When ominous opening monologues, special effects, unexpected-twist endings, The Twilight Zone captured the attention and imagination of America during the height of the Cold War and into the twenty-first century. One of the most famous episodes titled "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" was written by Rod Serling and it originally aired in 1960. In 2002, an updated version of the same story was shown under the title "The Monsters Are on Maple Street." Though aired more than 40 years apart, both stories convey the same fundamental theme depicted in slightly different ways. One distinct change is the radically different technology; in addition, the characters are modernized to reflect the twenty-first century; however, the story line itself and message are still the same.
It is clear that the movie technology greatly progressed from 1960 to 2002. The technology the characters used in the 1960 show were much less modern than the 2002 version. In the 1960 episode, the characters use older technological things like H.A.M. Radios, landlines, and old cars. In the 2002 version, the characters use
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The audience learns in the films how fear, suspicion, and prejudice can have tragic consequences. The main story line of both films is that a group of neighbors falsely accuse each other of being an alien, like they do in the 1960 film, or a terrorist, which they do in the 2002 version. Chaos quickly erupts and violence breaks out amongst the mob. Neighbors turn against neighbors, and in the 1960 episode, someone ends up being shot dead. The 2002 version has its characters burn down a house. Regardless of what happened because of the chaos, tragic things happen in both films. These important things stay the same in both films, because without them the films would be polar opposites. The "Monsters" films need these in order to be the same stories they are
There was a great difference in special effects also. In the 1960 version there was a flashing light for a meteor, aliens looking down on Maple Street, and someone throwing a rock and shattering the glass of a light. However in the 2002 episode, cell phones were ringing, shaking and shattering glass was happening,
Humans consider polar bears as one of the cutest animals on the planet. Not only are they adorable, but they are also going extinct because of the warming temperatures in the Arctic. But what the public does not know is that the warmer weather is not the only thing killing off these animals; it is truly cannibalism. Rod Sterling's story, "Monsters Are Due on Maple street," reveals this surprising truth in a similar way. The story takes place in an ordinary neighborhood that is supposedly being attacked by aliens.
At the end of the episode, “ The Monsters are Due on Maple Street’’, Rod Sterling says a well-known quote at the end of the episode which meant that even with weapons such as bombs, explosions, and even fallouts the human mind is even more dangerous than those weapons. Even simply our thoughts, attitudes, and prejudices can be harmful as any weapon but they can also lead people to destruction and madness. Overall we can conquer without the need for any human-made weapons we simply can just use our thoughts, attitudes, and prejudices. A real life experience that can be related to this well known quote were the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecution of people being blamed for doing witchcraft.
“Monster” by Walter Dean Myers is an amazing book and a great show of Author’s Craft. In the book, he uses many different techniques to achieve specific goals. He uses description to create the setting, Flashbacks to provide context, and Inner thinking to build the mood. First of all, Myers uses Description to create the setting. He does this by arranging the book into a movie script format that tells the reader what is going on in a certain scene in the book.
The two, movie and book, are somewhat alike. In both, book and movie, there were really big mood changes. Example, in both, the mood gos from happy and normal, then it started going downhill, and fast. The setting is in a town long ago, forsay that both are in a town in the olden days, which they are. “The Monsters on Maple Street”
Many real world events inspired authors, like Rod Serling, to write stories and make TV shows. Emmett Till’s story was definitely a huge event that Serling was eventually able to write about. Rod Serling was an author that would write about important topics to always tell us or warn us about something if we aren't careful. Like many authors, Rod Serling was influenced by bird and important real world events and by some experiences he had gone through. At first, he struggled with being censored, but turned to science fiction to tell meaningful stories about events, such as Emmett Till’s death, and also many controversial themes like paranoia in “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.”
It had more narration so the reader could understand what is happening. Secondly, the movie. The movie was different than the book. It had some parts that were in the book, but it lacked some details.
In many dystopian compositions, the characters In The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas, the receiver of memory chooses to return all the memories back to his communities so that they could have a life with emotions, color, and diversity. In The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling, members of the street were being very paranoid because some aliens came to their community to raid them. They had played with the neighbors, which lead to false accusations on each other. Jonas and the residents of the community show paranoia because they were second guessing their peers, they were hoping that no false accusations happen on them, and also because they want to protect themselves and their loved ones so that nothing bad happens to them.
It’s easy to pin point the difference but in reality they share common themes which includes life lessons. Despite the difference in the years and the actors both the classic and sequel has common themes that can be applied to situations now in day. When we compare and contrast
Monsters? Would you be able to live in a time where your life was always in danger? Fear and danger were a constant feeling in Rod Serling’s video and teleplay “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” which was made in 1960 and “The Monsters on Maple Street” that was made in 2003. The 1960 version people were so easy to accuse others when fear and danger presented itself. In the 2003 version terrorism was on everyone’s mind
Rod Serling, by creating the episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”, Serling is trying to show an aspect of history like McCarthyism. During the episode, a lot is going on and it causes the residents to lose their sanity. The problem starts off small, and soon the whole situation is flipped from being about a power outage to blaming each other about who caused it. Lastly, the end of the show is total chaos. Much like McCarthyism which is making accusations to transform the established social order and treason without regards to evidence, the show represents that in a way that’s subtle.
There is, in fact, an abundance of differences between them regarding the plot, setting, and characters. The setting of the story is based on a farm in Great Britain, near the ocean whereas the setting of the movie was in San Francisco, California, although both San Francisco and the farm in Great Britain are near the ocean. The plot of the story consisted of a humble farmer who was, along with his family and everyone else in Great Britain, were attacked by gargantuan flocks of birds. The story followed the farmer and his journey with his family to try and survive this bird-pocalypse. The plot of the movie consisted of a wealthy city-slicker woman who was intrigued by a man and sought him out until she found him in his hometown two hours away, in a rural town named Bodega Bay.
The 18th century Irish statesman Edmund Burke once wrote, “Fear is the parent of cruelty”. The Twilight Zone episode, “Monsters Due on Maple Street written by Rod Serling shows how true this statement is. A flash of light flashed across the sky above Maple Street , resulting in the electricity and telephone service to abruptly stop. They couldn’t even get their cars to start, The two main characters of this episode were Steve Brand and Charlie.
Perceptions from others can be cruel. Criminals are often thought of negatively by themselves and are also disrespected by others in society. The novel Monster presents the impressions people have about Steve Harmon, an accused criminal on trial for robbery and murder. Furthermore, the text explains Steve’s views of himself during and after time in prison from first person point-of-view. The novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers highlights the various perceptions that exist about an accused criminal.
Another difference would be the way the short stories were ordered. In the book, the stories were told in no perceptible order, making it hard to remember who is whose daughter/mother etc. The movie begins with a party which all the characters attend, and the stories are disclosed as the character is thinking about it. The mother and daughter’s stories are staged after one another. The movie allows for a more natural way of telling the story, and makes it easier to remember the characters and associate mothers with daughters.