Earl Hamner Day

Friday's class was centered on Mr. Earl Hamner, Jr. He wrote eight episodes of The Twilight Zone; we watched four.


I thought The Hunt had a surprisingly religious theme for the TZ. It bothers me that it doesn't give a solid moral though. I do like the fact that Heaven welcomes with open arms (accepts both man and dog), I dislike that it portrays the afterlife as such a picky-choosy thing. What you decide while you are still alive determines where you will spend eternity; you don't decide after you're dead (that kind of defeats the purpose of leading a good life, anticipating your reward in Heaven - otherwise everyone would do whatever they wanted while still alive, then simply "pick" paradise and avoid the fire and brimstone). Because who in their right mind would choose punishment?


The "old woman" says that the "old man" wasn't really a religious man and rarely went to church. Of course, he could still have accepted Christ as his savior in his heart and we just don't know that. But typically, if you are a follower of Jesus, people should be able to tell by your behavior, so his wife should have known and should have been able to say with full confidence that she knew her husband was in Heaven. Anyway, I just didn't really care for this episode and its [non-]religious undertone.


Jess-Belle had a good lesson. It urges the viewer to consider the question, "What price will you pay for what you really want?" It is important to consider the consequences of our decisions. Jess-Belle paid a high price for Billy-Ben's love. Sadly, by the end, she didn't think it was worth it.


About the overall episode, I thought it was surprisingly racy for the times (multiple characters kissing, laying together in the hay, bit of suggestive talk). I suppose it was meant for a mature audience who was okay with this subject matter though (infidelity and witchcraft). In class, one student pointed out an interesting correlation between the name Jess-Belle and that of the immoral woman, Jezebel, in the Bible. Perhaps Mr. Serling and Mr. Hamner were trying to play off the beliefs of some of their viewers?


You Drive also had a good lesson. Early in the episode, Rod Serling asks something to the effect of, "What will you do at the crucial moments of life?" The main character made the wrong choice at a crossroad of his life. This choice revealed his true character and unfortunately led to his demise. This can happen to any of us. At some point, we'll be faced with important decisions, and these decisions will reveal who we really are and can have profound effects on the rest of our lives.


I'd seen the fourth episode, Stopover in a Quiet Town, many times before. I find the child's laugh very entertaining, and if you pay close attention, it's a good clue as to what is really happening to the characters. The moral is also a little entertaining. Rod Serling didn't try very hard to hide the point of the story though. His narration ends with the blunt statement, "Don't drink and drive."