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The Obsolete Man Analysis

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As someone who loves The Twilight Zone, I went into “The Obsolete Man” eagerly, assuming I would love it as I had many of the science-fiction anthology’s works. It was even written by the show’s executive producer and creator, Rod Serling. I was very excited. I knew the general plot: Romney Wordsworth is a book-loving Christian in a dystopian world where reading is shameful and religion has been outlawed. He is put on trial in a court that has already found him guilty and pitted against the Chancellor, a man who believes the State can do no wrong. Wordsworth sentenced to death and deemed obsolete by the State, but ultimately the viewer is shown who is truly outdated. But when it was over, something felt off. Since The Twilight Zone wonderfully …show more content…

That’s why I found myself cringing at some of “The Obsolete Man”’s writing. I understand that the unique political climate of 1961 undoubtedly played a large part in the sledgehammer-like way the Chancellor’s touting of Hitler’s eugenics and Stalin’s anti-religion practices were handled. Within the context of the episode, it might have even been normal for a person say such things. However, outside of the narrative it comes across much like the viewer being picked up and shaken. There is a nice bit of repeated dialogue later given new meaning, but that too is quickly overused. The opening and closing narration are particularly obvious on this occasion, telling the viewer exactly what the themes are and what they have seen, respectively. Overall, the State is written as, for lack of a better term, blatantly evil, so the message that ‘we should be careful lest this happen to us’ is muddied. There is little room left for viewer opinions or to mull over what they’ve seen. It reads more like a series of scare tactics than a recreation of what could happen. “The Obsolete Man” is steeped in the ideas and morals of its time, which can make it unapproachable in a number of ways. For example, the ham-fisted references to Stalin’s USSR, which quite frankly is a bit McCarthyist, or playing on American fears that the dominant US religion of Christianity would become persecuted. The

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