"This I Rebel Against" - Rod Serling
Nov. 18th, 2007 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
my_window_seatInterview of Rod Serling by Mike Wallace.
Rod Serling was not only an amazing artist in his field, but a brilliant and insightful man--something that often made him bitter, and I believe that bitterness translated into even greater drive and artistic energy. His views on the entertainment industry, censorship, and on the role of social controversy in particular are as true now as they were then.
What's most interesting is that this interview was conducted just before The Twilight Zone was aired, and some of his assertions - that he was through with fighting battles over creative content that would challenge audiences - he as much as refutes just seconds later, and would continue to ignore throughout the run of the series. The Twilight Zone wasn't a cop-out entertainment-only series - anyone who's ever seen stories like "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" knows that Serling never stopped pushing social buttons.
When asked if his new direction as a television writer would turn him into a "weak-willed conformist," he denied it, saying "I'm just acting the role of tired non-conformist."
He was an awesome man.*
The Interview
Part One
Part Two
* in the original sense of the word. Not like the hot dog.
Rod Serling was not only an amazing artist in his field, but a brilliant and insightful man--something that often made him bitter, and I believe that bitterness translated into even greater drive and artistic energy. His views on the entertainment industry, censorship, and on the role of social controversy in particular are as true now as they were then.
What's most interesting is that this interview was conducted just before The Twilight Zone was aired, and some of his assertions - that he was through with fighting battles over creative content that would challenge audiences - he as much as refutes just seconds later, and would continue to ignore throughout the run of the series. The Twilight Zone wasn't a cop-out entertainment-only series - anyone who's ever seen stories like "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" knows that Serling never stopped pushing social buttons.
When asked if his new direction as a television writer would turn him into a "weak-willed conformist," he denied it, saying "I'm just acting the role of tired non-conformist."
He was an awesome man.*
The Interview
Part One
Part Two
* in the original sense of the word. Not like the hot dog.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-18 08:39 pm (UTC)Duh. Anyhow, the footage is up and working and is FANTASTIC!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 07:43 pm (UTC)I hate embedded video; links work so much better (i.e. ~always) and are simpler.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 07:45 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8dTT2BRp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05SlHecA1hk