fantastic depends exclusively upon the continuous subversion of our reality and is the narrative
result of a constant negotiation between the very believable and the rationally unacceptable.
This functional definition obviously relies on what has become today a crucial target of
post-structuralism: a collectively accepted notion of objective reality. If, as argued by current
radical cultural constructionism, reality is nothing more than a cultural construction itself, then,
indeed, it is likely to become increasingly difficult to distinguish what is rational from what is not
- a problem that, fortunately, does not seem to affect the scientific community. This debate,
which should have been quickly resolved after Sokal’s famous hoax,7 is unfortunately very
much alive today, as the untenable notion that objective reality is nothing but a cultural
construction fuels an endless amount of t heoretical material whose only goal seems to
demonstrate that nothing can be demonstrated. In order to proceed, we must therefore take a
leap of faith and believe that, indeed, there is an objective reality, or at least a collectively
shared notion of such, and that the laws of physics are not the same as those of baseball,
despite Stanley Fish’s laborious and unconvincing rhetorical attempts: believing that there is
such a thing as reality is the price to pay if we want to progress towards a structurally
functional definition of any narrative mode.
The functional definition of any narrative mode is only valid insofar as it can be
demonstrated empirically, and in the case of the fantastic, such demonstration is all the more
crucial that it participates directly in the much needed delimitation of a coherent corpus of
study. The popular American TV show, The Twilight Zone, imposes itself as an exemplary
illustration of the fantastic mode and of its primary structural components, and its study will not
only help us to better understand the mechanisms of this particular mode, but it will also
contribute to the description of our object of study and to the elaboration of its canon.
In the Zone
The aesthetic direction of the Twilight Zone is resolutely fantastic, for it opposes from its
very first episode, “Where is Everybody?” an identifiable, everyday life reality to an irrational
phenomenon, namely the sudden disappearance of all human life in a small town, which
sooner or later causes the breakdown of the epistemological order. Although “Where is
Everybody?” cannot be considered a fantastic narration in the strict sense of the word, since
7 Please see The Sokal’s Hoax, which documents the epistemologically disturbing trajectory of Sokal’s mock
essay within the academ ic community.
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