“The Eye of the Beholder” part 3 of 3
The Eye of the Beholder
This famous episode, from the 1960s television show The Twilight Zone, called “The Eye of the Beholder” is a great analysis of the old saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In the episode, a woman named Miss Janet Tyler is in the hospital of a futuristic society getting treatments on her face to make her look normal. This society has a regulation of what is considered “normal” and the standard person looks ugly in comparison to the average person of our own society. This commentary on what we consider in our own society to be beautiful or average brings up many topics about the discussion of self-worth. Do we find our value in our character or in our physical appearance? The compassionate doctor of the episode, though he looks normal according to the state, says he sees Miss Taylor as a normal human because of her inner beauty despite her “hideous” appearance. Although by the end of the episode, Miss Taylor is forced to live as an outcast with other people of her kind because the operation was unsuccessful. In the end, the question of the source of beauty is unresolved in the society depicted in the episode, but the answer is left open to the audience. Does the audience, living in our culture today, whether in the 1960s or 21st century, personally believe that beauty is relative? Who in our society today decides what the standard of beauty is? These questions are not directly answered in the television show but rather are purposefully left open for discussion. One of the nurses, after hearing the doctor’s thoughts about Miss Tyler’s situation, makes a statement saying that she believes that inner beauty determines a person’s humanity, but she still finds it difficult to view someone as “ugly” as Miss Tyler as a human because of her face. Here the audience must decide to continue to believe in our society’s image of the perfect human, like the nurse, or they must choose to look at others as humans despite their physical appearance, beautiful or not.
