Number 12 Looks Just Like You: A Deep Dive into The Twilight Zone

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of 'Number 12 Looks Just Like You,' a pivotal episode from the iconic television series, The Twilight Zone. The essay explores the episode's central themes, including the societal pressure to conform to beauty standards, the dangers of cosmetic surgery, and the importance of preserving individuality in a dystopian future. It delves into the character of Marilyn Cuberle, an 18-year-old who resists undergoing surgery to alter her appearance, and examines her struggle against a society obsessed with physical perfection. The essay highlights the episode's commentary on the superficiality of beauty, the loss of inner beauty, and the ethical implications of technological advancements in the pursuit of an idealized image. The analysis also considers the episode's relevance to contemporary society, where beauty standards and cosmetic procedures continue to shape perceptions and influence individual choices. The essay concludes with a call for preserving natural beauty and a critical view of the excessive use of cosmetic surgery.

Running head: NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
Number 12 Looks Just Like You
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
Introduction
The prime determination of this unit of the essay is to focus on the Anthology Series, The
Twilight Zone. This famous American television series is set in a dystopian future where every
character is reaching adulthood (Searing, Caroline and Hannah). The characters of this series
were transforming themselves into physically attractive models. The paper will be focusing on
one of the characters 18-year-old Marilyn Cuberle decides not to undergo this surgery; she was
forced to undergo the surgery as she had a post-hypnotic during her stay in the hospital. The
essay will be having numerous parts and each part will be focusing on a specific unit (Heyes).
The twilight zone episode is the 17th episode of the season 5 of this series. Directed by Abner
Biberman this American television series this series was first aired in the year 1964. The series
and the concerned episode focuses on Marilyn who wanted to stay raw without going any
surgery. The futuristic aspects of the society are considered in this series.
Topic Sentence
The essay will be focusing on the social awareness against this illegal surgery in the
dystopian future every character of the series was reaching their adulthood going through a huge
transformation.
Thesis statement
The forceful transformation of Marilyn into a well-groomed girl is the main purpose of
this episode.

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
Beauty
The prime determination of this unit of the essay is to focus on the natural beauty of
Marilyn who was very much beautiful even before the surgery. 18-year-old Marilyn was very
much reluctant to her own appearance she never gave importance to her figure or her beauty. She
was a very bright kid (Buetow, Stephen and Katharine). The slow deterioration due to her age
was not considered as a big deal by her, but the society she lives in was very much cautious
about the appearance as they thought that only by enhancing their beauty will be solving most of
their problems (Leonard). Everyone around Marilyn was very much disappointed with her
decision of not going through the surgery. She is very much rational and radical in her approach.
Her father played a big role in her life and in his absence the other members of the family was
putting enough pressure on her should get the surgery done as the other girls of the society
(Mack). The other characters of this serious were always looking down on her decision of not
doing through the surgery and she was facing so much trauma. She was forcefully confined into
a private hospital under the supervision of Dr. Rex (Viladrich, Anahi and Rita). The doctor
wanted to know the exact reason about why Marilyn is hesitating to get the operation done.
The other members of the society were very much aware of the beauty of Marilyn. She
never wanted to go through the operation procedure as she believed that those looks can never
satisfy her or escape the reality. Her best friend Valerie also undergone the surgery but she was
very much rigid in her decision Marilyn was very strong in her character, even her best friend
could not force her to stay in her decision (Mack). Marilyn believed that she did not need any
external support to enhance her beauty skills. She was also not aware of the fact that Dr. Rex
would be transforming her in spite of her disapprovement of the matter. The beauty of this 18-
year-old girl was quite exquisite even without the surgery so she wanted to preserve her natural

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
beauty. She did not want to look similar to the other girls who have successfully undergone the
surgery (Olson, Debbie and Adrian). The age obsession of the different members of society had
no impact on Marilyn. Marilyn was not aware of the facts that once she is admitted to the
hospital she might be under the knife to get the operation done. Lana who was her mom tried to
convince her about the positive impacts of the surgery but her words had no effect on her. Even
Marilyn was very much upset when everyone around her was trying to convince her about
getting the operation done.
Intelligence/conformity
After getting the operation done, Marilyn was very much happy with her transformation
and was looking for reviews from her mom Lana and her friend Valerie. She was admiring
herself in the mirror and started acknowledging the positive impacts of the surgery. She was very
happy about the fact that she looked just like Valerie as she loved her so much (Martin). The
young lady was in love with her looks. The plastic surgery had a very deep impact on her as she
started thinking about bodybuilding and cosmetic surgeries from which people are getting
affected in a positive way. The impossible thing was improbable for her, these strange things are
now falling inti place for her. Her orthodox tradition mentality started changing after the
operation (Karl, Irmi and Julie). These futuristic changes were starting to have an impact on
Marilyn as this changes are the most important aspect of the Twilight zone. At the end of the
episode, Marilyn was very much satisfied with her surgery. Her intellectuality and intelligence
did not affect the outcome of this cosmetic plastic surgery. Her body, face, limbs, pigmentation,
sense and several other features were modified after this surgery (Markey, Charlotte and
Patrick). Awkwardness due to the unbalance in the body was solved completely with the help of
this surgery. Marilyn was very much anxious before the operations as the thought that the

