Story Arc and Narratology of Rod
Serling’s The Twilight Zone
Primary Sources
A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone
Presnell, D., & McGee, M. (2008). A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone, 1959–1964.
McFarland.
This source is a brief overview of the History of the
Twilight Zone and the Episodes. The book references official novelisations of
the Twilight Zone. One reference tells an aspect of the show and Rod Serling
from the author of The Twilight Zone Companion.
It tells us the show (and Serling’s) concern of Humanity. Zicree Quotes
that the twilight zone was the first TV series to deal on a regular basis with
the theme of alienation – particularly urban alienation. The show stated a
simple message: The only escape from alienation lies in reaching out to others,
trusting in their common humanity. Give in to the fear and you are lost. The
Character inhabiting The Twilight Zone were ordinary people on the rise of
decline. It took no great leap for us to identify ourselves with these frail
and vulnerable souls and imagine that perhaps in some flight of fancy, some
slight tangent from the reality of the ordinary routine, what happened to these
characters might very well happen to us.
No time like the past: Hearing nostalgia in The Twilight Zone
Wissner, R. A. (2018). No time like the past: Hearing
nostalgia in The Twilight Zone. Journal
of Popular Television, 6(1), 59–80.
https://ezproxy.sit.ac.nz:3087/10.1386/jptv.6.1.59_1
Rod Serling’s favourite topics of exploration was Nostalgia.
Serling understood that we often see things looking back that were not there
and that the past is often Idealised. Many aging characters in the Twilight
Zone look back to the past to reclaim what they have lost. The reality is that
the characters nostalgia is not as great as they imagined it to be. Serling
evokes second chance and redemption themes, but with the intention of
demonstrating the implications and consequences of having the opportunity to
return to one’s past. Serling wanted to pull the heartstrings of the viewers
and intended for the show to prove that television could be simultaneously
entertaining. The stories were about people with common problems who
encountered fantasy.
Watch the episode “Walking Distance”
In The Zone: The Twilight World of Rod Serling
Wolfe, P. (1997). In
the Zone: the twilight world of Rod Serling. Popular Press.
Marc Scott Zicree also locates Serling’s creative urge in “a
Primary concern for people and their problems” and further, in some search for
an emotional truth, some attempt to make a statement on the human condition. He
states that Serling’s attitude here is one of acceptance, the familiar and the
homey stirring his imagination.
The Twilight Zone uses ordinary incidents to invoke an
abiding truth or suggest a new direction. This artistry transcends social and
intellectual categories. The Twilight Zone strips character, setting and
community down to an essence as bare as the underlying rhythms of nature. The
insights conveyed by this stripping-down can intrude upon myth. The Hidden
currents that governs lives, relations and whole communities flow through the
zone. These currents beckon us because we recognise a sameness between the
characters they support and ourselves.
Into The Twilight Zone - The Rod Serling Programme Guide
Lofficier, J. M., & Lofficier, R. (2003). Into the Twilight Zone: The Rod Serling
Programme Guide. iUniverse.
Episode Guide of The Twilight Zone.
The New Entrepreneurs – An Institutional History of Televisions
Anthology Writers
Kraszewski, J. (2010). The
new entrepreneurs: An institutional history of television anthology writers.
Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Rod Serling Experimented with a variety of narrative
conventions and generic identities on an episode-by-episode basis. Serling
wanted to write something “Science fiction but not science fiction” that
included elements of fantasy and a shocking ending. The agreement on a
narrative structure for The Twilight Zone took a long time to figure out as
Serling and CBS stopped their negotiations on Broadcasting the Twilight Zone
for 2 months. Serling’s voice over narrations set up audiences’ expectations
and interpretations of characters. The voice overs are distinct, recognizable
and a key to hear. They are the defining feature of The Twilight Zone. The
Twilight Zone addressed numerous social issues, including racism, communism,
conformism, and consumerism. Serling wrote that The Twilight Zone is a series
devoted to the stories of imagination, produced with care, attention and a
regard for maturity. Important themes for the show as shown from The Twilight
Zones publicity shots with pictures of a clock, a mannequin and a floating
eyeball., are Perception, Alternative modes of time and reality, and questions
about what constitutes a good society. Serling decided whether or not to
develop characters on The Twilight Zone. Many of the episodes function as
morality plays.
Spaceships and Politics – The Political Theory of Rod Serling
Feldman, L. D. (2010). Spaceships
and politics: The political theory of Rod Serling. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Serling was a student of human nature using fantasy and the
supernatural to Illustrate political ideas. Some stories show the examples of
nastiness, depressing and violent nature of humans abound. (To Serve Man” “Time
Enough at Last “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” etc) In fact a collection
of stories was quite violent, Including homicide, suicide, executions, etc.
