!
Zone is a shallow, lite fix. You watch an episode, and come away with a simple lesson - "Oh, she was really beautiful to us, but she was ugly to the people of her planet where everyone would be considered 'ugly' to us!" Thanks, Rod!!!! I'm a better person now for that thoughtful lesson!
Give me "Outer Limits" any day of the week - much more sophisticated and well made Science Fiction.
The incomparable Jack Vance.
The story I remember most clearly was the one that depicted a group of men and women struggling to escape the planet in a space ship before the nuclear holocaust. It was only at the very end that we learned they were on some other planet - hoping to escape to Earth!!!!
And who can forget the other story in which an all-powerful alien comes to earth to present a book entitled "How Best to Serve Man", and only at the end, after a number of humans have climbed aboard his space craft to return home with him, do we learn that the book is a cook book!!!
And then of course the story of the librarian with the inch-thick glasses played by Burgess Meredith - who only wanted to be left alone to browse Free Republic....er...read his books. Then one day, thanks to some sort of nuclear war, he finds himself alone with his beloved books - however his glasses lay broken on the ground.
Twilight Zone was a classic indeed!
Remember, Heinlein also penned Stranger in a Strange Land, which was a HUGE influence on the Hippie culture, especially in its endorsement of casual nudity and group sex. It's still a big seller among "polyamory" and alternative-lifestyle types...
I can do a pretty good solo rendition, but it needs the harmonies of the brass at the end to sound real.
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