Consumerism In The Twilight Zone

To understand The Twilight Zone, it is important to look at the writer and producer, Rod Serling, to gaze into his past and receive answers. Rod Serling was born December 25, 1924 in Syracuse, New York. After graduating from high school in 1942, Serling joined the United States Army. Experiencing the horrible acts of World War II made Serling concerned for a moral society. Upon returning from war, Rod Serling attended Antioch College. His senior year he began writing for CBS where he developed his unique style of writing. By the beginning of the nineteen-fifties Serling made a full time career out of his writings. He then went on to write for NBC. This was his break-out stage, when he wrote the hit television series, Patterns. Throughout the fifties Serling wrote about serious issues in society. Tired of this type of writing, Serling began writing science fiction and fantasy. According to PBS, Science Fiction allowed Rod

If you’ve ever been in a history class, I am sure you have heard of the concept of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” If we reflect on that statement of “The Pursuit of Happiness”, what really makes people happy? Is it money? Power? Love? Some believe that a higher power is the only place we can find happiness. We worship and try to live up to these ideologies because we have been taught to fulfill the American Dream. With the way that society is heading, the answer may not be soon revealed. Maybe not even in our lifetime. We are programmed from a young age to have a herd mentality, and want everything that we don’t have or need for that matter. We try to keep up with the Jones’

When the Soviet Union came into possession of a nuclear bomb, the realization that the horrific aftermath, much like the one in Hiroshima, could happen in America struck fear into Americans.

The iconic Rod Serling contributed to televisions “Golden Age”, the writer and director of the very accomplished series " The Twilight Zone” and “The Night Gallery”, has not only dazzled the world with his mind boggling work in the expansive sci-fi genre but has also successfully utilized his position in television and radio to speak out against socialism.

The beginning of consumerism was a major development in the United States because of the new era of living. But before i continue let's talk about consumerism and what it is; consumerism it is the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers. Which is exactly what happened, people started to buy more and more with credit, allowing them to get ti and pay for it later. This later became what changed the society. The overall use of consumerism created a more comfortable living style and lead to the common use of technology, shopping sprees and many other things. The causes and effects of consumerism and conformity are based off of the social, political, and economic aspects of the 1940-1960’s.

Culture jamming even relates to shoplifting; shoplifting can be seen as a manifestation of culture jamming. Rachel Shteir in the chapter Robin Hoods 2.0 explores shoplifting as a cultural phenomenon. There are many reasons why people shoplift such as economic dislocation, compensation, addiction, or entitlement. The main reason is to steal from big corporations because shoplifters think that they are doing a right thing and it is sabotage against big corporations.

The Rise of Consumerism The definition of consumerism is “Continual expansion of one's wants and needs for goods and services”, and that is exactly what the rise of consumption was all about. It was a time when everything stopped being about basic needs and more about buying anything and everything people thought they needed, or as the definition says, “...expansion of one’s wants and needs”. It wasn’t only that people thought they needed it, they were actually being convinced and told by business’ that they needed it.

In Brave New World the being the people worship is Ford, which Huxley took from Henry Ford, creator of the assembly line and Model T cars. In Huxley's’ era consumerism is becoming and big thing so he makes that a big part of the book. Everyone is persuaded to buy things all the time. Things they don't need and they throw away and buy new things instead of repairing them.

During the early twentieth century, the consumerism began to develop in American. The Americans economy took several years to begin to recover. The capita grew by thirty percent and unemployment stayed below five percent.

Sigmund Freud’s theory about a repressive civilization can be seen more prominently in Dawn of the Dead because we know how they contributed to society prior to the apocalypse. Stephen and Francine worked for a television network, and Peter and Roger are both police officers. They have all deserted their responsibilities to guarantee their own immediate survival as the zombie turmoil boils out of control. When there is no authority in power, society can’t defend itself from the packs of zombies. Those who scheme their own course of action are either consumed by the dead or executed by more civilized beings.

The 20’s were a period of excess, advertisement and high wages fueled this idea of consumerism.  People were convinced that they always needed the newest thing and would go to great lengths to acquire these new inventions such as the washing machine. The 20’s was composed of excess buying and new more modern ideas of music and dress and the emergence of the middle class.

Rodman Sterling is considered one of the best television writers in American history. Starting from a small city town within Syracuse, New York, the experiences of war and the injustices within the workplace developed Rod’s concern for the state of society. He went forward to get a degree in English literature and drama. As his talent for writing developed, he received several Emmy awards and became one of the best things to happen to television (PBS). Sterling’s playwright ability enabled him to bring quality entertainment to Americans in a media infected with mediocrity. Knowing Sterling’s motivation to use the Twilight Zone as a social commentary enables a more in-depth understanding of his use of ingenuity to sneak in controversial themes into a fantastical world.

The concept of free-market played an essential role in making American people in the 1960s believe that it is important for them to fight communism through any means possible. Consumerism had reached a point where it had become indispensable and the benefits that it brought along made it difficult and virtually impossible for the community to express interest in economic systems other than capitalism. One of the principal reasons why the Cold War occurred relates to the West's obsession with materialism and with the fact that this precious concept could be destroyed as a result of communist ideas pervading the Western society.

America has developed a strong sense of consumerism over the last decades. This has led to an increase in production levels and the variety of products available. This is in a way a result of America’s strong economy and availability of resources. This boom in the market has also introduced new marketing techniques that try to increase the level of consumption in America even further. Two of these techniques are planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence. Both of these techniques target the average consumer and make him constantly replace his possessions using physical and psychological factors. The sale of electronic devices for entertainment benefits a lot from planned and perceived obsolescence, and although this happens mainly in the United States, El Salvador is no stranger to this phenomenon.

The growth of consumerism began in the early 1800’s with the birth of the industrial revolution. Because of the revolution companies were able to rapidly and efficiently produce products for a low cost which made them accessible to a larger demographic. This unrestricted access to products sent America into an era of mass production and consumption and with the growth in production came competition between companies. Commodities such as razors, soaps, and condoms became targeted towards certain people and started a branding race for all personal products. The marketing and advertisement of personal products has greatly impacted the advancement of America’s capitalist society.