We still have yet to see the faces of anyone, for the camera cuts off their heads or keeps them in the shadows. In the fourth scene, it is just the doctor and the nurse conversing about Janet. It just so happens that one of the most powerful scenes is one of the shortest in this episode. Consequently, when this episode did air, it made a dramatic impact on viewers who were living in a time where it was not okay to be different or speak out against society without being ridiculed. The fear of McCarthyism was also lingering in the air during this time for Senator McCarthy, known for false accusations of communists and treason, stopped serving in 1956, only a couple years before this episode aired. Whether that be in looks, sexuality, gender, race, etc… the early 1960s was not known for their acceptance.
When this show aired in 1960, a time of segregation, sexism, and general close-mindedness, our actual society had a habit of ostracizing those who did not conform to the societal norms and ideals. As previously stated, creator Rod Serling used his stories to reflect problems in society that he wished to address. This episode was meant to reach a very wide audience, those of which feel the need to conform to society which is almost anyone. After Janet realizes the injections did not work, she breaks down but accepts defeat and joins another “disfigured” man in their society and retreats with him to a community for disfigured people while the swine faced doctors and nurses watch in pity. Nevertheless, in this topsy turvy world, the swine faced doctors and nurses who would be disfigured to the viewers at home were the norm and beauty of society, and Janet Tyler, as stunning as she looked to the audience, was considered horribly disfigured. We then see the faces of the doctor and nurses, who are, in our society’s standards,horribly disfigured. However, the doctors and nurses all gasped in shock, disbelief, and horror and said the injections did not work. When Ms Tyler’s face is finally revealed, we see that she is in our society’s standards, stunning.
Although we do not see her face because it is bandaged up, or anyone else’s face due to being hidden in the shadows for the majority of the episode, we can infer through her dialogue and the comments made by her, the doctors, and the nurses that she is heinously hideous. Airing on November 11th, 1960 and running at 25 minutes and 14 seconds, Eye of the Beholder made a dramatic impact on viewers due to its intensely eerie nature and topsy turvy world.Įye of the Beholder was a science fiction story about a woman, Janet Tyler, or Patient 307 as she is referred to, who underwent 11 injections and failed surgeries to look like a normal member of society. One episode in particular, directed by Douglas Heyes, was notorious for the impact it left on viewers.
TWILIGHT ZONE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER SERIES
Debuting in 1959 and airing until 1964, this anthological series often left viewers contemplating their own thoughts through the stories creator Rod Serling painted out for them. The Twilight Zone was notoriously known for reflecting social and political issues in an entertaining and imaginative allegories.
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