Learning the Lessons of the Twilight Zone: He's Alive ⋆

Ideas travel. No matter what you do and where you go. Ideas come from one person and through another. They spread throughout history where they can either be good for some or hurt others. Ideas begin as a microscopic thing that can create a phenomenon. They blossom, bloom, and get passed down from generation to generation. Ideas can also bring love or hate, there never seems to be an in between. Ideas spark and create a wave of people who follow and people who oppose, but still… they were created from the smallest of thought . What happens when those ideas live for so long that there no real way of stopping them? They pass on from person to person, not knowing then and how it will end? Rod Serling examines this phenomenon in the episode He’s Alive (S4E4).

Warning: There will always be spoilers.

We begin our tale in the 1960s. A booming voice resonates in 90 degree weather. A man standing on a pedestal dressed in army-like fatigues while three men stand in front of him with the same uniform and a crowd gathers around him. The booming voice speaks about the “economy of our world.” He says that if you examine these “international bankers” he says lead, “… directly to Palestine. *points to the Palestinian man* They lead directly to Africa. *points to the African American man* They lead directly to the Vatican. *points to the woman and her children*”

This booming voice over a microphone belongs to Peter Vollmer (Dennis Hooper), the leader of a struggling young neo-Nazi group. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Vollmer is indeed making a hate speech in the nicest way possible. Peter struggles to get through to them and he struggles to get his message across. The people mock him and think he’s a laughing stock, but he wants the world at his feet, bending to his wills and ideas. Peter sees his way of life not as hate, but says it’s ”…a point of view. A philosophy.” Ernst (Ludwig Donath), a man who spent nine years in Dachau, doesn’t see it that way. He’s known Peter since he was a little boy, but his ideas are just him “…peddling hate on street corners.” On that same night, a man comes into Peter’s life. A man that will help guide him along the way to being a better man, a better leader, a better dictator than he could ever imagine. However, this dictator will be someone who Peter has pulled his ideas from all too well and sadly, it won’t stop with him.

Now, before we get into anything else, I want to talk about the controversy of this episode and why it’s so effective. He’s Alive was one of the most controversial episodes of the series mostly because of its viewer response. Everyone wrote into the station, furious about the depiction of issues including neo-Nazism, institutional racism, and a lot more things I don’t wanna get into. This episode nailed it with Serling’s writing. Even if you’re the very ones who were mad, you can’t deny the writing. Rod’s prolific in writing stories about war and its aftereffects. In He’s Alive, he does it with such mystery, but in a way where you can see that this sh*t travels. He writes how the ideas of one man riddled with hate, slander and prejudice can shape and mold so many different people for years to come. I will always say that Rod’s writing is perfect, but I think this one very much has a way of getting under your skin. Technically, they did an amazing job as well. The DP (Director of Photography) shot the episode in a way to keep the light off of our twist at the end. The effectiveness in keeping this mysterious figure hidden (even though you totally knew who it was) gathered up that all too creepy like feeling mixed in with anxiety and disgust. It renders you to want to do all the good things in life instead of the bad. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s say and discuss the twist.

On a pedestal, Peter’s face stands with dictators of history’s past. He delivers loads of speeches, speeches that has gained him followers and notoriety, out of manipulative and clever techniques. The mysterious figure has lead him all the way to the point where he kills his friend to create a martyr for his cause. As Peter’s popularity sources, Ernst’s fear runs deep. He’s known all of this before, that history that was so long ago is coming back and it’s coming back in someone he cared for. He wants him next to kill Ernst, a man who Peter has considered his father, who interrupted his rally and “cheapened” him. He wants him to kill the only man who truly ever loved him and all the messed up that he is. The mysterious figure looms in the darkness, telling him that he has the voice of a lion, but the instincts of a rabbit and that’s when Peter’s had enough. He demands to know who this mysterious figure is, so that he doesn’t fight these battles with him. The mysterious figure, hands still on his sides, delivers a speech only Rod Serling can right with a sick burn in the middle. “Mr. Vollmer, I was making speeches before you could read them. I was fighting battles when your only struggle was to climb out of a womb. (W/N: SICK BURN) I was taking over the world when your universe was a crib. And as for being in darkness, Mr. Vollmer, I invented darkness.” He steps out of the shadow, almost taking a breath before he reveals himself, he looks up at Peter and he’s none other than Adolf Hitler.

The Lesson: I praise this episode so much because of its importance. No matter who you are or where you come from, ideas continue to travel. This episode carries so much weight, but it really reflects where we were to where we are now. Malicious ideas of history can be either followed very closely where we end up in a problematic catastrophic mess or we can learn from those ideas and make sure they never happen again. In this day and age, it seems like those ideas continue to travel. An important part of this episode was another speech that Hitler gave (I swear to you… this was just as weird for me to write as it was for you to read). He says, “I did not pick you Mr. Vollmer. You picked me. You chose my ideas. You invoked my name. You stole my slogans. So now, you must take whatever else comes with it.” Many people who gain ideas and ideologies have it come from somewhere or someone. YOU chose that idea. YOU chose who/what leads you and surrounds you in the warm glow of that idea/ideology. YOU have that idea transformed into YOUR thoughts, but remember you chose that original source. You adapt another person’s motives to become your own. Remember, you originally took on HIS battles and HIS speeches and HIS name in order to get your point across and in order to make yourself big. All of that in return, probably lands you were Peter is at the end of the episode, dying from a single gunshot wound, screaming out, “Don’t you understand that I’m made out of steel?!”

Rod’s ending really puts this lesson together and the lesson is very clear. The problem with ideas is that they travel. Hitler, smoothly and slyly, gets away from the crime scene as Peter dies. He’s not longer of use to him and he goes off to find another person, someone else who will deal his poison to the world. In order to stop this, in order to not have another Vollmer, we have to speak up. Use your voice to stop him from living. In this episode, Hitler says, “They talk. They think. They plant a seed. They hold us back.” Hold them back from spreading their stupid ideas and ideology to so many people. Push back and make your voice heard. One man, a man who Peter knew so well, pushed him down in order to keep another part of history safe. He got shot down, but his voice was still so mighty and that’s what needs to be done to keep push ourselves forward and not hold ourselves back. He’s alive. He’s alive in some of the people we know and in some of the people we don’t. He’s alive in the school yard, the job offices, the courtrooms, the uniforms and the white house. He’s alive, whether we like it or not, but with our voices we can totally stop him from gaining any more power.

They rely on hate, manipulative and pain brought out through their words. They, “…forge a force, first an idea, then a force.” They rally themselves up in droves and they feed off your fear of them to push their agenda, but no more.