Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Introduction<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>Welcome to the Key of Imagination. This week we\u2019re going to be looking at the Twilight Zone episode, \u201cA World of Difference.\u201d We\u2019ll try and untangle who the real person here is between Arthur and Gerald; we\u2019ll try and find a common theme that connects the two men; and I\u2019ll reveal to you my moment of awe, so grab your keys, and let\u2019s open up this door to the fifth dimension. <\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span><\/p> Plot exposition<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>Arthur Curtis is in many ways quite typical: a spouse, a child, a job with an office, and just trying to get through the working day so he can go on a vacation. Nothing disturbing\u2013until someone yells, \u201ccut!\u201d And all of it melts away. Suddenly, Arthur finds himself on a movie set with lights, cameras, and plenty of action. He is surrounded by people who claim to know him not as Arthur Curtis, business man, but as Gerald Raigan, troubled actor. The more Arthur tries to explain that he doesn\u2019t know who this Gerald Raigan is, the more troubling things become. Gerald is not respected at his job; he isn\u2019t loved at home; and his only means of escape seems to come from the bottom of a bottle. As Arthur sits in his office\/film set, he makes one final plea to please make Gerald go away and bring back the life he knew as Arthur, and his wish is seemingly granted. Arthur hugs his wife, and whisks her away on that much-needed vacation. As for Gerald, well, he exists somewhere in the annals of time\u2013or at least in the pages of a script entitled \u201cThe Private World of Arthur Curtis.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Episode Details <\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>\u201cA World of Difference\u201d is directed by Ted Post. The teleplay is by Richard Matheson. And as for our cast, our leading men, Arthur Curtis and Gerald Raigan are played by Howard Duff, who was married to Ida Lupino from \u201cThe Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine.\u201d Nora Raidan is played by Eileen Ryan; Brinkley is played by David White; and Marian Curtis is played by Susan Dorn. The episode first aired on March 11th 1960. <\/span><\/p> Episode Tidbits<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>In Grams Jr.\u2019s <\/span>Unlocking the Door<\/span>, he notes that the painting in the Raigan home is the same one used in Sturka\u2019s house in \u201cThird from the Sun\u201d and in \u201cThe Four of us are Dying.\u201d I hope I remember to edit those into the video. Did I? They should be like\u2026here, here, and here. Apparently, the stairway that Gerry runs down is also the same one used in \u201cElegy.\u201d (263). Hopefully, I put those images up as well. By the way, since we\u2019re talking art here, how awesome would it be to have a painting from <\/span>The Twilight Zone<\/span>, or even one from <\/span>Night Gallery<\/span>. That would be amazing. Because of the rarity of them, however, I would probably donate it to a museum or to the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation so others can enjoy it\u2026but I would definitely keep it for like at least a week, a glorious week. <\/span><\/p> My initial Thoughts<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>This is a bit of an odd episode for me. Don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s entertaining, and the idea of trying to find that line between sanity and insanity is always intriguing, but I almost felt like the twist ending made things more complicated than they even needed to be. I suppose it does what Matheson wanted it to do. It introduces the idea that Gerald Raigan is real, but in some ways, I think these thoughts are better left for the audience to decipher. My problem with the episode is that the more you break it down and really analyze it, the more you become somewhat confused by the question of who is real and who isn\u2019t, which takes us into our first question. <\/span><\/p> Question 1: Who is the real person here? Is it Arthur Curtis or Gerald Raigan?<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>I think on the surface, we\u2019re supposed to believe that Gerald is the real person and that the Twilight Zone takes in another lost soul looking for escape, like Martin in \u201cWalking Distance\u201d or Barbara Jean Trenton from \u201cThe 16-Millimeter Shrine.\u201d We should recall that the twist ending here is that we see the script from the movie and it\u2019s entitled, \u201cThe Private World of Arthur Curtis.\u201d This establishes for us that it is Gerald who is supposed to be the real version. However, I\u2019m not so sure about that. I\u2019m going to make an argument here, albeit probably not an incredibly successful one, for why I think Arthur Curtis is the real person and Gerald Raigan is the fake one. But, in order to do so, we\u2019ll have to think about these terms fake and real and what that means. We\u2019ll also have to call into question the integrity and purpose of Mr. Rod Serling when it comes to his role as narrator, which we will do so respectfully of course. So, let\u2019s begin. <\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>Serling points out the reality of the objects in the opening shot: a desk, a window, a light. He then tells us about how these things are real. When it comes time for our lead character, he adds, \u201cThis is Arthur Curtis, age 36, who also is real.