"The Obsolete Man" and Brave New World

For some reason earlier today I began thinking about the episode "The Obsolete Man" from the classic 60's sci-fi/horror television series The Twilight Zone (which is also very influential over today's show Black Mirror), a series I watched a decent amount of when I was younger, but haven't watched in awhile. Then I began thinking of how similar the episode was to Brave New World. I hadn't seen the episode in years, so I decided to re-watch it. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good it was, and I believe that it is able to tackle similar themes and topics to Brave New World, and maybe even better than BNW.

Before I start, I would recommend watching the episode right now. It's on Netflix, and it's only about 20 minutes. Season 2 Episode 29. But, if you don't have the time, then I will describe the plot enough. But I would really recommend watching it, the performances, especially the one of the main character is extremely fantastic.
 
The episode starts out with a courtroom scene, in a dystopian society with an absolutist state that holds a firm grip over society. The parallels to BNW start within the first five minutes. In both stories, religion is banned, books are banned, and anything considered "old" is bad. However, the The Twilight Zone chooses the word "obsolete," while BNW chooses "old." Starting off with a "win" for TZ over BNW, is a better choice of a word than old. It sounds more sophisticated, and overall in my opinion packs more of a punch and has stronger meaning.

The main character is Romney Wordsworth, a librarian (although with books banned how is he a librarian? this plot hole is never really explained). He is put on trial by the "Chancellor" and found guilty for being obsolete, which in this world is one of the most heinous crimes in existence. He serves no purpose to the state. The punishment is death. Similarly to Brave New World, when Bernard and Helmholtz are viewed as potentially disrupting the social order, they are sentenced to being excommunicated to a smaller, less controlled environment. They aren't sentenced to death, but the are sentenced to being removed from society

The narrator to every Twilight Zone episode is Rod Serling, who also writes most of the episodes. He surmises that all absolute, totalitarian states in history (which could very well include fictional ones as well), there is one basic commonality: "Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace." Well in BNW truth may not be a very large menace, but logic is certainly viewed as an extreme enemy.

The main characters, John in BNW and Wordsworth in "The Obsolete Man," share many traits. They both get laughed at for being different and contrasting their world. John is laughed at for having a mother, and Wordsworth is laughed at for being a librarian. Both characters are proponents of Christianity in a world that hates religion.

However, despite their similarities I found myself liking Wordsworth much more. The choices he makes are much more intelligent, and I found his debates against the Chancellor much more compelling, intellectual, and interesting than the debates between Mond and John. Plus, seeing a fantastic actor do such a immaculate job helped add to his character. 

I won't spoil the pretty good ending, so you should just go watch it. A great episode of a great series. It's probably one of my favorites episodes now, and I think that its job in being compelling yet spreading a very interesting message makes it one of the best Twilight Zone episodes.

Rod Serling in his end monologue makes a great and profound statement: any state that fails to recognize the rights of man is obsolete. 

Liam McDougal