The Cycle Of Fear In Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

When fear Seizes someone, they are no longer able to make rational decisions. In the science fiction short story “Monsters are due on Maple Street,” by Rod Serling, Season 1, episode 22, fear takes over almost an entire neighborhood. The twilight zone is a very old T.V. show in which the theme of the short shows usually based on all of the flaws in humanity. The First taste of prejudice is the very thought that creates pandemonium on Maple Street.

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is a screenplay by Rod Serling that was televised as part of the Twilight Zone television series, a popular series that began in 1959 and is still televised today. After reading and then watching the selection, I prefer the teleplay over the episode.

In both versions there are many differences and few similarities. Rod Serling, changed updates to relate time period to a modern theme. "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" 1960 version is black and white and the 2002 version is in color. The 1960 version is less violent how the 2002 version is very violent. The characters change for looking and dressing alike to look nothing alike in the 1960 episode everyone is white fancy as where the 2002 episode has people who don’t care who they look like and they don’t have the same skin color.

The series Twilight Zone is a show that combines science fiction with society. Every episode ends with a shocking, unexpected twist. “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” is an episode that informs society about the fear of prejudice and hysteria. In this episode, a loud shadow in the sky passes through Maple Street. The shadow is actually a meteor. Unexpected and strange things start to happen like the electricity and cars turning off. The people who live on Maple become very curious on what the meteor has done to the neighbors living on the street. A young boy named Tommy tells the adults that everything weird happening is because of the aliens from outer space, which he read about in a comic book. First the

“Sheer mayhem breaks out, neighbor battling neighbor, grabbing for rifles, bricks, even the hammer from Pete Van Horn’s body,” (Serling, page 15). This describes the final scene of a provocative short story in The Twilight Zone. The Twilight Zone is a televised show set in the 1960s with short episodes in no specific order. These stories all have the darkest of themes to share about humanity’s true nature. In the short story, “Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” by Rod Serling, the author contributes to the theme that prejudice and scapegoating are weapons of humanity. When the idea of prejudice first kicks in, Maple Street gets a little taste of madness.

The author started by presenting the problem with monsters and how does it affect the human’s imagination. Next, Genoways presents a little bit of what happened during World War II, also “discussing the public panic that occurred after Orson Welles’s famous broadcast of War of the Worlds” (Genoways, 130). Later the author presents his legitimacy knowledge on both sides of the argument. Genoways uses examples of the real life event that happen in the United States in order to explain how the fear of the past is similar to the fear in now in days but deeper. Third, the author presents his point of view. Which is that if a human being gave in their fear will face the real possibility of losing their freedom. Lastly, he explains that humans need to find a way to being seen as a strong community, and that everywhere we go, there are

In the article “Monsters and the Moral Imagination,” Stephen Asma, a professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago, argues that the existence of monsters have a purpose in our lives. It is not only to reveal our deepest fears, but to question our moral instincts. Being attacked by fictional monsters seems impractical, however, chaos and disasters do happen and exist in the real world. The creation of monsters is due to our reaction of our fears and the inability to control the world we live in.

Charlie pulls the trigger and shoots the monster. As the group approaches the monster, the find out that it’s Pete Van Horn… and he’s dead. It “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”, everything stops working and turns off. The people blame aliens and all turn against one another. The plot is not realistic in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” because the car started by itself, the people blamed the power outage on aliens, and Charlie shoots Pete because he believes he’s a monster.

The more we begin to understand a monstrosity, the less we fear the monster itself, however, we fear the actions of the creature itself. Perhaps it is this fear that draws us closer to the unknown and the monsters thrive upon this fear we have. Asma discusses how this fear allows for individuals to play out scenarios in their minds; we then use the events to ultimately ask ourselves, “what will I do in a situation like that (Asma)?” Dating back to the early days of Christ in a biblical era, we see monsters have always been on the rise.

What if someone you knew was not who they were? What if they were aliens or terrorists? That’s what happens in the 1960 and the 2003 version of Rod Serling’5s teleplay. In the 1960 version the neighbors are accusing each other of being aliens and taking away each other’s power from their houses and cars. While in the 2003 version they think terrorists are doing this from the recent 9/11. This shows that fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other.

Inside us all there is a deep dark fear this is what grabs us by the thresh hold of life. It controls the most important aspects of our lives. This is found within the deepest and darkest chasms of our souls. The very creature that wreaks havoc in our minds we cage and never confront we lock this beast away to afraid to overcome it. If the beast is not confronted it begins to contort and change who we are as a person and how we interact with others. Even the very decisions we make as a person to affect those around us and are loved ones to also suffer the consequences of our actions. Such as the crucible and how each person was warped into their own monster by greed.

Have you ever heard of aliens landing on Earth and turning all the power off on one street? Well on “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” they do. It all starts one day when everybody was having a good time outside doing yard work and playing. Then, out of nowhere a HUGE meteor passes overhead. After that all the power goes out even the cars and radios. A fourteen year old boy, Tommy, says that the meteor was a alien space ship, and that there are four aliens among them that look just like humans. After a few hours everybody starts accusing each other, fighting, and shooting each other. Then we (the readers) find out that it was aliens all along, but they never got off the spaceship. They just turned

Did you ever blame someone for something they didn’t do, just so you could be in the clear? In both of these videos, they turn their fear into blame. They do this in the video, “The Monsters are due on Maple Street” (1960) and “The Monsters on Maple Street” (2003). The author is Rod Serling for the original story that was then turned into the two movies. In the older version, there is a voice of reason, which is Steve. Steve tries to calm everyone down, and informs them that they shouldn’t be finger pointing because of their fear. The newer version is along the same lines, however, Will Marshall, who’s the new voice of reason, can’t get anywhere close to calming his neighbors. However, both stories still have the same theme, fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other.

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty."-Ralph Waldo Emerson. As a wise man once stated, fear leads to superstition and that is clearly shown in the monsters on maple street by Rod Serling. In the book it's a average day on Maple Street, USA until an unknown object flies overhead. Shortly after, the power goes out, along with, everything else! Lawn mowers, portable radios, even there are cars aren't working! Afraid of what's happening and desperately looking for an answer the inhabitants of Maple Street believe a comic book plot proposed by a young boy named Tommy. Where four aliens that look like humans came down upon the world, shutting off all their machines. Suddenly accusations of being a

In the drama, ¨The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street¨ by Rod Serling, the plot is advanced by the importance of the events and characters’ actions by giving it interest and dimension. Tommy tells everyone about the monsters/aliens, but nobody believes him;¨They don't want us to leave.That's why they shut everything off,¨Tommy explains about the aliens, but no one believed him but soon after, it sparked the cause of the weird things happening.Charlie killed Pete Van Horn,¨You killed him, Charlie. You shot him dead!¨Charlie grabbed the gun and shot it at a dark figure that turned out to be Pete Van Horn, after that they begin to suspect Charlie is the monster. They all blame each other more intensely,¨I tell you, it's the kid.¨As the stress