\u201d Okay, let\u2019s pause there for a moment and dissect this information a bit. Serling is telling us that Arthur Curtis is as real as any of the objects in the room, but what is this information actually revealing? If we\u2019re in our home or an office and someone asks us if the desk, window, and light are real, we would say yes. If we\u2019re on a movie or television show set and we get the same question, what\u2019s our answer? Is a desk not a desk because of where it is located? How about the rest of the objects? You see what I mean? Here\u2019s where philosophy starts to come in and muck things up. One of the more fascinating generational quirks of Generation Z over Millennials is they are much more concerned about the question of reality. What is real vs what is fake? Think about it. Although both Gen Xers and Millennials grew up with many of the modern social technologies that we have today, Gen Z are the ones who were really the first to be integrated from birth in what has pretty much become the standardized version of social medias, including visual medias like Tik Tok. Again, it\u2019s not that Gen X and Millennials didn\u2019t have access to these in some form; it\u2019s that I think Gen Z was integrated into the standardization of social medias. Now, for those of us who come from generations prior to Gen Z, we still have memories of logging ON to the internet and then logging OFF. My students laugh when I talk about this, but, gather round children, and let Uncle Joe regale you with a story from days of yore. Believe it or not, there was a time when the internet was a place you entered and then exited. It was a destination, not a journey. That altered the way that those of us who still remember this sound: <insert AOL log on> still view the internet today. So we never had this mass problem of thinking about reality vs fantasy in a digital world to this level of extremeness. Although the people who were interacting on the internet were real, I don\u2019t think we thought of it as necessarily \u201creality.\u201d My fellow older heads in the audience, help me out. I think you know what I mean here. Let me know in the comments. That\u2019s not the case anymore. People don\u2019t log off of the internet; the digital and the flesh have blended into one, which is why Gen Z struggles, I think, with the concept of reality. I mean, am I real right now, the me who is talking to you? Or is the real me off somewhere doing something else? Which one is the real version of me to you?<\/span><\/p> Okay, why am I bringing this up? Serling is right, of course that all of those objects he mentions\u2013the desk, the window, the light\u2013they are all real in the sense that we must acknowledge that they take up the normal three dimensions of length, width, and height plus time. That gives them a sense of reality. When he says that Arthur Curtis is also real, he is acknowledging that Arthur is subject to those same laws of reality. This is where we need to take a longer look at Serling himself because he adds to a bit of the confusion here as well. <\/span><\/p> At the end of each episode of the Twilight Zone, Serling would give a little anticipatory preview of the next episode. When it came time to preview \u201cA World of His Own,\u201d Serling describes the episode as follows: \u201ca unique and arresting story of a movie actor who finds himself on that thin line between what is real and what is a dream\u201d (Grams Jr. 262). This of course sets people up to think of Raigan as the real person and Arthur Curtis is the fantasy. But, you\u2019ll recall that in the introduction to the episode, he says that Arthur is real. So, what is Serling doing here, and what does it tell us about Serling as a participant in the episodes and in reality?<\/span><\/p> I think if we\u2019re reading Serling\u2019s character as narrator here, and it is, in my opinion, a character, I think it exposes that Serling himself is a kind of figure who resides outside of both our reality and even the created reality of the Twilight Zone. Now, for my fans who are really in the know about the show, you\u2019re probably screaming, \u201cbut\u2026but\u2026what about what happens at the end of \u2018A World of His Own\u2019?, not to be confused with our current episode of focus \u201cA World of Difference.\u201d Yes, yes, we can talk about that when the time comes, but for now, I still think that the Serling narrator has a kind of transcendent omniscience that can see beyond how we understand the term reality, which is honestly pretty cool. It\u2019s why he can end the show by saying that \u201cthere are other ways for a man to exit from life. Take the case of Arthur Curtis\u2026. His departure was along a highway with an exit sign that reads, \u2018This way to escape.\u2019 Arthur Curtis, en route\u2026to the Twilight Zone.