Prepared by
HEURISTIX
Laurie Blass and Pam Elder
Instructional Designers
"What You Need" - Synopsis
BACKGROUND
Writer: Rod Serling; Director: John Brahm; Cast: Steve Cochran, Ernest Treux, Reed Morgan, William Edmonson, Arline Sax; Original air date: First season, 12/25/59.
Fred Renard, a down-and-outer in a neighborhood bar, observes Pegott, a kind peddler who has the ability to see into the future. Pegott approaches bar patrons and sells them "what they need", such as a bus ticket to Lefty, an out-of-work baseball player. Minutes later, Lefty receives a call on the pay phone to go to Scranton for a coaching job. Renard asks Pegott to give him what he needs, and the pair of scissors Pegott sells him saves his life in an emergency shortly thereafter. Renard then gets the idea of exploiting Pegott's gift for his own gain, and tries to force Pegott to comply. However, Pegott's gift for seeing into his own future saves him from Renard in the end.
Focus: Using a gift for personal gain or for the benefit of others
Discussion
1. Share with your group members examples of predicting the future from mythology and fiction (including movies and television), history, and real life. Think about soothsayers, prophets, fortunetellers, seers, and people with psychic ability: What did they do? How did they do it? What was the result? Who gained from their efforts?
2. Now ask yourselves: Is there such a thing as true psychic ability, or is it simply the stuff of legends?
3. Finally, decide for yourself and then consider with your fellow group members: What is the greatest gift a person could have? Choose one attribute from the following list, or suggest one that isn't here:
- the ability to love and be loved
- peace of mind
- a sense of humor
- the ability to know the future
- super intelligence
- monetary wealth
ACTIVITIES
During Viewing:
Note the following:
1. Describe some of the characters in the bar: What is Lefty like? What does he really need? How does he get it? What is the young woman like? What might she need? How might she get it?
2. What kind of person is Renard? How do you know?
3. What does Renard think he needs? And what does Pegott say he really needs? Can Pegott give Renard these things?
4. How does Pegott's gift help others? How does he use it to help himself?
After Viewing:
1. Use magazines, books, or websites such as the following to find out about and take notes on psychics and psychic ability. Try to answer the question posed in Discussion: Is there such a thing as true psychic ability, or is it simply the stuff of legends? What proof is there of "true" psychic ability. How it is tested? Are there people with proven psychic ability? How reliable are testing methods? In doing research, pay special attention to the source of your information: is it from a recognized university or science/psychology publication? Some interesting websites to explore for this activity include the following:
2. If your research shows that there are people with proven psychic ability, gather information on who they are, what they do, and how they have used their ability.
3. Then, report on your findings to the class. Report on the proof, if any, that psychic ability is real, and present a few examples of "real" psychics. Try to find at least one example of a psychic who used his or her ability for the benefit of others, or tell about a situation in which person, a group, or an organization used psychic ability to accomplish a particular task.
Journal
If you don't already have one, start a Twilight Zone theme journal and write an entry about the following topic:
If you had psychic abilities, what would your life be like? Would you be happy? Why or why not? Would you use your ability? How? Would you use it for the good of others, for yourself only, or a combination?
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