Based on your viewing of The Outer Limits episode “The Bellaro
Shield” and understanding of Jeffrey Sconce’s essay on the show,
explain how The Outer Limits expresses and potentially
intensifies particular anxieties prevalent during the early 1960s.
After viewing an episode of The Outer Limits and reading the Jeffery Sconce's essay, I can understand why the people in the early 1960s had anxiety over the science fiction show. In the beginning of the episode "The Bellaro," the control voice comes over the television commanding its audience to just sit and watch while they control everything on the television for the next hour. This makes it seem as if the television had a mind of its own and could take control over its viewers. This controlling feature of the television led some people to be anxious about this relatively new technology. Another aspect of the television that caused anxiety from watching The Outer Limits was the thoughts that since people could watch people on the television screen what was to say that other people couldn't see them and what they were doing from the inside of the TV. Another reason that The Outer Limits was creating anxieties among the viewers is the threat of nuclear annihilation, which was very relevant to the United States during the 1960s. In the Sconce essay, he talks about an episode of The Outer Limits called “The Premonition.” In this episode time stops and there are frozen coyotes and birds everywhere. The episode’s setting freakishly resembles the Yucca Flats, which is a “survival city” which would be used in case of a nuclear attack. The Outer Limits continued to give American’s reasons to be anxious which may have been the reason why the show never got a lot of viewers or good ratings.
ReplyDeleteIn Sconce’s article, he focused a lot on the idea of oblivion, surveillance television, and “The Bellaro Shield.”
ReplyDeleteIn regards to “The Outer Limits,” Scone stressed the idea that the monster that reoccurred so often in the episodes was not always a monster, but rather the fear of oblivion. The idea of television and its connection through wireless transmission was scary and threatening to viewers. They believed that one could get lost within television’s electronic space.
This can also seen by the example they gave of “the haunted television.” Apparently at one point in time, the face of a woman appeared on a screen and would not disappear, even when the television was turned on. It remained there for days.
This also speaks to the idea of the fear that viewers had of television when it came to surveillance. If in television shows, we were “looking” into other universes, wouldn’t it be possible that they could be looking into our world? People were beginning to believe that television was becoming more invasive and not just bringing the viewers to the scene, but they could be bringing “others” to us. Technology was also starting to evolve. There was the individual teletracer, which people were afraid of signals being intercepted. There was also the Tanner Electronic Survey Tabulator, which read into people’s homes and figured out when people were watching their television and on what channel.
One of the last things that is noticeable in “The Outer Limits” was the use of “The Bellaro Shield.” This was comparable to the domestic asylum of the housewife. She was the one who felt trapped and as we saw in the episode, there was that wall that kept her trapped. Even when it was gone, she said, “It will always be here.” Society seemed to be projecting the duties of women onto them, with little leeway of what they should be doing, in respect to the home.
Sconce observed how the "Outer Limits" used science fiction to address the unsettling questions of the modern age. Sconce in particular focused on the fact that technology and progress would collide into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteOne of the prevalent anxieties was the fear of nuclear war that could leave Earth in oblivion. The episode "The Premonition" explored this idea of oblivion by freezing time, mimicking the frozen realities of mock suburban test sites that explored the effects of nuclear bombs. The episode used the exploration of technology as well as the oblivion is brought on by a test plane.
Sconce even looked at the fears of new communication technologies. The TV was being controlled by outside forces in the opening while episodes like "The Galaxy Being" new efforts in communication brought unforeseen forces and visitors. Episodes like "The Galaxy Being" advised man to use their new technologies wisely or face severe consequences.
"The Bellero Shield" explored the confining restrictions of the domain of the prototypical housewife of the 1960s. Judith, who acts outside of these confines is punished and tortured. In Sconce's view the glass like shield was a metaphor for television, a cornerstone aspect of the home that perpetuated this image of the perfect housewife. Judith tries to break out but cannot, Sconce even notes that some shots make it look as if Judith is trying to escape the viewers television set. Even when the shield is gone she is psychologically traumatized and conditioned to believe it is there.
The Outer Limits both conveys and heightens certain anxieties from the early 1960s. Some of the anxieties people possessed during the early 1960s were about the fear of technology. The fear that technology can become too powerful is heavily displayed in the episode “The Bellaro Shield.” The episode portrays how the fear of the unknown can force humans to act in inexplicable ways. When technology started to really advance there was a worry about the loss of control. Technology has proven to be a very powerful medium, that there was a lot of anxiety that it would become too powerful. The Outer Limits plays off of that anxiety with the opening sequence stating, “we are controlling the transmission” and “we will control all that you see and hear.” These lines blatantly say that the television program is in control and suggests that the audience is not in power. In addition to the fear of technology, the episode portrays how women in that time were jailed inside the home. The episode uses the shield as a symbol of how women were almost prisoners in their own homes. Overall the anxieties of the early 1960s are portrayed in this episode of The Outer Limits.
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