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Social Science Fiction, a Sub-Genre of Science Fiction Seen in Television

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Submitted By wumbo47
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When thinking of science fiction television programs, one usually thinks of aliens, space ships, and laser blasters, this tends to shed a more childish light on the genre and most people tend to dismiss it as being no more than mindless entertainment. While there has certainly been a surplus of the campy science fiction shows on the air, some shows have used the science fiction genre to tackle serious social issues as well. This essay will take a look at two shows 54 years apart and will analyze how both use social concerns of the time period and create memorable narratives that speculate about human behavior and interactions. The first show this essay will look at is the generation defining classic The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), and the second show is a modern cult hit from the United Kingdom Utopia (2013-2014). //Through a comparative analysis of the episode “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” from The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) and “Episode 5” of the British cult hit, Utopia (2013-2014) this essay illustrates how the science fiction genre can be and has been used generation after generation to highlight certain social issues. Whereas The Twilight Zone uses America’s anxieties of communism and consumer culture to cause paranoia in the early sixties, Utopia uses big business, government conspiracies, and overpopulation in a plot that stirs up concern for the environment. Ultimately this essay will illustrate how social issues lay the foundation for a compelling science fiction narrative. \\ Shortly after WWII ended US soldiers returned home to a country very different than the one they had left. Jobs and wages were plentiful and young adults were eager to spend. After WWII people were not just buying things out of necessity, they were buying things for material desire. Televisions, washing machines, cars, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners were all machines that would help modernize American life. At the time many people found this newfound dependence on appliances and pragmatic spending unhealthy. The classic episode of The Twilight Zone “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” plays with this fear of consumerism. Originally aired in the year 1960 the episode takes place right in the mist of the cold war and is considered one of the greatest episodes of The Twilight Zone ever made.
The episode takes place on Maple Street, an average suburb in America, the street is full of children playing and adults talking and doing other various chores. When a shadow passes over accompanied by a roar, the residents soon discover that their electricity has been cut off. A boy from the neighborhood explains that he has read a story of an alien invasion causing similar phenomena and that the aliens are likely living as a family that appears to be human. While doubtful at first a few strange occurrences cause the neighborhood residents start turning on each other. The neighborhood goes on a witch hunt looking for any suspicious behavior from their neighbors to incriminate them of being monsters. The situation comes to a head when Charlie, the loudest and most aggressive of the residents shoots and kills a man who had left earlier to check the power a block over thinking he was a monster. After Charlie shoots the man lights begin flashing on and off in houses throughout the neighborhood; lawn mowers and car engines start and stop for no apparent reason. The mob becomes hysterical, with terrified residents smashing windows and taking up weapons as the situation devolves into an all-out riot. Some of the residents take up firearms and shoot anyone they can. The scene cuts to a nearby hilltop, where it is revealed the mysterious meteor that had flown overhead is, indeed, an alien spaceship. Its inhabitants, two alien observers, are watching the riot on Maple Street while using a device to manipulate the neighborhood's power. They comment on how easy it was to create paranoia and panic, all they have to do is take away the neighborhoods devices. The aliens conclude that the easiest way to conquer Earth is to let the people of Earth destroy themselves as their own worst enemy.
Because this episode was made and first aired during the height of the cold war this particular episode of The Twilight Zone has a message that is not too hard to figure out. The episode outlines the concerns of consumer culture and the ridiculous communist witch hunt going on at the time in America. The shadow that flies over head at the start of the episode represents sputnik, the Soviet Union’s satellite that was launched in 1957. The satellite’s launch put a lot of America on edge and shattered the perception of America as the technological superpower. The neighborhood is so obsessed with their stuff that the minute their power goes out and all their electronics don’t work they slowly and slowly turn on each other. The aliens the residents spend the whole day trying to fish out represents communism. During the cold war a massive anti-communist movement took the nation by storm and coworkers, friends, and neighbors were turning on each other because of any possible ties to communism. While those social issues are not as prevalent today they were used in The Twilight zone to create and send a very memorable message to its audience. This tactic is still used in science fiction shows today as well. The 2013 show from the United Kingdom Utopia is a very different show from The Twilight Zone, yet, 54 years after The Twilight Zone, Utopia uses the same tactic of using social issues to weave its science fiction story. Utopia tells a story of 5 enthusiasts of a graphic novel titled “The Utopia Experiments” which is rumored to have predicted the worst disasters of the last century. The group find themselves in possession of the manuscript sequel of the graphic novel which leads them to be targeted by a shadow organization known as The Network. The Network seem to have unlimited resources and have infiltrated many levels of the British government and large international businesses. The five enthusiasts must go on the run to avoid The Network if they ever want to survive. The specific episode this essay will take a look at is the fifth episode of the first season. In the fifth episode of Utopia, the group is searching for the man known as Mr. Rabbit who has been discovered to be the creator of The Network and who has put our five heroes’ lives in danger. The group takes a man hostage named Letts who they believe to be Mr. Rabbit. During their interrogation they realize that Letts is not actually Mr. Rabbit but his right hand man. Letts spills the beans and The Networks dastardly plan is revealed. Letts reveals that The Network’s goal is to spread a strain of the Russian flu that would be serious enough to cause panic so that the public would beg and search for a vaccination. The Network would create a vaccination using Carvel Medical Company and would sneak a formula called Janus into the Russian flu vaccine. Janus was created by the author of “The Utopia Experiments” back when he still worked with The Network. The reason The Network needs the manuscript is because they believe it holds the last equation needed to synthesize Janus. What is Janus’s purpose? Janus was designed sterilize 90% of the population so as to slow population growth. The Network has noticed that the human population is rising alarmingly fast which is causing many environmental problems as well as social and political problems as countries fight over natural resources to sustain their populations. The Network wants to use Janus as a harmless way to solve this problem. While the plot of Utopia is very different to that of The Twilight Zone the root of both shows is in the social worries of their respective generations. The Twilight Zone used the fear of communism and doubts about consumerism to tell its story issues that were very real and serious in 1960. Utopia uses the overpopulation problem and government conspiracies to craft its narrative. Both use social problems and worries as a foundation for a science fiction show but they come from completely different time periods.
The use of social issues in science fiction is a little unusual and not exactly what people would think of when thinking of science fiction. That is because using the social aspects of it is a sub-genre of science fiction titled social science fiction. There are actually three main genres of science fiction they are: gadget science fiction, where the story is about a particular invention or science and how it comes about, adventure science fiction, where the science is used as a dramatic prop, and social science fiction, which is concerned less with technology and more with speculation about human society. In other words, it absorbs and discusses anthropology and speculates about human behavior and interactions.
Science fiction is a genre of entertainment that is here to stay. It can take you on grand adventures through space or explore and examine deep topics that plague generations. In particular the sub-genre of social science fiction uses current social and political worries as a foundation for the science fiction to grow off of. The genre has used this tactic of crafting stories for generations. We can see this in The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) and we can see this now with Utopia (2013-2014). The shows are 54 years apart yet use the same technique in their story building. As long as science fiction continues to do this we as an audience will keep getting treated to deep meaningful looks at the issues that plague our society.

Works Cited
• "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street." Sterling, Rod. The Twilight Zone. Cayuga Productions, Inc. CBS, . 4 Mar. 1960. Television.
• "Episode 5." Kelly, Dennis. Utopia. Channel 4. 15 Jan. 2013. Televisi

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