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Popular Culture and Philosophy #121
The Twilight Zone and Philosophy: A Dangerous Dimension to Visit
In The Twilight Zone and Philosophy, philosophers probe into the meaning of the classic TV series, The Twilight Zone. Some of the chapters look at single episodes of the show, while others analyze several or many episodes. Though acknowledging the spinoffs and reboots, the volume concentrates heavily on the classic 1959-1964 series.
Among the questions raised and answered are:
● What's the meaning of personal identity in The Twilight Zone? ("Number 12 Looks Just Like You," "Person or Persons Unknown").
● As the distinction between person and machine becomes less clear, how do we handle our intimacy with machines? (A question posed in the very first episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Lonely").
● Why do our beliefs always become uncertain in The Twilight Zone? ("Where Is Everybody?")
● Just where is the Twilight Zone? (Sometimes it's a supernatural realm but sometimes it's the everyday world of reality.)
● What does the background music of The Twilight Zone teach us about dreams and imagination?
● Is it better to lose the war than to be damned? ("Still Valley")
● How far should we trust those benevolent aliens? ("To Serve Man")
● Where's the harm in media addiction? ("Time Enough at Last")
● Is there something objective about beauty? ("The Eye of the Beholder")
● Have we already been conquered? ("The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street")
● Are there hidden costs to knowing more about other people? ("A Penny for Your Thoughts")
Among the questions raised and answered are:
● What's the meaning of personal identity in The Twilight Zone? ("Number 12 Looks Just Like You," "Person or Persons Unknown").
● As the distinction between person and machine becomes less clear, how do we handle our intimacy with machines? (A question posed in the very first episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Lonely").
● Why do our beliefs always become uncertain in The Twilight Zone? ("Where Is Everybody?")
● Just where is the Twilight Zone? (Sometimes it's a supernatural realm but sometimes it's the everyday world of reality.)
● What does the background music of The Twilight Zone teach us about dreams and imagination?
● Is it better to lose the war than to be damned? ("Still Valley")
● How far should we trust those benevolent aliens? ("To Serve Man")
● Where's the harm in media addiction? ("Time Enough at Last")
● Is there something objective about beauty? ("The Eye of the Beholder")
● Have we already been conquered? ("The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street")
● Are there hidden costs to knowing more about other people? ("A Penny for Your Thoughts")
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
264 pages, Paperback
Published October 9, 2018
7 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Heather L. Rivera
5 books6 followersHeather Rivera was born and raised in New York.
Heather has studied Philosophy with a specialty in Philosophy through Film, Evil, Metaphysics and Aesthetics for the past five years. She has written a book that shows connections between philosophical texts and films titled "The Problem with Evil". She has been invited to guest lecture at Suffolk County Community College regarding "Jean Baudrillard in relation to Art" and "Descartes as he relates to the film Inception". In addition to having her Philosophical discoveries through the media of films published in "Philosophy Now" magazine (Alice and Wonderland a philosophical view and Inception meets Philosophy), she has been invited to deliver papers at professional philosophy conferences (Long Island Philosophical Society).
In addition to Heather's writing and studies, she is also a popular emerging photographic artist. She has managed to break the photographer's mold by learning techniques on her own, and never being formally trained. Her self-taught photography has been regarded as daring, bold, and innovative by others in the photography world. Heather has a keen eye for what other people often see as mundane situations and puts a new twist on the everyday norm. Her conceptual art is often dark, full of emotions and truly makes the viewer rethink their initial reactions.
Heather has studied Philosophy with a specialty in Philosophy through Film, Evil, Metaphysics and Aesthetics for the past five years. She has written a book that shows connections between philosophical texts and films titled "The Problem with Evil". She has been invited to guest lecture at Suffolk County Community College regarding "Jean Baudrillard in relation to Art" and "Descartes as he relates to the film Inception". In addition to having her Philosophical discoveries through the media of films published in "Philosophy Now" magazine (Alice and Wonderland a philosophical view and Inception meets Philosophy), she has been invited to deliver papers at professional philosophy conferences (Long Island Philosophical Society).