\u201d Again, Serling the narrator\/character focuses on the existence of Arthur, not Gerry. It\u2019s Serling the marketer, the man, who tells us in the preview that Gerry is the real person. So, who do we listen to? The marketer or the omniscient character\/narrator? <\/span><\/p> So, where does this leave us with our question: who is the real person? Well, here is where we can make a quick stop over to the philosopher Descarte and talk about reality. If you\u2019ve heard the name Descarte, you might also have heard his most famous idea: \u201cI think; therefore, I am.\u201d Now, what the heck does that really mean? Okay, Descartes\u2019 story of how he got there is fantastic, and it even includes a demonic evil genius. Yes, you heard me right, so I encourage you to check out some articles or videos on Descarte and reality, but essentially, it comes down to this. We usually know the existence of things through our sensory interactions, but they can be manipulated and we can be fooled. However, if I am being fooled, then I still must exist, even if I\u2019m wrong in my thinking about everything. If I think, then I am\u2013I exist. Now, even if we want to grant that Arthur Curtis only exists within the pages of the script that is left behind, we know that he is a thinking being because he decides that he and his wife have to get the heck out of dodge; we know that he exists because Serling, the narrator, the omniscient being who places the thoughts within Arthur\u2019s mind interacts with him, even if only through speech and narration; and therefore, Arthur Curtis is the more real person. <\/span><\/p> Question 2: Is there a common theme that links the lives of both Gerald Raigan and Arthur Curtis?<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>When I watched this episode the second time, with the intention of looking for clues for the first question, something else hit me at the very end of the episode that prompted this second one. A theme emerged that connected both Arthur Curtis and Gerald Raigan, and it has actually somewhat altered the way that I view the story. <\/span><\/p> We spend the majority of the episode in the shoes of Arthur Curtis, but we\u2019re seeing the life of Gerald Raigan. It doesn\u2019t take long before we start to realize that Gerry has an unfortunately terrible existence. He\u2019s under a lot of pressure at work; he has a failing marriage; and everyone in his life is depicted as wanting something from him, which means he has no real healthy relationships. If we remove the Twilight Zone from this story, we have a fairly straightforward tale of a man in a desperate need to escape from his misery, and in order to do so, he does what, unfortunately, many people do, he turns to alcohol, to a chemical escape. Now that\u2019s all fairly obvious, right? But, think about it for a second. When we\u2019re introduced to Arthur and his life, what is he doing? He\u2019s talking to his secretary about what? Vacation. A very common form of escape for many people. Additionally, at the end of the episode, when Arthur is fully back in his existence with his wife and child, what does he immediately want to do, escape, to go on the vacation even earlier. That is what links both Arthur Curtis and Gerald Raigan\u2013the need to escape. So, let\u2019s talk about that for a moment here. <\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>Let\u2019s bring in some peer-reviewed research to really cement the concept of escapism. <\/span><\/p> I found a fascinating article by Jouhki and Oksanen entitled, \u201cTo Get High or to Get Out? Examining the Link between Addictive Behaviors and Escapism.\u201d In this article, the researchers want to take a closer look at any potential links between addiction and the yearning to escape. What they found through their study is quite interesting. They write, \u201cThe concept of escapism constitutes an important contribution to the addiction debate by diverting attention from the desired end state of any particular addictive behavior and focusing on the anxieties modern individuals experience. From the escapist perspective, one does not engage in addictions \u201cto get high\u201d, but rather \u201cto get out\u201d (206). Okay, you might be thinking. Once again, academia is informing us of something that we already knew intuitively. People drink to escape. Well, yes and no. What the researchers learned through their study is that there are key differences between drinking or taking drugs to reach what many might deem as a positive state of euphoria\u2013the way they put it in the article is taking drugs to get high, vs drug-use or excessive alcohol use to specifically escape from what the individual might deem as a miserable life. The distinction is important because when it comes to addictions you often have to find out what is at the root cause of the addiction itself. If you can\u2019t get at that root cause, you\u2019re unlikely to help bring about the necessary healing. When we think of Gerald\u2019s life in the episode, his wife hates him\u2013and maybe for good reasons; people at work clearly do not respect him, and we can actually see how his drinking can make it difficult for them; and he seemingly has no positive relationships. The