MONSTERS ARE DUE....
On March 4, 1960, an episode of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" named "Monsters on Maple Street" aired. The episode - one of the shows's most memorable (if not THE most memorable) is television's answer to "The Crucible," itself of course a riposte to the HUAC witch-hunts of the 1950's. The theme and moral of the episode is timeless. After reading the plot summary, you'll be shocked - or maybe you won't - at how far we haven't come:
The location is Maple Street, USA, in late summer (September). It is mid-evening and the street is full of playing children and adults talking. A shadow passes overhead and a loud roar is heard. Later, after it has gone dark, the residents of Maple Street find that the telephones no longer work, and there is no power or radio. They gather together in the street to discuss the matter.
Steve Brand decides to go into town and see what is happening, but his car will not start and he plans to walk instead. Tommy, a young boy from the neighborhood, pleads with him not to go. He is sure that the outages are part of an alien invasion—just as he has read in books and comics. Furthermore, he says, most of these invasions are preceded by the infiltration of aliens who look human. Naturally no one takes him seriously, but the first signs of doubt appear.
Meanwhile another resident, Les Goodman, tries and fails to start his car. He gets out of the car and begins to walk back towards the other residents when the car starts all by itself. The bizarre behavior of his car makes Les the object of immediate suspicion. The residents begin to discuss his late nights spent standing in the garden looking up at the sky. Les claims to be an insomniac. His problem becomes worse when the lights in his house come on, and the rest of the neighborhood remains in the dark. Suspicion then suddenly switches to Steve when he tries to calm the situation and prevent it becoming a witch-hunt. Charlie, one of the loudest and most aggressive residents, pressures Steve about his hobby building a radio that no one has ever seen.
During the discussion a man is seen walking along Maple Street through the dark and towards the gathered crowd. Panic begins to build and Charlie grabs a shotgun and kills him. When the crowd reaches the fallen man, they realize that it is Pete Van Horn, a local resident who had gone to the next block to find out the situation there.
Suddenly the lights in Charlie's house come on and he panics, realizing how it looks. He is now the subject of all the suspicion. He makes a run for his house while the other residents begin to chase him and throw stones. Terrified, Charlie attempts to deflect suspicion onto Tommy, the boy who originally brought up the idea of alien infiltration. Lights begin turn on and off in different houses, lawn mowers and cars start up for no apparent reason. A riot begins and the hysterical residents smash windows, fight and switch blame from one person to another with little justification.
The episode ends with two alien observers watching the rioting on Maple Street and discussing how easy it was to create paranoia and panic, and let the people of Earth destroy themselves—one place at a time.
"Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines...throw them into darkness for a few hours and then sit back and watch the pattern. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find and it's themselves."
Closing narration
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts... attitudes... prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own.... for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to..... The Twilight Zone."
The location is Maple Street, USA, in late summer (September). It is mid-evening and the street is full of playing children and adults talking. A shadow passes overhead and a loud roar is heard. Later, after it has gone dark, the residents of Maple Street find that the telephones no longer work, and there is no power or radio. They gather together in the street to discuss the matter.
Steve Brand decides to go into town and see what is happening, but his car will not start and he plans to walk instead. Tommy, a young boy from the neighborhood, pleads with him not to go. He is sure that the outages are part of an alien invasion—just as he has read in books and comics. Furthermore, he says, most of these invasions are preceded by the infiltration of aliens who look human. Naturally no one takes him seriously, but the first signs of doubt appear.
Meanwhile another resident, Les Goodman, tries and fails to start his car. He gets out of the car and begins to walk back towards the other residents when the car starts all by itself. The bizarre behavior of his car makes Les the object of immediate suspicion. The residents begin to discuss his late nights spent standing in the garden looking up at the sky. Les claims to be an insomniac. His problem becomes worse when the lights in his house come on, and the rest of the neighborhood remains in the dark. Suspicion then suddenly switches to Steve when he tries to calm the situation and prevent it becoming a witch-hunt. Charlie, one of the loudest and most aggressive residents, pressures Steve about his hobby building a radio that no one has ever seen.
During the discussion a man is seen walking along Maple Street through the dark and towards the gathered crowd. Panic begins to build and Charlie grabs a shotgun and kills him. When the crowd reaches the fallen man, they realize that it is Pete Van Horn, a local resident who had gone to the next block to find out the situation there.
Suddenly the lights in Charlie's house come on and he panics, realizing how it looks. He is now the subject of all the suspicion. He makes a run for his house while the other residents begin to chase him and throw stones. Terrified, Charlie attempts to deflect suspicion onto Tommy, the boy who originally brought up the idea of alien infiltration. Lights begin turn on and off in different houses, lawn mowers and cars start up for no apparent reason. A riot begins and the hysterical residents smash windows, fight and switch blame from one person to another with little justification.
The episode ends with two alien observers watching the rioting on Maple Street and discussing how easy it was to create paranoia and panic, and let the people of Earth destroy themselves—one place at a time.
"Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines...throw them into darkness for a few hours and then sit back and watch the pattern. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find and it's themselves."
Closing narration
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts... attitudes... prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own.... for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to..... The Twilight Zone."
posted by EnterCenter at 3:59 PM
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