According to Serling, we must understand the concept of fear and how it is
used. The concept of fear is an important political concept dating from the
origin of power. Humans are seen as frightened, subject to fear instilled by
the state or by other people, as well as self-interested, greedy and willing to
believe the worst about others. These character traits are often reflected in
the aliens that populate in The Twilight Zone. Fear Loneliness and isolation is
a common theme in the zone.
The Twilight Zone
Serling, R. (Producer). (1959). The Twilight Zone. [Television Series]. United States, CBS
Productions.
Serling, R. (Writer) & Robert Stevens (Director). (1959,
October 30). Walking Distance. [Television Episode] In Serling, R. (Producer), The Twilight Zone. United States, CBS Productions.
Opening Narration: “Martin Sloan, age thirty-six.
Occupation: vice-president, ad agency, in charge of media. This is not just a
Sunday drive for Martin Sloan. He perhaps doesn't know it at the time, but it's
an exodus. Somewhere up the road he's looking for sanity. And somewhere up the
road, he'll find something else” Martin Sloan stops to get his car serviced at
a gas station within walking distance of Homewood, his hometown. After walking
into town, he sees that the town has not changed since he was a boy. He walks
into the town drugstore and is confused that the prices of ice cream sodas are
only a dime. It is soon discovered that he is witnessing his own history at the
year of 1934. After finding himself, meeting his parents and accidentally
causing himself to fall off a carousel causing himself to have a limp. He is
told by his Father who now believes in his story that he should look ahead of
himself rather than looking in the past.
Serling, R. (Writer) & Wilson, R. (Director). (1960,
March 4). The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. [Television Episode] In
Serling, R. (Producer), The Twilight
Zone. United States, CBS Productions.
Opening Narration: “Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A
tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of
children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the
flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 P.M. on Maple Street...This is Maple
Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street in the last calm and reflective
moment - before the monsters came.” Maple street is your basic friendly
neighbourhood, and everything is going fine when a shadow passes over,
accompanied by a loud roar, a flash of light and falling stars. Originally the
townspeople believed it was a meteor, but as soon as the realise that all the
power in the neighbourhood goes off, including the vehicles power. Two Fellow
decided that they should go into town to see what is going on, but a local boy
tells them that they should not leave as he had read of a alien invasion story
causing similar issues. Along with the fact that some of the aliens are
disguised as humans. The Adults don’t believe him until one of the locals
somehow gets their car to start. Then the paranoia begins. Fingers start to be
pointed, accusations start to be made as more oddity’s start to happen until
someone spots a shadowy figure approaching them with a hammer. One of the
local’s panics, grabs a shotgun and shoots him. When everybody comes to look at
the body it turns out that its just another local. Lights then begin to flicker
on and off at other peoples houses and the street goes into a riot. Everybody
ascends into peak Panic and Paranoia. The scene cuts to a nearby hilltop, where
it is discovered that there are aliens, but they are using a device to manipulate
the neighbourhood. They state how simply fiddling with consistency leads people
to descend into paranoia and panic. And that this is a pattern that can be
exploited. They also discuss how they will conquer earth using this strategy,
one neighbourhood at a time. 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 a
thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of 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.”
Serling, R. (Writer) & Braham, J. (Director). (1959,
December 4). Time Enough at Last. [Television Episode] In Serling, R. (Producer),
The Twilight Zone. United States, CBS Productions.
Opening Narration: Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member
in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the
printed page, but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a
world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just
a moment, Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or
clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself... without anyone.
Henry is a man who only wants one thing in his life, and that is to read books.
He can’t read them at home because his wife doesn’t allow him to, so he tries
to read them at work. One day he sneaks into a bank vault (he works as a bank
teller) to read books, then the h bomb is dropped on his vicinity. He survives
but everything else doesn’t. He spends 8 hours looking for something to do but
he can’t find anything, except a gun. He plans to kill himself, but as he is
about to pull the trigger, he sees a sign, the public library. He checks it out
and all the books he ever wanted are there, he plans to read them all, but then
he fall over, his glasses fall off and now he is blind. There is nothing left
for Henry. He is “part of a smashed landscape.”
Secondary Sources
Unnatural Narratives – Unnatural Narratology
Alber, J., & Heinze, R. (Eds.). (2011). Unnatural narratives - unnatural narratology.
Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Unnatural narratology is not unnatural in itself but rather
a narratology of the unnatural. We thus ask readers to consider all such
instances as so specified. Generally speaking, the term unnatural has rather
negative connotations. It is, for example, used to denounce certain types of
behavior (as well as sexual orientations or practices) which the speaker
considers to be deviant or perverse. Plot is a detour. David Herman’s
definition of narrative as “a basic human strategy for coming to terms with
time, process, and change”
Editor’s Corner: What Is Story Arc
Wade, A. (2016). Editor’s Corner: What is Story Arc. Dog Ear Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.dogearpublishing.net/wordpress/what-is-story-arc/
The introduction, or exposition, is the beginning of the
story, in which the who, where, and when are introduced, along with the main
conflict, or main issue of contention between the characters.
The rising action develops the conflict, explaining why the
conflict is important and how it affects the characters.
The climax is the turning point of the story, in which the
characters are forced to confront the source of the conflict.
The falling action gives the reader a break from the frenzy
of the climax and shows how the characters have changed after their
experiences.
The resolution is where the story ends, and though the
conclusion doesn’t have to be uplifting, it does need to be satisfying to most
readers.
6 Story Arcs Define Western Literature, Data-Mining Study Reveals
Scharping, N. (2016). 6 Story Arcs Define Western
Literature, Data-Mining Study Reveals. Discover:
Science for the Curious. Retrieved from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/07/06/the-6-story-arcs-that-define-western-literature/#.XQbHKogzZaR
“Rags to riches” (the story gets better over time);
“Man in a hole” (fortunes fall, but the protagonist bounces
back);
“Cinderella” (there’s an initial rise in good fortunes,
followed by a setback, but a happy ending)
“Tragedy” or “riches to rags” (things only get worse);
“Oedipus” (bad luck, followed by promise, ending in a final
fall)
“Icarus” (opens with good fortunes, but doomed to fail)
A Writer’s Cheat Sheet to Plot and Structure
Herron, M, (n.d). A
Writer’s Cheatsheet to Plot and Structure. Retrieved from https://thewritepractice.com/plot-structure/
Plot is the series
of events that make up your story, including the order in which they occur and
how they relate to each other. Structure (also known as narrative structure),
is the overall design or layout of your story.
Three Act Structure:
This idea goes back to ancient Greek dramatic theory, so you know it’s been
time-tested. Aristotle said that every story has a beginning, a middle, and an
end (in ancient Greek, the protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe), and ancient
Greek plays often follow this formula strictly by having three acts.
A Disturbance and
Two Doorways: The disturbance is whatever happens early on in your story that
upsets the status quo. It can be a strange phone call in the middle of the
night, news of the death of a close relative, or anything that is a threat or a
challenge to your protagonist’s ordinary way of life.
The Living Handbook of Narratology
Meister, J C. (2013). Narratology. The Living Handbook of Narratology. Retrieved from https://wikis.sub.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/index.php/Narratology
Narratology is a humanities discipline dedicated to the
study of the logic, principles, and practices of narrative representation. Dominated
by structuralist approaches at its beginning, narratology has developed into a
variety of theories, concepts, and analytic procedures.
The Screenplay and the spectator: Exploring audience identification
in Narrative Structures
Finnegan, J. (2016). The screenplay and the spectator:
Exploring audience identification in narrative structure. Journal of Screenwriting, 7(3), 319–330.
https://ezproxy.sit.ac.nz:3087/10.1386/josc.7.3.319_1
Characters have a ‘want’
and ‘need’, a common trope in screenwriting guides and manuals, to develop a
protagonist’s arc throughout a story. Analyst Patrick Cattrysee revision
expands on this theory to include the audience and their subconscious
connection with a character. This connection can generate feelings of sympathy
and empathy, which can lead to identification. It can also create feelings of
fear or anxiety in the audience based on their knowledge of the character.
Storytelling as a Theory-Building Activity
Ochs, E. & Taylor, C. & Rudolph, D. & Smith, R.
(1992). Storytelling and Theory Construction. Storytelling as a Theory-Building Activity. Retrieved from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/ochs/articles/Storytelling_as_a_Theory-building_Activity.pdf
World of Theory: Recognising
and expressing different points of view adopted by story protagonists and fellow
narrators (Perspective talking)
Ability to see one’s
own and others’ stories as possible ‘versions’ or ‘theories’ rather than necessarily
factual accounts of what has happened
Competence to
weight different perspectives on a set of events, evaluating and challenging the
appropriateness and validity of narrative theories (analytic/critical thinking)
Ability to rework/reframe
the perspectives of both protagonists within the story narratives and
co-narrators who are analysing the same story from their own vantage points. (Theory
reconstruction)
storytelling is
only one type of narrative activity which
families and peer
groups share, and which offers the possibilities for theory building. The parallels
for perspective-taking and theory-making which are afforded in planning-the
future-time counterpart of storytelling in that it too represents a problem-centred
narrative activity.
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