Between Light and Shadow: A Philosophical Analysis of The Twilight Zone
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 198
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 240
Choose Your Format
$60.00 USD
Ebook
$45.00 USD
Debuting on television in 1959, Rod Serling's original incarnation of The Twilight Zone remains a popular, critical, controversial, and relevant staple of American culture, with many episodes of this great series permanently embedded in the American popular culture consciousness. While many episodes serve the purpose of simple fun, escapist entertainment, the majority delivered haunting and portentous messages through morality tales with ironic twists designed to make audiences think more deeply and critically about the human condition, the nature of existence, truth, knowledge, and perception, the struggle between good and evil, the consequences of human progress, and humanity's future. The term "twilight zone" originally applied to aeronautics and oceanography, referring to the time of day at which one could not easily distinguish between the ocean's horizon and the sky, near the very end of the day. In the context of Serling's television series, the twilight zone refers to the point at which perception and reality overlap, making it difficult to discern the difference, comparable to navigating a darkened room without a guiding light. This text explores, analyzes, and interprets this meaning of the "twilight zone" both generally and in terms of the themes on which specific episodes focus. After an introduction that explains the enduring relevance of The Twilight Zone to both modern life and philosophy, Part I reconstructs a "Grand Unified Theory" of reality based on several famous quotes from Rod Serling and various episodes of the Zone, which amounts to a Platonic philosophical worldview, whereas Part II consists of chapters on specific episodes and philosophical themes within The Twilight Zone.
Josh Lott earned his B.A. from Assumption College, his M.A. from Northern Illinois University, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Tulane University. He currently lives in Connecticut and teaches at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield University, University of Bridgeport, and Connecticut State Community College. He also taught for many years at Western Connecticut State University and Loyola University of New Orleans. His academic interests include the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of film, television, and popular culture.
Debuting on television in 1959, Rod Serling's original incarnation of The Twilight Zone remains a popular, critical, controversial, and relevant staple of American culture, with many episodes of this great series permanently embedded in the American popular culture consciousness. While many episodes serve the purpose of simple fun, escapist entertainment, the majority delivered haunting and portentous messages through morality tales with ironic twists designed to make audiences think more deeply and critically about the human condition, the nature of existence, truth, knowledge, and perception, the struggle between good and evil, the consequences of human progress, and humanity's future. The term "twilight zone" originally applied to aeronautics and oceanography, referring to the time of day at which one could not easily distinguish between the ocean's horizon and the sky, near the very end of the day. In the context of Serling's television series, the twilight zone refers to the point at which perception and reality overlap, making it difficult to discern the difference, comparable to navigating a darkened room without a guiding light. This text explores, analyzes, and interprets this meaning of the "twilight zone" both generally and in terms of the themes on which specific episodes focus. After an introduction that explains the enduring relevance of The Twilight Zone to both modern life and philosophy, Part I reconstructs a "Grand Unified Theory" of reality based on several famous quotes from Rod Serling and various episodes of the Zone, which amounts to a Platonic philosophical worldview, whereas Part II consists of chapters on specific episodes and philosophical themes within The Twilight Zone.
Josh Lott earned his B.A. from Assumption College, his M.A. from Northern Illinois University, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Tulane University. He currently lives in Connecticut and teaches at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield University, University of Bridgeport, and Connecticut State Community College. He also taught for many years at Western Connecticut State University and Loyola University of New Orleans. His academic interests include the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of film, television, and popular culture.