In addition to Heather's writing and studies, she is also a popular emerging photographic artist. She has managed to break the photographer's mold by learning techniques on her own, and never being formally trained. Her self-taught photography has been regarded as daring, bold, and innovative by others in the photography world. Heather has a keen eye for what other people often see as mundane situations and puts a new twist on the everyday norm. Her conceptual art is often dark, full of emotions and truly makes the viewer rethink their initial reactions.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 7, 2019
This book rocked my fucking world! A new favorite on mine. Definitely will be entering the philosophy of The Twilight Zone again for a re-read.
April 4, 2019
[2.5] I’m a Twilight Zone fanatic. I own and have read several books that deal with mostly the original series. It’s my absolute favorite show of all time and any chance I have to delve deeper into The Twilight Zone, I take it. I was so excited when I came across this book, as a philosophical dissection of TTZ is a dream to any fan. But while this book does contain some fascinating insight, most of it veers off course and from my own humble opinion, the philosophers tend to do a lot of rambling.
There’s chapters I really found compelling. For instance, “Where is The Twilight Zone?” asked the question if philosophy could help us find the exact location of TTZ. Also, in “True Love or Artificial Love?”, episodes involving AI were discussed in really interesting ways. But chapters like those were early in the book. The further you got into this read the more the same episodes seemed to be discussed. Also, in the beginning of the chapters towards the end the philosophers posed questions in a way related to TTZ but then proceeded to give you long history lessons instead.
The few sections I enjoyed made the book worth the read but in its entirety, it all becomes quite a blur by the time you’re done.
There’s chapters I really found compelling. For instance, “Where is The Twilight Zone?” asked the question if philosophy could help us find the exact location of TTZ. Also, in “True Love or Artificial Love?”, episodes involving AI were discussed in really interesting ways. But chapters like those were early in the book. The further you got into this read the more the same episodes seemed to be discussed. Also, in the beginning of the chapters towards the end the philosophers posed questions in a way related to TTZ but then proceeded to give you long history lessons instead.
The few sections I enjoyed made the book worth the read but in its entirety, it all becomes quite a blur by the time you’re done.
January 12, 2024
If you are a fan of the ever iconic and still relevant Rod Serling masterpiece then this is the book for you. It is at times a commentary on a show that was already, itself, a commentary on society but also a commentary on ourselves and how the show allows us to see that. It also gives us the distance and the lens with which to be objective about what we see. Absolutely recommend to those who love the show and those who love to think. Just hold onto your glasses (IYKYK). 10/10
August 5, 2023
yup. OK. Not as good as I wanted it to be. Library read, though, so saved the dosh.
July 31, 2025
3,7, tirando alguns, a maioria foi so ok ou nao disse nada q nao ja sabia ksks
December 12, 2018
I'm a fan of the Twilight Zone, both the original series and the reboot. It was, in general, better than "The Outer Limits" and only somewhat rivaled by "Black Mirror" today.
The "And Philosophy" book series seeks to mine various veins of popular culture. You can find essays on everything from the story structure a particular genre uses, an explanation of why a particular episode or monster is terrifying, and the ethics of various situations. "The Twilight Zone and Philosophy" is no exception.
I found that a number of essays here were useful to far more than philosophy students and Twilight Zone fans. Two chapters do a better job explaining how to set up foreshadowing for a twist ending than writing seminars I've sat in. The essays that address the psychology of nostalgia, sound effects and the face are useful to those who work in theater, audiovisual effects, etc.
It only falls short of perfect for the repeated attempts to explain what the Twilight is. The first essay drawing on Hume's work is reasonable. The essay on "non-places" is interesting. The others that address this same topic start to get repetitive.
FYI: This book is entirely focused on the original Twilight Zone series. I ended up rewatching several original episodes to keep up with the essays.
Disclaimer: I did receive a copy of the book from the publisher for review.
