The Lessons Of Rod Serling And The Twilight Zone

Recently, from about mid-July to early August, I binged all episodes of the original Twilight Zone. Initially, this article was going to be about seeing how the versions that came after it stack up. While that may be a future article, I have too much on my plate to squeeze in two entire series. Therefore, I want to use Rod Serling and his most famous series to discuss how much of an artist goes into their work and what can be learned from it.

The short answer is this depends. Some will be impulsive and not give much thought while others will painstakingly obsess over details. Rod tended to fall into the latter category from what I saw in the documentary, Submitted For Your Approval (which is free on YouTube, by the way). It mentions how little sleep he’d get and how he would be churning out scripts, hardly being able to take a breath (that didn’t involve a cigarette, but we all have our voices) all for the sake of his passion. Two particular quotes from Rod stood out to me while watching it.

The first: “My diet consisted of cigarettes and coffee”.

The second: “It was the kind of schedule where if I dropped a pen, I would fall behind by two weeks.”

It was the second one in particular that resonated with me. There is so much pressure in that single sentence. As something of a creative person myself, I can empathize with this. Even though I’ve been trying not to set arbitrary dates for myself, I still feel unproductive if I’m not putting out content.

The obvious difference is I don’t have a studio breathing down my neck. This means whatever pressures I have are entirely in my head which makes it all the more odd. Then again, perhaps it’s this aspect that indicates the art profession is what someone truly desires to do. Even when we should rest, we keep going. Hell, as of right now, I’m writing on three hours of sleep, but thank goodness for 5-hour Energy.

Anyway, morality can be seen as the core of storytelling. Going as far back as the tales of the earliest civilizations, those stories always had some kind of moral to them. Gilgamesh and Enkidu taught about friendship and the appreciation of life especially when it’s lost. The Grimm Fairy Tales were cautionary such as Red Riding Hood. For the Twilight Zone, the messages varied. The episodes “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” and “The Shelter” demonstrated how fast people can turn on each other.

Eye Of The Beholder showed how arbitrary and ugly society’s standards for beauty can be. Number 12 Looks Just Like You (Which is the most disturbing episode for me) showed the horror of someone being forced to give up their individuality. Then you have especially harrowing episodes such as Deaths-Head Revisited (which I find to be the most somber) which was about an SS captain relishing in his “glory days” only to be tormented by the ghosts of that past. “I was only following orders!”. The last defense of the wretch trying to squirm their way out of accountability.

In a way, Number 12 and Deaths-Head share this similarity. The former is about someone fighting to keep their autonomy. With that comes the freedom of choice. However, it also means shouldering the consequences those choices result in. The ego can be such a fragile thing, making introspection one of the hardest tasks people can undergo.

Meanwhile, Deaths-Head was about a man who chose to essentially give up his individuality by being part of a group. Then when the actions he participated in came back to bite him, he was unable to take responsibility for them. As I said, self-criticism isn’t easy, but it is necessary for growth. Before I continue, I feel it necessary to address the problem of people trying to speak for the dead. Unless words proclaimed to have been said by someone can be verified, I find it disrespectful that some will try to attribute quotes or opinions to people who are unable to respond to the matter.

Keep in mind, when I’m giving my thoughts on someone who has passed, it’s not an absolute. It’s more the sense I get from observing them. With that out of the way, I believe Rod Serling was acutely aware of this. While he loved being a celebrity, I think this aspect of him is what’s allowed him to have so much staying power.

An artist is their own worst critic after all.
His time serving in the Army during WW2 could be seen as having contributed to this. Nobody can go through something like that without it changing them. While I wouldn’t call Rod an open book, he does strike me as someone more willing to admit his vulnerabilities than others were during his time. I mentioned the Twilight Zone episodes that showed how easily people can be reduced to stupid panicky animals. I don’t think Rod would have been able to come up with them if he hadn’t been aware that he could also fall victim to that kind of mob mentality.

I try to stay above that sort of venomous group-think, but I’m only human and at the end of the day, humans are animals that are slaves to baser instincts. Under the right circumstances, I could become just as harmful as any toxic mob, especially in the face of perceived danger. Something else I’ve spoken about is the unwillingness of accountability for people in a group. To quote the late and great Terry Pratchett: “The IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters”. Let’s not forget that stupidity attracts opportunists like roaches to trash. There will always be someone claiming to have the solution where there’s uncertainty.

To gain power, they don’t need to be smarter than everyone, just smarter than enough people. We lambaste figures such as this, yet even the meekest among us desire power to a certain extent. We tell ourselves things like “If I was in this position, I would be responsible!”. You know what they say about absolute power and corruption. What’s great about art is that it allows tackling anything.

That was the Twilight Zone’s strength. Each episode about humanity’s worst traits was Rod’s way of either teaching how to combat or at least be weary of them. Just mentioning the cynical episodes would be remiss of me, though. Walking Distance dealt with the problems of clinging to nostalgia while highlighting the value of memories. Night Of The Meek showed how someone without hope can have it rekindled under the right circumstances.

Then you have the episodes that weren’t intended to teach a lesson or make some profound statement. At least, I don’t think they were. These were the episodes that I feel Rod could let himself cut loose with so to speak. Living Doll had a creepy atmosphere and inspired the Child’s Play franchise. A Game Of Pool was about was about the price someone has to pay for a chance at glory.

The Masks showed ugliness on the inside and how it eventually bleeds out. I don’t think there’s a lesson there unless it’s greedy people suck which I agree with. To Serve Man may be the most famous episode with the “It’s a cookbook!” line. Finally, I’ll talk about a couple of the light-hearted episodes. Mr. Dingle The Strong is about a physically weak man suddenly being granted super strength and has elements of physical comedy.

Cavender Is Coming is a parody of the guardian angel trope and I’m pretty sure was parodied in a Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror episode. Then again, what hasn’t that show done a parody of? Plus, The scope of The Twilight Zone’s influence is nearly unfathomable. That’s the last lesson to be learned.

Not everything needs to make some earth-shattering statement meant to make you contemplate. Sometimes, the art with the most impact is the one the creator had the most fun making. I know this has been the case with some of my work. I’ve had stories I try to put a lot of thought into not getting much traction. Meanwhile, my post about a guy with lactose intolerance and a possessed teacher wreaking havoc in a school is among my top-voted stories to date.

It goes to show you can’t truly predict audience reception. I wonder how Rod would feel seeing how big the ripples of his influence spread? He’s one of the few celebrities I wish I could have met had I been alive when he was. He seemed kind.

Author’s Note: I hope you enjoyed this article. If you did, be sure to drop by my Reddit and check out more of my work there as well as ways you can support me.