In all of her discussion of the utopian/dystopian tension in the early years of TV, Lynn Spiegel never mentions one of my favorite TV shows of all time, The Twilight Zone. The connections seems particularly apt when we view her book as an argument about many meta aspects of television: TV shows depicting TV consumption. She describes the space-making aspect of TV: "Given its ability to bring 'another world', it is not suprising that television was often figured as the ultimate expression of progress in utopian statements concerning 'man's' ability to conquer and domesticate space" (102). This makes me think of one Twilight Zone in particular called "People are Alike All Over" which aired in the first season, 1960. The basic plot is that a rocketship crashes on Mars, and the pilots are concerned whether Martians will be friendly or monstrous. When they eventually work up the nerve to leave the ship they find that Martians appear humanlike in almost every way, except that they can read minds. With the ability the hospitable Martians decipher the exact ideal domestic space of Humanity and create a model home for the astronauts to live in, including a big ol' TV. This seems too good to be true, and it is; before long the men realize that the windows and doors to their home are sealed shut. They look outside to see that the Martians are gawking at them, in a perfectly replicated Human zoo.
I think this expression of domestic paranoia is a parody of both the "big brother syndrome" and fear of isolation
within the home theater that drives Spiegel's chapter. TV seems too good to be true in a way; there is always the possibility of an invisible feedback loop,which Spiegel characterizes as the "new TV eye [threatening] to turn back on itself, the penetrate the the private window and to monitor the eroticized fantasy life of the citizen in his of her home" (118). Most episodes of the Twilight Zone do exactly this: turning the idealized mirror of reality back at the viewer, exposing the neuroses and desires hidden in the communal subconscious. So it seems strange to me that she doesn't discuss the show, (although I understand we have just read an excerpt and the fact that the show starts in the 1960s while her archive is focused on the 50s). I can't help but thinking that the Twilight Zone wouldn't fit her argument, despite its topical relevance, because of its focus on a dystopian world outlook whereas Spiegel seems, for better of worse, to be hellbent on overturning conventional wisdom about the boob-tube and culture of mass deception that broadcasting heralds. Community in the world of Rod Serling is fraught with greed, paranoia, and nearly universal distrust, while Spiegel tries to paint the opposite picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment