larinah:

Now the questions that come to mind: Where is this place and when
is it? What kind of world, where ugliness is the norm and beauty the
deviation from that norm? You want an answer? The answer is…it doesn’t
make any difference. Because the old saying happens to be true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this year or a hundred years hence.  On this planet…or wherever there is human life, perhaps out among the stars.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Lesson to be learned…in The Twilight Zone.

—

This is of course one of the best known episodes of The Twilight Zone.  But, I think perhaps Serling snuck in a bit that might be easily missed by those who don’t want to see.  Like the doctor in this episode, Serling wants us to look closer than skin deep.  Because while most of what we see has simply to do with physical beauty and how it depends on the perspective of the “eye of the beholder”, what “The Leader” is talking about on the screens that Janet keeps running past is societal conformity.  It’s not just about how attractive someone is, it’s about how this version of society depends on everyone acting and being the same in their beliefs, and their thoughts, and their abilities, and their “philosophy of government” so that no one disturbs the sensibilities of the group.  These nurses pity Janet because of her looks, but they help to catch her and send her away to a place where they no longer have to be exposed to people “like her”.  The doctor allows himself to wish that they lived in a place where people who are different could live right alongside everyone else and a nurse warns him that he’s approaching treason with that kind of talk.  He says he’s seen her real face and knows that she’s good, but he still sends her away.  As Janet runs through the hospital, we hear the above speech from the Leader, and if you pay attention you get the real message of this episode.  It could just as easily be about religious beliefs, who someone loves, how someone identifies, ethnic background, race, physical ability, mental ability, etc.  It could be anything that society thinks they should try to “cure” and if they can’t the person or people should be excluded or even killed.

At the end, Mr. Serling suggests that this little peek at the Twilight Zone may not be all that different from the society of the people watching the program in their living rooms right then…or right now.  And he’s right.  In 1961 or 2017, we have a lesson to be learned that far too many still fight learning with everything they have.  They fight it with their money and their power and their stubborn bigotry.  That’s the ugliness.  And that’s why those who have learned the lesson need to keep fighting.  That’s why allowing this kind of thought and behavior to become (or stay, or go back to being) the norm here and now is so very dangerous.