best he gets in the episode is genuine pity. I think the source of his drinking here is probably fairly self-evident escapism. But, what about Arthur? <\/span><\/p> The more I wrote about this episode the more I started to see even the life of Arthur Curtis as potentially problematic. After having gone through that entire ordeal, his first thought isn\u2019t to get help or talk to his wife about what he has experienced. It\u2019s to escape. Now, granted, we\u2019ve been talking about escape in a very negative way, and vacations are actually quite positive. In fact, I did some research there as well, and I learned there is a whole body of research called respite studies\u2013which is awesome. And of course I found in the research by Kuhnel and Sonnentag that \u201cBesides enabling relief of negative consequences of work, vacation and other respites enhance positive states at work, such as effort expenditure (Fritz & Sonnentag, 2006). We propose that employees’ work engagement benefits from vacation, as well. Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption\u201d (127). So, even the employers benefit from employees taking vacation. I don\u2019t think vacation has to always be viewed as an escape. It can simply be a great way to revitalize a person\u2019s relationship with the human experience and maybe even reconnect a bit with family and friends or even one\u2019s self. I think the potential problem is when it is considered a form of escape, because like the study I mentioned in the section on Gerry and alcoholism, we\u2019re not getting to the source of the problem. I have a terrible suspicion that this is what\u2019s happening with Arthur as well. I think we\u2019re supposed to have a kind of Frank Capra It\u2019s A Wonderful Life kind of feeling at the end of the episode with Arthur taking over. He gets to be happy; he gets to have his wife, his child, his calmly positive working conditions; but, as we all know, even in great situations, there is still plenty of strife, sadness, and difficult moments. What will happen to Arthur when those come up? I wish I could say that I felt good about it at the end, but I don\u2019t. I can only wish him the best of luck. <\/span><\/p> Question 3: What are your moments of awe?<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>As for my moment of awe, Arthur is, I think, who Gerry was always supposed to be\u2013who we\u2019re all supposed to be. Someone who is loved, someone who finds balance and purpose in our labor, someone in a good enough state of mind that they can stop and take a moment in the day and just smile. But, that doesn\u2019t seem to be the reality today. In truth, many people feel like Gerry\u2013trapped, with a constant sense of dread. But, maybe it doesn\u2019t have to be that way. I used to teach a section from Henry David Thoreau\u2019s journal dated May 6, 1854, and I would make my students analyze the following quotation: \u201cIt matters not where or how far you travel,-the farther commonly the worse,-but how much alive you are\u201d (<\/span>link<\/span><\/a>). This is not a particularly difficult quotation to analyze, but it\u2019s a difficult one to put into practice. We tend to carry our misery wherever we go, whether it\u2019s to work from home or from work to home. And we can take vacations, but we can certainly bring our miseries with us there as well. (I have been guilty of that one myself.) You can\u2019t trap joy or happiness in a bottle nor should you. Those are meant to be experienced and then released back into the ether of the human condition. But, can you bring contentment with you? Can we trap that? Can we bring with us the mindset that the entire world around us is made up of atoms, all arranged just for us to experience, and that the particles around you right now, will never be the same ever again\u2013-don\u2019t start with me you atomic physicists out there. Keep your magical math to yourselves for a moment. Here\u2019s my moment of awe. Contentment travels well. Contentment allows you the opportunity to address sadness and to be open to joy. Wherever you go after you finish listening to this episode, I want you to bring contentment with you\u2013just try it out. Take a moment; look around you; and say, \u201cI\u2019m okay with being here in this moment right now. I don\u2019t have to be happy or sad. I can just be\u2026and that\u2019s okay.\u201d <\/span><\/p> My Rating<\/span><\/p> The rating I give this one is Middle Lower-tier. The concept is interesting, but that twist ending\u2026I actually think it removes us from the Twilight Zone more than establishes it. Still, I like it enough that I would watch it if it came on during a marathon, but if I needed to get something to drink or eat, I would probably use this episode to do so and not feel like I\u2019m missing anything too important. <\/span><\/p> Next Episode<\/span><\/p> Next time, we\u2019ll be taking a look at \u201cLong Live Walter Jameson,\u201d and here are your questions to consider when watching the episode:<\/span><\/p> Question 1: How, if at all, does this episode differentiate cowardice from fear?<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span><\/p> \t<\/span> <\/span>Question 2: Is Professor Kittridge correct? If a man lives forever, he does not grow <\/span><\/p> wiser?