Into The Lion's Mouth

Without a doubt, the 50's brought great things. Of course, the legendary king of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley is included. But, there's something I have to add to my list. That is, the Twilight Zone episodes.

Not only was the episode "To Serve A Man" really creepy and entertaining. It was also a great example of poetic justice.

In the beginning, it invited the public to "shake hands figuratively with a Christopher Columbus, from another galaxy and another time". Automatically, I made reference to history. If this creature from another world is Christopher Columbus, then that makes the men in the episode the indians. It fits perfectly.

For example, going back to the 1500's, when Hernan Cortes wanted to conquer the Aztec City, Tenochtitlan. He was viewed by Montezuma, the Aztec leader, as a God. This made him trust Cortes. Eventually, this lead to the fall of the Aztec empire. As the old refrain says, Montezuma practically walked into the lions’ mouth.

The same happens in the episode. One of the men asks:

"Are we to assume that there is no interior motive beyond this vast humanity you speak of?"

"The New Christopher Columbus" then responds they have no interest in them. On the contrary, they have devices men can use.

" We can show you, for example, how to add a very cheap nitrogen to the soil... We ask only that you trust us. Only that you simply trust us".

After the men decipher the title of the book, they lose common sense completely. Just as Montezuma did, they walk into the creatures’ mouth. That being practically literal.

The difference between the spanish conquering the indians and the creature getting hold of men, is that indians were misled by their lack of knowledge and their naive minds. The men in this episode were misled by their greed and sense of superiority. When the men read the title of the book (To Serve Man), they immedietly jump to a wrong conclusion. As the episode says, they go from “being the rulers of the planet, to an ingredient in someone’s soup”. The idea of being served by another creature blocked the possibility that instead of being served as kings, they could be served as food. After all, what goes around, comes around.