- Janet Tyler, a woman with facial deformities in a totalitarian society that emphasizes conformity even in in physical appearance, is undergoing her twelfth surgery in an attempt to make her appear normal. It is the last chance she can legally receive to alter her looks, and if it succeeds, she will fit in with those around her for the first time in her life. If it fails, she must be transported to a "segregated" colony of those who look like her rather than as the norm do.—brainybrailler@comcast.net
- A disfigured young woman, Janet Tyler, is in hospital for treatment. Actually it's her 11th experimental treatment in the attempt to make look normal. Her bandages are due to come off any day now and she is terribly worried as to the outcome. She remembers being taunted as a child because of her ugliness and wants nothing more than to just look normal. The doctors and nurses are on her side and hope for the best as this will be the last attempt to help her. Should the treatment fail, she will be forced to live in a community with others who share her fate. When the bandages are removed, the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is proven yet again.—garykmcd
- (by Dane Youssef)
This time, "Twilight" takes us to a world which may exist anywhere, anytime, anyplace--in it's own way.
We come to a hospital, and we meet a patient by the name of Janet Tyler has just undergone her latest treatment in an attempt to look like everybody else. This will be the last by law.
The details of the treatment are not given. Tyler is first shown with her head completely bandaged, so her face cannot be seen. She is described as being "not normal" by the nurses and doctor, whose own faces are always either in shadows or off-camera.
Janet talks of one of her life-long indulgences is looking up at the clouds, feeling the sun... as well as the beautiful night. The nurses speak about how monstrous she is.
The outcome of the procedure cannot be known until the bandages are removed. Tyler starts to go berserk with the doctor and eventually convinces him to remove the bandages early. After a climactic buildup, the bandages are removed, revealing to the audience that she is beautiful...
However, the reaction of the doctor and nurses is complete disappointment; horror, even. The doctor is so shocked, he drops his scissors like they're on fire. They believe the operation has failed, she has made in the doctor's own words, "no change no change at all".
There are gasps, even sympathetic remarks from the nurses. Janet tries to run, but they restrain her--and turn on the light.
At this point, the doctor, nurses and other people in the hospital, whose faces have never been seen clearly before, are now revealed to be grotesquely deformed in the audience's perspective, faces with thick skin like plastic, deep ridges and in the shape of muddled clay.
It becomes far too much for any one human being to bear and Janet breaks loose. She becomes a fugitive on the run. As she races through the hospital corridors, she (and we) see all of the seemingly mutilated faces of everyone she runs into, the norm in this society, are revealed.
Plasma screens are throughout the hospital project an image of the State's despotic leader (sounding like the radical leader of a fascist demagogue), demanding "glorious conformity." The world is apparently one whole communist state in this part of "The Zone."
She smashes the big screen, causing the gel to spill everywhere. But there many others all around with the leader's fearsome face and voice, still spreading his message of totalitarianism propaganda.
As she ducks into a random hospital room for safety, she is shocked by the sight of someone in there. There is a "handsome" (by our standards) man steps into the light--like the angel savior. The doctor tells her this is Mr. Smith--from the congregate separatist group for the "freaks."
This poor bastard, Mr. Smith has the same "condition" as her (and many of us) arrives to take the despondent Tyler into exile to a segregate village of her "own kind", where her "ugliness" will not be. Before the two leave, Mr. Smith used the old axiom Tyler with the "very, very old saying" that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The two walk off as the doctors and nurses all look on in empathy.
(by Dane Youssef)
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content