{"id":141281,"date":"2022-11-27T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-twilight-zone-episode-that-was-banned-for-decades\/"},"modified":"2022-11-27T22:56:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T22:56:00","slug":"the-twilight-zone-episode-that-was-banned-for-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-twilight-zone-episode-that-was-banned-for-decades\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twilight Zone Episode That Was Banned for Decades"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Twilight Zone<\/em> thrived in large part because of recirculation, and spent decades in syndication winning over new generations of fans with each new viewing. But not every episode in its five-year run appeared after first airing. A small handful were pulled from circulation for various reasons, and remained unavailable for many years. In most cases, that involved IP rights. For instance, Season 5, Episode 22, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was produced by a French company, and The Twilight Zone <\/em>lacked permission to air it after its initial run.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

For one episode, however, the ban came down to more than just copyright. Season 5, Episode 31, “The Encounter,” remained off the air for over 50 years owing to its highly questionable racial content. It’s a surprise considering the show’s largely progressive politics and willingness to tackle controversial issues in a forward-thinking manner. In this case, good intentions led to an ill-advised misstep.<\/p>\n

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RELATED: Cabinet of Curiosities and Channel Zero Prove Short-Form Horror Works Best<\/span><\/p>\n


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What Is ‘The Encounter’ About?<\/h2>\n
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“The Encounter” focuses on an American veteran of World War II, Fenton, who finds a Japanese katana in his attic. It’s later revealed that he took it from its original owner, whom he killed after the man had surrendered to him. It contains an inscription reading “the sword will avenge me.” The weapon keeps finding its way back to him, no matter how many times he tries to get rid of it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His musings are interrupted by a young Japanese-American man, Arthur Takamori, who seeks employment as a gardener. Tension between the two slowly escalates as their respective prejudices come out, with Fenton expressing increasingly anti-Asian sentiments and Takamori revealing that his father betrayed the US forces during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s implied that the sword psychically exacerbates their emotions until they explode into violence. They scuffle and Fenton is impaled on the blade. Takamori then grabs the sword and screams “Banzai!” as he leaps out the attic window to his death.<\/p>\n

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RELATED: Why The Twilight Zone Still Resonates With Modern Audiences<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why The Twilight Zone’s Controversial Episode Was Banned<\/h2>\n
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\"The <\/picture> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The episode’s most obvious problems involve harmful stereotyping, with the Japanese portrayed in clich\u00e9d terms that label them as “others.” Fenton’s overt bigotry mitigates that somewhat, but the real issue lies deeper. Takamori’s background is pure fiction — there exists no evidence of Japanese-American treachery at Pearl Harbor or anywhere else — and indeed such lies were used to justify the internment of thousands of US citizens during the war solely because of their ancestry. It lends the episode a disastrous case of both-siderism, which balances Fenton’s very real biases against an open contrivance in the name of “fairness.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“The Encounter” is framed as a statement against prejudice, something The Twilight Zone<\/em> excelled at with other episodes. However, the episode lacked diversity behind the camera — something that was unheard of at the time but which was necessary nevertheless given its content. It was written, produced and directed by white men who — however well-intentioned — simply lacked the perspective to handle the material properly. Ironically, Takamori was an early role for actor George Takei, who himself spent his childhood in an internment camp during the war. He has subsequently shared his experiences at length in an effort to draw attention to the US government’s shameful legacy on the matter, and even fostered a musical play about it, allegiance<\/em>which he described as “my legacy project” in a 2012 interview with NPR.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, “The Encounter” triggered complaints from the Japanese-American community when it first aired in May, 1964, who were rightfully upset about its presentation. It also arrived just as the US was entering into a new war against another Asian country, which compounded its hot button status. That was enough to pull it from circulation for decades, though it subsequently became available on home video collections. The ban seemingly ended on Jan. 3, 2016 when Syfy finally aired “The Encounter” as part of its New Year’s Day Twilight Zone marathon. While time hasn’t improved its problematic content, its availability allows viewers to examine and discuss it in better context.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Twilight Zone thrived in large part because of recirculation, and spent decades in syndication winning over new generations of fans with each new viewing. But not every episode in its five-year run appeared after first airing. A small handful were pulled from circulation for various reasons, and remained unavailable for many years. In most …<\/p>\n

The Twilight Zone Episode That Was Banned for Decades<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Twilight Zone Episode That Was Banned for Decades - harchi90<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiR2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNici5jb20vd2h5LXRoZS10d2lsaWdodC16b25lLWVwaXNvZGUtYmFubmVkLXRoZS1lbmNvdW50ZXIv0gEA?oc=5\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Twilight Zone Episode That Was Banned for Decades - harchi90\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Twilight Zone thrived in large part because of recirculation, and spent decades in syndication winning over new generations of fans with each new viewing. 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