XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: weberm@polaris.net   
      
   :Portrait of a TV fan. Name: Joe Britt. Occupation: cab driver. Tonight,   
   :Mr. Britt is going to watch `a really big show,' something special for the   
   :cabbie who's seen everything. Joe Britt doesn't know it, but his flag is   
   :down and his meter's running and he's in high gear-on his way to the   
   :Twilight Zone.   
      
   Thus begins a particularly dark and troublesome episode of The Twilight Zone,   
   dubbed one of the 50 best episodes by Vulture (their number 50 to be exact) and   
   one of the very worst by both Buzzfeed (number 138 out of 156) and Paste   
   Magazine   
   (number 145). And it is true: the episode is a polarizing one. It is violent   
   and   
   disturbing and not particularly clever (which is important for a show dedicated   
   to its ability to speak to the human condition on such a cerebral level). But   
   it   
   is a testament to a legendary show that even when it isn't clicking on all   
   cylinders, it is still bringing about thoughtful discussion.   
      
   There are a lot of ideas floating around "What's in the Box." The   
   aforementioned   
   Vulture seems to think the core idea is that "In the Twilight Zone, we can't   
   avoid our true selves." The episode itself seems to have thoughts on television   
   culture and how it can warp the mind-how someone who spends all their time in a   
   different reality will fail to tell the difference from one universe to   
   another.   
   While the episode does have elements of that, quite literally, I personally   
   felt   
   that the episode's writer's (Martin Goldsmith) core theme overall was the   
   concept   
   of shame, something he also covered more covertly in his Twilight Zone episode   
   "The Encounter," which involved two former enemies from World War II forced to   
   interact together during peacetime.   
      
   In "What's in the Box," our main character, Joe Britt (William Demarest) is,   
   though he is trying like hell to fight it, full of shame. Joe is a burned-out   
   cab   
   driver in New York City and, despite his objections to the contrary to his   
   fierce, suspecting wife Phyllis (Joan Blondell), he is having an affair with   
   another woman. But Joe is doing his best to keep his marriage as intact as   
   possible by pretending there isn't a problem, berating Phyllis like she is   
   acting   
   overdramatically, and wishing he could just watch wrestling with his six-pack   
   and   
   be done with it all.   
      
   There is one problem: the TV is on the fritz and the repairman is taking way   
   too   
   long to fix it. Joe thinks he's taking too long on purpose just to take him to   
   the cleaners on the bill. When he confronts the repairman (Sterling Holloway)   
   about this conspiracy to rip him off, the repairman does something unexpected.   
   He   
   says that the work is done and the repair is on him, sorry for the trouble.   
   With   
   that, and a wink at the camera, he leaves.   
      
   Joe, confounded with his luck, sits down to watch TV and notices he not only   
   gets   
   to watch his beloved wrestling but a brand new channel too: Channel 10! But   
   when   
   he turns to this seemingly premium channel he realizes it broadcasts quite the   
   interesting television show: a scene from inside a taxi cab earlier in the day   
   with Joe talking to his mistress.   
      
   After he faints and is awakened by Phyllis, he is convinced the channel is   
   broadcasting moments of his life-and his future-including a scene in which he   
   murders Phyllis in cold blood. Phyllis, of course, sees nothing but static on   
   Channel 10 and assumes Joe is going insane. Still concerned for her husband of   
   27   
   years, she consults a doctor who pays a house visit and advises that   
   psychologically Joe might be suffering from a delusion of reality: unsure of   
   the   
   difference between the real world and the television world.   
      
   So disturbed by his vision of Phyllis' death, Joe decides to confess his   
   infidelity and professes his love for Phyllis, admitting how wrong he was for   
   cheating on her. What he isn't expecting is for Phyllis to not forgive him. In   
   a   
   fit of rage, she threatens to leave and forces Joe to watch Channel 10 again,   
   daring him to see what his future holds. When Joe sees himself being put to   
   death   
   for murder, he begs for the television to be turned off. When Phyllis won't   
   oblige, he attacks her, and the murder scene he witnessed on Channel 10 goes   
   exactly as it did when he watched it before. As he's taken away by the police   
   later, the TV repairman is there once again, asking Joe if he would recommend   
   his   
   services. Cue Rod Serling:   
      
   	The next time your TV set is on the blink, when you're in the   
   	need of a first-rate repairman, may we suggest our own specialist?   
   	Factory-trained, prompt, honest, twenty-four hour service. You   
   	won't find him in the phone book, but his office is conveniently   
   	located-in the Twilight Zone.   
      
   Merriam-Webster defines "shame" as "a painful emotion caused by consciousness   
   of   
   guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety." Joe Britt is as shining an example of   
   shame   
   as we'll ever see. And an obvious one. Like I mentioned before, this episode   
   isn't the sharpest tool in The Twilight Zone's vast toolbox. Depending on how   
   you   
   connect with the material, you'll either find the proceedings excessively   
   silly,   
   immensely overdramatic, or a mixture of the two. That doesn't necessarily take   
   away from its message. A heavy-handed message is still a message, after all.   
      
   We, as human beings, tend to process our shame in different ways. Many   
   overcompensate with certain activities and indulgences: overeating or excessive   
   exercise. Avoidance of the issue at hand is the key. What can we do to avoid   
   that   
   which plagues us? What gives us shame and how can we escape its grasp? In   
   "What's   
   in the Box," it appears the world of television is an example of escape. All   
   Joe   
   wants to do is watch wrestling.anything to get away from his wife's accusing   
   words and his own obvious misdeeds.   
      
   This isn't far off from today's binge culture. No, I'm not saying that if you   
   binge Ozark a few days this week you are harboring a secret from society. But   
   if   
   you binge Ozark every single day for three weeks then I might be suspicious.   
   What   
   are you hiding? What's in the box inside your head? Whether The Twilight Zone   
   could have handled this subject matter in a bit of a subtler way is up for   
   debate. Clearly, based on the ways this episode is ranked by different outlets,   
   it varies in how it lands. I personally wouldn't put in the top 50, nor would I   
   land it in the bottom 10. But I would give The Twilight Zone the benefit of the   
   doubt that even in its lesser moments, it still has something informative to   
   say   
   about the human condition.   
      
   --   
   Every American should want President Trump and his administration to handle   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)