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
operation will be having a psychological adjustment to her body. Her intelligence mind came
from her dad who never liked these types of transformational changes to the systems.
Today
Rod Sterling successfully categorised the impact of the cosmetic surgery with the help of
his anthology television series known as The Twilight Zone. In this particular episode, he
successfully focused on the fantasy of science and technology. Each episode of Rod Sterling’s
had a message at the end of the episode with moral and ethical value (Heyes). In this particular
episode, the director wanted to have his sayings about the moral value of the citizens which are
needed to be protected rather than imposing any kinds of changes on their life as it might have a
direct negative impact on his or her life. In the present situation, we are still confronting to the
beauty standards as the defining of the beauty keeps on changing according to the needs and
requirement. The different aspects of the beauty standards are the main reason behind the
difficulties faced by the citizens when they consider the beauty standards (Jones, Meredith and
Cressida). The inner beauty is getting lost these days due to the excessive application of cosmetic
surgeries. The issues focused on the episode of Rod Sterling is still present in our present society.
Now a day the natural beauty is always overlooked and the cosmetic beauty is always preferred
in most of the cases, we always choose cosmetic beauty over natural beauty.
Conclusion
From the above paper, it can be concluded that natural beauty should be protected and
preserved. Organic skin and organic skin products should be endorsed in a more effective way.
The artificial methods of endorsing beauty products and the cosmetic surgeries should not be
focused on our society as these artificial methods may have a direct negative impact on the

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
human body as well as the society we live in. New beauty standards are needed to be created and
implemented in our society so that the psychological issues such as the problem of depression as
well as physical issues such as skin diseases can be restricted. The luxurious and the super
effective beauty products should not be used as these artificial beautification methods may have
a toll on the human body itself. There are lots of harmful chemicals used in the beauty products
as well as in the cosmetic surgeries which creates lots of issues such as the blood pressure
problems, these issues will be purposefully solved if these cosmetic surgeries are abandoned
from our society. The extensive development in the field of cosmetic surgery has led to many
psychological and physical issues, these are the negative impact of the development. The huge
financial costs associated with the surgeries is also a source of concern in our society as these are
the added costs. Emotional damage is the other drawback of these cosmetic surgeries.

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
Reference
Buetow, Stephen, and Katharine Wallis. "The beauty in perfect imperfection." Journal of
Medical Humanities (2017): 1-6.
Heyes, Cressida J. "The “Natural Look”: Extreme Makeovers and the Limits of Self-
Fashioning." Cosmetic Surgery. Routledge, 2016. 133-148.
Heyes, Cressida J. "Women and the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery and the Colonization of Women’s
Bodies." Cosmetic Surgery. Routledge, 2016. 65-94.
Jones, Meredith, and Cressida J. Heyes. "Cosmetic surgery in the age of gender." Cosmetic
Surgery. Routledge, 2016. 17-34.
Karl, Irmi, and Julie Doyle. "Shame on you: Cosmetic surgery and class transformation in 10
Years Younger." Exposing Lifestyle Television. Routledge, 2016. 93-110.
Leonard, Sarah L. "Annelie Ramsbrock. The Science of Beauty: Culture and Cosmetics in
Modern Germany, 1750–1930." The American Historical Review 122.4 (2017): 1328-1329.
Mack, Robert L. "A (Truly) Captive Audience: The Twilight Zone and Mid-Century American
“Television Rooms”." Quarterly Review of Film and Video 33.1 (2016): 64-82.
Markey, Charlotte N., and Patrick M. Markey. "Can women’s body image be “fixed”? Women’s
bodies, well-being, and cosmetic surgery." The wrong prescription for women: How medicine
and media create a “need” for treatments, drugs, and surgery (2015): 221-237.
Martin, Paula J. Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-
century France. Routledge, 2016.

NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU
Olson, Debbie, and Adrian Schober. "Rod Serling’s Damaged Children: The Twilight Zone A
DR IAN SC HOBER." Children, Youth, and American Television. Routledge, 2018. 52-71.
Searing, Caroline, and Hannah Zeilig. "Fine Lines: cosmetic advertising and the perception of
ageing female beauty." International Journal of Ageing and Later Life 11.1 (2017): 7-36.
Viladrich, Anahi, and Rita Baron-Faust. "Medical tourism in tango paradise: The internet
branding of cosmetic surgery in Argentina." Annals of Tourism Research 45 (2014): 116-131.