Rod Serling's The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

Problems with Fear Fear is definitely something that can mess with your brain. Whether you’re afraid of spiders, clowns or paranormal activity, you have a fear of something. At any point you could be looking at danger, and thinking you are in trouble but really, it’s nothing. This is something that happened in Rod Serling’s 1960 teleplay, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” In the teleplay, the neighbors on Maple Street lost power due to a shiny light in the sky. At different times, some houses get power, causing the neighbors to point fingers at different people based on a story that Tommy, a kid, has told about aliens. The same teleplay was played in 2003, “The Monsters are on Maple Street.” The same story was played but the neighbors thought the “monsters” were terrorist the terrorist lived on Maple Street. These teleplays give the idea that fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other.

Continuing
One of the neighbors did not check on the rest, so the people on Maple Street suspect that they are the terrorist and the street is under attack. It becomes night and the main character, Will, went over the “terrorist’s” house and talked about the situation. Will comes back to the people outside and states, “Everything is fine.” He stays calm and says the neighbors could come outside. Will didn’t let them come out so Dylan, a guy suspicious with the “terrorists” held out a gun to Will’s face and finger pointed at Will for ‘protecting the terrorists’. Will pointed at Dylan for having the gun out. Nobody got shot. The neighbors looked around and found cameras near the houses. They all, once again, suspected the neighbors in the house with power because they worked as electricians. The whole neighborhood mobbed and destroyed the house. Fear has gotten them into where chaos has begun, and finger pointing has gotten the best of