THE MIND AND THE MATTER
To see this assigned show, go here: 1, 2, 3.WARNING: Too late I discovered that part 3 (the final part) is not available on youtube. This is becoming common on youtube, at least with The Twilight Zone shows, for obvious reasons. (It may be on youtube but I haven't found it & usually it's near the last segment in the series.) But students are quite good in finding this material on their own sites or in their own way. If you do find part 3, please notify your classmates. But you should view parts 1 & 2 anyway. This is a language class!
The
The host, and frequent writer of the shows (he wrote this episode too), Rod Serling, actually used science-fiction conventions in order to address social issues, as can be seen in "The Mind and the Matter." In early television (and even today) sponsors were very concerned about losing audiences due to serious social issues, such as racism, government policies, etc. But they were quite willing to overlook (or more likely not even notice) the same issues discussed in a sci-fi disguise.
The show has since entered the culture on many levels. The title itself has become a common phrase ("I feel I'm in the twilight zone").
Host Rod Serling's narration of each show has become one of the parodied or imitated personalities ever to appear on television. A popular song by Manhattan Transfer became a hit. The title music after the first year (by Marius Constant) has become one of the most famous themes in movies or television. There have been several movie versions of stories from the series, with the same title.
The show featured some of the best writers to write for television (host Rod Serling wrote more than half of the shows himself). The series was also a showcase for musical talent, including a young Jerry Goldsmith, who later became a top film composer, and the legendary Bernard Herrmann (Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho), whose music from "The Lonely" (another Twilight Zone episode) is actually tracked in this episode too (the somber music that appears when Beechcroft begins to feel lonely).
The series was typically a half-hour (which translates to 22 minutes of noncommercial air time), but stretched to an hour for one year, generally considered the less successful of the episodes. "The Mind and the Matter" is a half-hour show, much of which is silent or with little dialogue. So it's a good introduction to the series for ESL students. On the other hand it's comic treatment of a sci-fi experience is not typical of the series, most of which were quite intense in their drama.
All the shows were well written, directed, and acted, with careful attention to details. Note in the beginning as Archibald Beechcroft (Shelley Berman) walks to his office without even looking where he's going, exactly the problem he accuses the coffee boy of doing! The one weakness in the show are the terrible masked people made to look like clones of Beechcroft in the elevator.
VOCABULARY
1. population explosion=overpopulation2. legacy of progress=benefits of technology
3. clumsy clod=awkward, stupid person
4. precisely your problem=exactly your problem
5. not unaware (litote: saying something in negative form rather than positive form: "she's not unattractive")
man
6. spinach and lettuce man=a common locution with "man": "I'm a meat man myself. I hate vegetables." "I'm a New York woman; I hate the country."
7. watching your diet=be careful of one's weight/eating.
8. dead tired=very tired.
9. jamming into an elevator=crowding into an elevator.
10. cacophonous din=harsh noise
11. jostled=lightly bumped into.
12. take hold=become a habit.
13. millennium=(biblical) thousand years of a perfect world.
14. cross them off=get rid of them.
15. decimate=to totally get rid of. (compare: decade, decimal)
16. on the cult side=not orthodox or accepted by standard religions or science.
17. swears by the book=testifies to the worth of it.
18. chartreuse (green-yellow) and orange scarf.
19. initial phenomena=first things seen.
20. unequivocal=without a doubt.
21. that's what it takes=that's what required.
22. be extinct=not to exist anymore. Dinosaurs are extinct, except in Steven Spielberg movies. "Be" is commonly used in imperatives: "Be gone!" "Be quiet!" "Be happy!"
23. mind over matter=it's what you think of something that counts.
24. bored to death=(hyperbole, exaggeration). (See #28.)
25. accessible to suggestions=open to your opinions.
26. occupy my time=entertain me.
27. too much of a good thing (common idiom)=everything is bad in excess (liquor, exercise, study).
28. bored to tears (see #24).
29. solitude=being alone (not necessarily being lonely). "I keep three chairs in my home. One for solitude, two for friendship, three for society." (Henry David Thoreau)
30. I loathe them=I hate them.
31. for good and all (idiom)=completely.
32. alternative=another choice.
33. I've rid myself=to eliminate: "I've rid myself of her forever."
34. the populace=people.
35. diversion=entertaining change.
36. electrical storm (thunderstorm)=rainstorm with thunder and lightning, rare in Taiwan but common in New York, etc.
37. I've had it for today="I've had enough for today." "I've reached the end of my patience."
38. draw moustaches on faces: common diversion of children or even adults.
39. it's weighing on you now=it's causing mental pressure.
40. Frankly=honestly, truly, etc. (intensive, emphasis).
41. cocker spaniel=dog.
42. you bet your life; you bet your sweet life.=Mild oath. "Very much so!": "Are you going to marry her?" "You bet your sweet life I am!" In other words, there's no doubt about it, therefore you can risk your life on the bet. Also the name of a popular TV quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx, later remade with Bill Cosby.
43. deposit ten cents=put money in the box.
44. sardines=tightly packed (like sardines in a can).
45. sty (pig's house)
46. respite: pause from something.
47. relief=lessening of pressure or pain.
48. "hosts, droves, bevies of people"=many people.
49. had it?=had enough?
50. did you get anything out of it?=did it help you?
51. pap=children's food; mindless reading material.
52. trial and error=tested experience.
53. people notwithstanding=despite people.
54. miserable noise (transferred epithet): a transferred epithet is common in English, such as "lonely house." Here "lonely" is transferred from people to the house. "Miserable noise" is noise that makes a person miserable. "Stupid movie" doesn't mean the movie is stupid (how can a movie be stupid?) but that only stupid people would watch a movie like that.
55. frenetic (occurs early in Serling's narration)=madly rushing about.
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