<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span><\/p> Question 3: What are your moments of awe?<\/span><\/p> Closing<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>Another episode in our own life script: the very public world of Joe Meyer as he tries to explain his interest in the Twilight Zone without sounding like he\u2019s rambling and confusing others. I mean, that\u2019s a working title, but you get the gist of it. I hope As always, I\u2019m happy if I\u2019ve at least given you all at least a few ideas to think about throughout the rest of your week. <\/span><\/p> Announcements and Shout-outs<\/span><\/p> \t<\/span><\/span>I have a couple of comments to highlight from the YouTube channel. Actually, I particularly want to highlight a conversation that you all had regarding my hypotheticals from the Twilight Zone question for the \u201cMirror Image\u201d episode. If you\u2019re not familiar with this, I post a trivia question, a hypothetical question, and a guess the Twilight Zone question for each episode on the Community page of my YouTube channel and on X. That week\u2019s question had to do with if you entered a room, like a party or something, and everyone told you that you had already been there and spoken to them, how would you react? Would you turn internally first and think something was wrong with you, or would you look externally and think someone was doing something to you? The answers were fantastic. I absolutely love the way that this community engages these questions. Here are just a few answers, but I thought they all were really great. <\/span><\/p> Jrod112278 responded, \u201cMine would be that there’s something wrong [with] me, which is why gaslighting is so powerful.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Frip9822 offers, \u201cEveryone else, considering I have a pretty good memory. I guess my first thought would be that I’m being recorded\/pranked, if they actually had proof (like an image) that I’ve interacted with them before I would question myself, which is not particularly hard to pull off these days with AI but that’s another topic\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p> Kimberlee9608 said, \u201cI\u2019d think something was wrong with all of us but the cause was affecting me differently.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Absolutely fantastic answers, everyone. I love it when the community runs the gamut and thinks about it from a whole bunch of different angles. The conversations we\u2019re having are really starting to become something special.<\/span><\/p> How to Support the Show<\/span><\/p> Head over to thekeyofimagination.com to continue our conversation. You can rate this episode, learn more about me, watch previous episodes of the show, and check out my curios page where I showcase some of the Twilight Zone trinkets I\u2019ve bought over the years. I encourage people to email me thoughts and comments, whether it\u2019s about a particular Twilight Zone episode, your rating for an episode, or about the Key of Imagination Show. You can get those to me as a text email, an audio clip, or even a video clip of roughly no more than 5 minutes to <\/span>keyofimaginationshow@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>. Keep in mind, even though we talk about some serious topics, we\u2019re trying to maintain as family-friendly of an atmosphere as we can. If you would rather I not use your comments on the show, please indicate that so I can respect your decision. <\/span><\/p> If you enjoyed the show, I ask that you please take a moment and do one of the following to help build our community. Rate the show, review the podcast, leave comments, thumbs up, all of the usual algorithmic gymnastics. That will help get the show in front of more people and help us build our community of Twilight Zone fans. However, even if you do none of that and absolutely hated every minute of this, I would still like to thank you for spending some time with me. Until next time, remember, all doors are open to those who possess the key of imagination. <\/span><\/p> Works Cited<\/span><\/p> Jouhki, Hannu, and Atte Oksanen. \u201cTo Get High or to Get Out? Examining the Link between <\/span><\/p> Addictive Behaviors and Escapism.\u201d <\/span>Substance Use & Misuse<\/span>, vol. 57, no. 2, 2022, pp. <\/span><\/p> 202\u201311, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/10826084.2021.2002897.<\/span><\/p> K\u00fchnel, Jana, and Sabine Sonnentag. \u201cHow Long Do You Benefit from Vacation?: A Closer Look <\/span><\/p> at the Fade-out of Vacation Effects.\u201d <\/span>Journal of Organizational Behavior<\/span>, vol. 32, no. 1, <\/span><\/p> 2011, pp. 125\u201343, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/job.699.<\/span><\/p><\/span>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-995","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":998,"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/995\/revisions\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thekeyofimagination.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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