Eye of the Beholder

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, there are many concepts and themes that connect this episode with George Orwell’s novel 1984. In this alternate society, what one would consider pretty is actually ugly. The main character in the episode, Janet Tyler, has her face bandaged up. By the way the conversation between her and the doctor go one would assume that she her face is deformed and that she looks hideous. The doctor tells Tyler that she has not responded to any of the previous treatments and that if the last treatment does not work, Tyler will have to be sent to live among people like herself. People who are ugly are considered “undesirables” and cannot live among the “normal” just like the proles from Orwell’s novel who aren’t even considered as people. In the hospital, there is a screen that projects the image of this society’s leader. He talks about conformity and everyone being united and equal. Just like in Orwell’s novel, the “person in charge” wants everyone to be the same, making Tyler an outcast who must isolate herself from society. However, throughout most of the episode, the doctor’s, nurse’s and even leader’s faces are not shown. It is not until the bandages come off Tyler’s face that the audience sees the doctor’s and nurse’s faces for the first time. Tyler looks completely normal, but when the camera zooms in on the nurses and doctor, they have pig snouts and crooked lips. The message of this episode is that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, hence, the name of the episode. This relates to Orwell’s novel in the sense that Orwell tries to show that in Oceania, everyone thinks the same way and does the same things. However, if there is someone who thinks differently, like Winston, or looks differently, like Tyler, they are immediately ostracized and made to feel isolated.