Monsters Are Due On Maple Street Analysis

Fearful of Former Friends
In our minds, we think that we would never get so fearful and paranoid that we would turn on each other and start to attack each other, all due to the paranoia. Well, we don’t know ourselves to well, then. In the teleplays [Rod Serling’s “Monsters are due on Maple Street” and its 2003 remake “The Monsters on Maple Street”] it tells that we would turn on each other and attack, just out of fear. The claim both stories try to get across is fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other. Sadly, under circumstances that are abnormal, we people may get suspicious of each other, which leads to our downfall.
In the first teleplay “Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” [made in 1960], the story tells of how fear can
It most likely starts with a meteor, and that meteor turns off all technology. Everyone is worried about this, and it gets worse when Jason says that this event is just like Independence Day [blaming aliens]. But unlike the original, people shoot that idea down. Instead, Phyllis says terrorists could be planning an invasion [which is a lot more believable, given the time period]. Dylan [Charlie’s equivalent] boosts this fear by saying that the terrorists could be going for the reservoir. People look down the street, at the house where a family moved in [I’ll call them the newbies]. The people of Maple Street get suspicious, and Will [Steve’s equivalent] and Dylan go to check it out. The family doesn’t open the door. So they head back. Later, the father of the family returns, in his car [also the lights in the house of the newbies are on], so Will goes to talk to the father. When Will comes back and the group asks how it went, Will says they aren’t terrorists. When the family asked if they should come outside, Will said no. Dylan, being the ringleader of the suspicion, points a gun at Will’s head, thinking he is the terrorist. Will makes a speech about that any of them could be terrorists, and that the terrorists are using their fear so they can mistrust each other, and then attack each other. Instead of continuing to finger point, the
In the ‘60s version, the residents of Maple Street were probably once good friends. Then fear took over their minds, which lead to them attacking, and even killing, one another. In the 2003 remake, the people were rather collected and one big group. Then when the thought of terrorism was raised, people sought a scapegoat, which ended up with them destroying a house, and probably killing the family inside. The true monsters on Maple Street, were in fact,