Compare how key messages and values are explored in the two American films you have studied in reflecting the period they were made

    Compare how key messages and values are explored in the two American films you have studied in reflecting the period they were made

Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds both have similar messages and story but they also differ as the times they were made in contrasted.

    When Invasion of the Body Snatchers was made it was in very patriarchal society and thus active and passive roles came about. Miles, the protagonist was seen as very active as he tried to change the story line and save as many people as he could from being invaded. Becky, Mile’s female friend had a very passive role as she did not really contribute to Miles efforts and just took a back seat in the proceedings.                     Laura Mulvey, a feminist, came up with the Male Gaze Theory and suggested that men would only watch a film is there was an attractive female counter part, hence why in the 1950’s film Dana Wynter was cast.

    As times changed and feminist movements became stronger, laws got changed so that women could have equal jobs to men. This made the American patriarchal society weaker and so in War of the Worlds there was a change in the active and passive roles. Ray, the male protagonist was still the main active character along with his son Robbie, however, his daughter was also seen as an active/passive character, sometimes trying to change and help Ray and other times not getting involved, such in the scene where the car is getting invaded by other characters and she panicked and did not move. Ray ex-wife, in the short time she in the film also takes on an active role as she goes about his house tidying up.

    In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Siegel used different narrative devices to comment on social issues. Using only Miles perspective of the story denied the audience of seeing an alternative point of view and so the audience see the Pod People as bad. Using flashbacks and Miles restricted POV; Siegel presents the Pod People from Miles perspective and so the audience literally see them through his eyes.  As the narrative develops, the number of Pod People increase and so direct links can be made via connections to McCarthy and his followers. If you look at the Pod People as being McCarthy and his followers then Miles would be what McCarthy had called ‘the others’ as they did not fall in line and were seen as threats to social harmony.

    There are many iconic images in War of the Worlds that have been paralleled to the 9/11 terrorist attacks because Spielberg believed it would boost movie sales. In the scene were everyone sees the first tripod, all shots are at low angles, this parallels to actual 9/11 footage. These visual references are familiar to audience, as they have most likely seen the footage on the news or Internet. That first tripod scene has many iconic images such as; the billowing smoke, chaotic streets, people covered in dust, people hiding behind cars, there all parallel 9/11 footages as our brains attempt to view the film in context we are familiar with.