The "And Philosophy" book series seeks to mine various veins of popular culture. You can find essays on everything from the story structure a particular genre uses, an explanation of why a particular episode or monster is terrifying, and the ethics of various situations. "The Twilight Zone and Philosophy" is no exception.
I found that a number of essays here were useful to far more than philosophy students and Twilight Zone fans. Two chapters do a better job explaining how to set up foreshadowing for a twist ending than writing seminars I've sat in. The essays that address the psychology of nostalgia, sound effects and the face are useful to those who work in theater, audiovisual effects, etc.
It only falls short of perfect for the repeated attempts to explain what the Twilight is. The first essay drawing on Hume's work is reasonable. The essay on "non-places" is interesting. The others that address this same topic start to get repetitive.
FYI: This book is entirely focused on the original Twilight Zone series. I ended up rewatching several original episodes to keep up with the essays.
Disclaimer: I did receive a copy of the book from the publisher for review.
March 6, 2024
I was obsessed with both philosophy and The Twilight Zone as a kid, so I was very excited to read this synthesis of them both! The authors analyze discrete philosophical topics in reference to specific Twilight Zone episodes, which was a cool approach. However, some of these sections became redundant (for example, they’d reference an episode in passing to make a point, then pages later they’d talk about that episode again at length).
Unfortunately, this book didn’t contain the insightful analyses I’d hoped for. An author would, for example, reference one of Hume’s ideas, cite an episode that demonstrates the idea, then simply move on. When discussing “Machines Who Care”, one of the authors brought up the fact that all of the robots portrayed to have emotions in the Twilight Zone were female, manufactured to serve their (predominantly male) users. The author didn’t make any attempts to further unpack the gendered implications of this trend — oh well.
Also, the spelling and grammatical errors throughout this book made it exceedingly difficult for me to focus on the actual content :(. The chapters are riddled with run-on sentences and significant typos (“the” instead of “that”, “our” instead of “are”, “try get” instead of “try to get”, etc.), which occur across sections written by different authors. This was kind of disappointing to me.
Unfortunately, this book didn’t contain the insightful analyses I’d hoped for. An author would, for example, reference one of Hume’s ideas, cite an episode that demonstrates the idea, then simply move on. When discussing “Machines Who Care”, one of the authors brought up the fact that all of the robots portrayed to have emotions in the Twilight Zone were female, manufactured to serve their (predominantly male) users. The author didn’t make any attempts to further unpack the gendered implications of this trend — oh well.
Also, the spelling and grammatical errors throughout this book made it exceedingly difficult for me to focus on the actual content :(. The chapters are riddled with run-on sentences and significant typos (“the” instead of “that”, “our” instead of “are”, “try get” instead of “try to get”, etc.), which occur across sections written by different authors. This was kind of disappointing to me.
July 5, 2022
The Twilight Zone and Philosophy: A Dangerous Dimension to Visit explores the shadow and substance, and the things and ideas of Rod Seriling’s classic anthology series. Featuring 21 essays, various authors discuss a number of topics, including time-travel, personhood, identity, and totalitarianism. Some of the essays don’t really seems all that philosophical, but most of them are connected to the themes the show. Additionally, the authors demonstrate an impressive knowledge of the episodes (for the most part) and use them quite effectively to illustrate the concepts and theories discussed. It has some weak points, but overall The Twilight Zone and Philosophy: A Dangerous Dimension to Visit is an entertaining and thought-provoking read.
December 31, 2019
How is it that with HUNDREDS of Twilight Zone episodes to choose from, FIVE of the first NINE essays choose to analyze the SAME EXACT STORY ("The Lonely").
Look, we all know that story. It's good. It's not perfect.
There are FAR more fascinating thought experiments to be found in the other 155 original episodes. Rivera and Hooke, y'all editors couldn't have *tried* to urge your essayists to think of new ideas???
Look, we all know that story. It's good. It's not perfect.
There are FAR more fascinating thought experiments to be found in the other 155 original episodes. Rivera and Hooke, y'all editors couldn't have *tried* to urge your essayists to think of new ideas???
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews