The ending was so powerful. He was sentenced because he didn't care one bit about anyone but himself, now he' s going to be sentenced because he cares too much. Either way you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't!!! Fight the power!!!
Correct. My friends think I lack self control because I have decided that some laws just aren't fair and worth following entirely. And that they would be a greater detriment to people than a help to them if I continued what is persisted by everyone else. But that is a stereotype, and the society in the story is what you get when you turn off all critical thinking skills. Those who can handle a greater amount of reality have more self control abilities. Not less.
I love the irony of this episode. The ruling regime tries to discourage coldness and lack of empathy by... encouraging people to be cold and lack empathy.
That ending was beautiful! What kind of twisted society requires you to be warm and caring to everyone, punishes you with invisibility if you aren't, and yet, demands that you be cold towards those who are invisible themselves? That's a double standard...
it's similar to our justice system we take in prisoners and expect them to learn their lesson and then spit them out into society with a print on their record, limiting their job opportunities
We live in a world of double standards... what our politicians and rich leaders pass as law, they make themselves immune to... when was the last time you saw a senator or congressman or higher in u.s. politics get arrested for DUI, or any sexual crimes??? Not in many, many years... they are exempt... in England, last year or the year before, because of too many accusations of pedophilia towards members of parliament, they made themselves exempt from being brought up on charges of pedophilia... Bet you didn't know any of that shit... but i assure you its all true... and don't mention Mayor Marion Berry... he was a mayor of a city... Governor runs a state... but, Mayor Berry hardly served any punishment anyway and went on to be mayor of D.C. afterwards also... "goddamn bitch set me up!!!" I'll never forget that line from my childhood... ha ha haaaa... goddamn bitch set me up... 🖕🤪🖕
I am a lifelong shmoozer. And now having reached the age of 70, I joyfully chat up people all the time. It's a delight. But...every so often, as happened in a Salvation Army Thrift Shop the other day, I said out loud, "I found a lovely coat here with a carved bone button. And only 7 dollars!!" The young man next to me blinked a moment, then sniffed, "And..so..how is that in any way related to ME?" Some folks just... never learn.
the hypocritical state said he was cold and uncaring but yet he's going to end up being punished with another year of invisibility for being warm and caring. Orwell called this "DOUBLETHINK" -meaning the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.Damn the State! He was punished for not having compassion,and he's going to be punished again for having compassion.
Wow the ending almost made me cry. He did the right thing, even if it meant going through the same sentence again, he did it with pride. Also who was paying his bills all that time?
@@bentonrp Wow! Thanks for bumping this. I made this comment 13 years ago! This was a blast from the past, I didn't even recognize what I wrote. A wave of nostalgia just hit me from back in my early teen years when I would fuck around and watch stuff like this on youtube for hours on end. Surprised that this video is still up.
I agree. If you can stand all of the hard jawline, huge skull, MTF transgenders. The old ones were before inside the jaw surgeries. How some of these fooled anybody is beyond me. Be safe.
it's funny that if the only punishment for talking to an "invisible" person is to become ignored, then the whole system depends on the people ignoring the invisible ones. lol
* Very enjoyable....Excellent premise, writing, and thoughtful acting. Very touching at the end! I had tears in my eyes. This was one of the better episodes of TZ in my opinion. I loved the ending. Wow. Thanks for sharing. :)
Ironic ending. To care about the Invisible is itself the ultimate act of caring. Yet, that act is an capital offense that will cause you to become an Invisible as punishment. This is the very essence of the yin and yang or duality of life as taught by the Buddha. You cannot have one without the other. It also reminds me of the saying by Dostoevsky: “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
The saddest aspect of this is that, he was sentenced to invisibility for being uncaring. The experience taught him to be caring, and then, he was essentially punished to that 🤔
@Hunpecked Nah, your ending misses the point. The narrator says it, "he wears his invisibility like a shield of glory." A man can literally put up with anything if he feels he is being noble. This guy knows exactly what the punishment is for showing compassion, and he takes it on willingly to come to the aid of a weaker human being who needs it. You can even see in his attitude from the beginning that he spits on the dictates of society. This is a real man who can stand apart.
As someone who is a passionate communicator, the premise is one that I think about constantly. I'm 39 years old, have watched television my entire life and this is the first time I have seen this premise explored. I enjoyed it. Yes, I see the Orwellian aspects of it (not that it is difficult). Is this the way we are headed? Only human beings are capable of providing an answer and, as human beings, we are unequipped to know the future. Is this where we are at now? Perhaps more surprisingly, none of us can know e.g. what took place in the deserts of Mongolia three seconds ago? If life is an exploration, then this episode of The Twilight Zone made a contribtuion. So too the comments here. Quite beautiful I feel and think.
People talk about how sick and cruel this fictional society is but it's pretty much the same way we treat the homeless in the real world, only worse. At least the invisible people in this world have access to shelter, clothing, and food.
There! I pronounce this my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone of the 80's! Very disturbing, very Twilight Zone as the world knows it, very Serling. Wow! Loved it!
Yes I know. I saw the episode ages ago when it was on TV. However, he learned that a person is a person. He didnt want to be cold to anyone ever again because of the way he was treated. So if he condemns himself again, it will be worth it since he doesn't want to be cold ever again.
The episode ended too soon. When he's serving his sentence for hugging the girl, and comes to her for comfort, she--no longer invisible--spurns him again. Now THAT'S a TZ ending. :-)
For some reason, I always listen to U2's Pride (In the Name of Love) as outro music to this episode. A truly powerful segment of the new(er) Twilight Zone.
Could you imagine if Kate Upton got this sentence? After a couple of weeks she could just walk into any bar and go "Who wants to tap this shit?" and all these drones would be going off "VIOLATION! Sir you are in VIOLATION!"
Exactly, the point of his being invisable was to not be cold to people, and when his sentence was over, he started to care. And that also meant to treat others humane whether they are invisable or not.
Moral of the story: whatever we do, Power will always consider us wrong. We will always be at fault in his eyes, even if we submit to his diktat: the definition of fascism.
I think that this is a commentary on how we treat one another. Many religions advocate to treat people well, but often come down harsh on those who do not conform. This film is based on a short story by Robert Silverberg, who is Jewish and has incorporated many Jewish themes into his works. I can't help but wonder if this story is based on the Jewish belief of declaring people who marry outside the faith to be dead.
@MultiRan1 Just want to say how much I appreciated your comment. I don't know if you are familiar with C.S. Lewis, but he talks about suffering in exactly the same terms you do.
In regards to everyone who says that they would do whatever they want, and for those who are wondering why he didn't... there was still a government, even if he was invisible. The drones were watching his every move and the government had the power to force him to stop doing whatever he wanted. They would extend his punishment or increase the level of banishment, in a sense.
If I was to be punished for not showing enough emotion, I'd just move to Vulcan and live among Spock and his people. In fact, I wonder if they have a punishment for showing too much emotion. Are you sentenced to be "visible" and live a year having everyone talking to you and acting like your best bud until you go batshit?
@mattgarciatx Exactly the point of the ending. I had forgotten about this epidsode until a couple days ago and thought I'd look it up here. The fact that learning the error of your ways and then acting on what you'd learned would be the wrong thing is so..human.
Not necessarily. She was at the same point he was at when the whole invisiblitiy thing lost its luster and he became desperate for compansionship. But no one was there willing to break the law for him. This time around, he was willing to care for someone considered invisible.
He was caught in a total "catch-22". Convicted of "coldness", he learned his lesson and served his sentence. If he continued to ignore her, he would be, technically, guilty of his prior crime. If he gave her attention, he would be guilty of ignoring the invisibility sentence. Kind of indicative of many laws today that contradict each other. They're out there.
@IHateRidge Congratulations on completely missing the point and totally misunderstanding Rod Serling. Rod Serling came from the old school of liberals who believed in honor, war, individual independence as well as 60's liberal ideas of integration, see his episodes on the civil war where he showed honor to the confederates and made them out to be heroes. The point of this episode is that the hero is a rebel against the brutality of this "socially just" totalitarian society.
Just think of the "All seeing eye" (judges/government) as being analagous to the concept of "Big Brother" in George Orwell's 1984. Big Brother (a government power) is always keeping an eye on you one way or another.
This idea of punishment is interesting but strewn with many problems... how does this guy provide for himself? What happens if he engages in some illegal activity? How would he be able to actually do anything, e.g. buy necessities? Despite the gaps in logic, I think Serling would have been proud!
Keep in mind, you also recieve no medical treatment. So, say you get rather greviously ill or - modify what happened in the episode - you get run over by someone while crossing the street. What happens then?
But what would happen if you got sick or injured and couldn't get the proper medical care? What would happen if you were shot or stabbed and ended up bleeding to death because no one would help? What would happen if you had a shitty day and all you really wanted was to talk to someone about it to vent it out? This episode shows that even though there are freedoms to the sentencing, there are also drawbacks too. Besides all that other stuff would lose its luster after a while.
I love this episode. They punish this guy for "coldness, and lack of emotional connection to others in society," (check out the very beginning) and then adopt the traits of coldness and lack of care towards others to punish. They commit the "crimes" they punished him for, but they're OK because everyone else is doing it. That is what's forged w/in this TZ society. It's like cultist behavior. Maybe he was "cold" to them from the start b/c he realized they were @#$holes!
The protagonist is punished because he is not conforming to the wishes of those who want to control him. He is cold and not showing enough compassion to his fellow human beings. In the end, he is showing too much compassion by speaking to an invisible person. In both cases, he did not conform, he did not give up his freedom as an individual. And I would have done the same, and maybe, smash some of those computers while I'm at it.
That would have ruined the whole point of the story. He was sentenced to invisibility because of his coldness, so he would learn what it was like to be treated poorly. He learned not to be so cold, but he learned it too well.
But in this world, to speak to someone who was invisible was a crime, to help the invisible people learn their lessons. This is very similar to the religious practice of shunning people.
well that was stupid of him....shes serving a sentence for a crime....now he has to do another year and I guarantee she walks right by him once shes freed...she not gonna wanna do another year of that crap
@MultiRan1 & @boy18inva: Yes. Buddha, for example, chooses to give up the wealth and status he is born into, and through the suffering he has chosen to take on, becomes enlightened. But when suffering is caused, or intentionally created, specifically to BE "suffering," even if for the purpose of seeking "the good," it is a lost cause. People are not like metals; what causes one person to flourish may stunt or delay another. There are no robo-recipes for human development. Everyone's unique.
wouldn't it have been better to just lock them in a small room with no window for a year? at least then you wouldn't have to worry about reimbursing for damages caused.
Honestly. It was meant as a frivolous comment. Obviously theres lots of drawbacks. The medical treatment that you mentioned. Also. I don't care how unsociable your are you'll need human contact eventually.
That actors name is Cotter Smith. Sounds very puritan WASP. Very Cotton Mather-like. But he looks strangely vaguely ethnic, which was a necessary quality for leading men in the 80s. A bit Belushi-like or Steve Guttenbergish.
Free food. Free accommodation. Free booze. Get to look at naked chicks in a spa. Doesn’t need to work. Doesn’t have to engage in mindless small talk with a bunch of shallow 80s yuppies.... I love this episode but this aint punishment. It’s my idea of paradise :)
"CITIZENS, YOU ARE FAILING TO WEAR A MASK OR ENGAGE IN SOCIAL DISTANCING...THE PENALTY FOR THIS BEHAVIOR SHALL BE NO LESS THAN ONE YEAR OF LOCKDOWN." ...think about it. :(
I agree. This episode could and SHOULD have been better. He should've been more violent and destructive - that would actually have made this a superior episode. I think less of this episode now than I did when I posted that comment.
Disagree. It was excellent. Remember, his crime was “coldness,” Not vandalism or any kind of violent crime. In a sense, he was punished for an attitude/thought crime.
A very good story, but should not be seen as universal. The fallacy in the story is a basic assumption that all humans crave (no matter how deeply buried inside) human attention and companionship. While it certainly is the norm, ask the old mountain men who used to live their lives isolated from society and maybe only once a year would come back to civilization in order to get the supplies they needed. Yes, these men would have a good time at "Rendevous," a few days out o the year - with the primary goal there of selling furs and obtaining things they needed in the wild. But note they chose to go back into isolation. The immoral overtones and hedonism of society today make for an ignoring of how we are losing our freedoms. This overtone makes it a lot easier to be disgusted with the modern brainwashed-puppet mindset controlled by the media such that this type of isolation - from the shame of what man is becoming - is a lot more desirable than ever before.
+Lee Brewer I look at it a bit differently, but on basic par. I see the world divided between 10% "individualism", and about 90% collectivism. Knowing the pipeline between progressive/communism and hollywood since the 50's, I think it is safe to assume a underlying premise of "how individualism does not work" is in this story also. communism (any form of collectivism) teaches that "individualism" means the individual is on their own, or "invisible" to others. But that is not true, in a free market, in a "citizen owned capitalism" society, (not the fascism we have today), with "individual rights", people work together by free will, for mutual benefit. That also lead to employees, expanding opportunity for them also,---like I experienced personally. (Most of the people I worked for, worked for somebody else first, and I did the same.) With collectivism,-- the renascence, the age of reason, the enlightenment period, capitalism, (citizen owned), with individual rights implemented in the USA, and the entire industrial revolution,----- is ignored. We will get exactly what we deserve, and it all depends on what we have been taught.
+EarthSurferUSA The bottom line is, "individual rights" and our right to trade competitively (capitalism as part of our individual rights) with each other, forms a civil and prosperous society. It has been proven over and over, that when we trade by good will as a citizenry,---we become best friends. I need stickers for my business (for example), so I have a print shop make them---good business based on skill--not anything else. I love to make friends with anybody who loves our capitalism that I and others can do business with. How do you think the "lesser brute powerful" Indian tribes were able to exist when confronted with a more powerful tribe? "TRADE"
