How does the manipulation of narrative structure and narrative devices allow film makers to comment upon social issues at the time of production?

How does the manipulation of narrative structure and narrative devices allow filmmakers to comment upon social issues at the time of the production?

The narrative of a film is the structure of the film which is visual for the audience whereas the story of the film is told to the audience by the actors however not made obvious or shown to them. The narrative always includes a protagonist and an antagonist, more commonly known as heroes and villains.

The protagonist of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is Miles, this is because the use of narration creates flashbacks and a restricted point of view, The director, Siegel, only shows the pod people from the point of view of Miles making the audience accept his viewpoint and making him the protagonist. The audience also accept the viewpoint of Miles as we see the pod people develop from Miles’ point of view making us share his perspective, furthermore Miles’ speaking to the audience and alternative point of views being restricted making us take on board the director’s point of view. By showing the pod people through Miles point of view shows how anyone who appears to oppose the pod peoples are now positioned as the minority and subsequently as a threat which educates the audience on how the ‘anti-Americans’ felt during the time of McCarthy and his followers being the majority. Moreover, it reflects the real world in which those who did not fall in line with Joseph McCarthy and his views were considered as ‘outsiders’ or ‘others’.

On the other hand, the antagonists in this film are the pod people and represent McCarthy’s followers and the time of Invasion of the Body Snatcher’s production. We know this because antagonists in films are generally a group or organisation which represents opposition against which the protagonists must battle; in this case the pod people are against Miles representing McCarthy’s followers opposing views with communists. The pod people in this film aim to annihilate the personal opinions and emotions within society which is what McCarthy aimed to do to make everyone agree with his views and anyone who had their own opinion was considered as an ‘anti-American’ or an ‘outsider’.

At first, as an audience, we are unsure of who the protagonist is and who the antagonist is in this film. It is not until the narrative develops and the numbers of pod people increases that Miles et al consider them as antagonists therefore the audience begin to consider the pod people as antagonists too. The reason for the audience having the same point of view as Miles is because of the use of narration, flashbacks and a restricted point of view. These techniques make the audience literally see and hear the film through the eyes and ears of Miles putting them in his perspective. This development in the narrative shows how more and more people began following the views of McCarthy until, eventually, they became the majority and the communists with their own points of view became the minority.

Near to the end of the film, narration is used to make a character tell the audience that the pod people have to take over every human in order to survive, this reflects everyone turning to McCarthyism in order for McCarthy’s plan to go ahead which is why the pod people attempt to remove and annihilate the feelings, emotions and identity of the humans rather than completely annihilating them and taking over human kind.

Due to use of narration making us literally see and hear through the eyes of McCarthy, the films leaves the audience with the choice of adopting Miles’ point of view and with assessments or rejecting his point of view and taking a negotiated reading from the film. At the time of production, this film would have left a 1950s audience thinking about its allegory of McCarthyism and making them realise that they were the only ones that could do anything about it by taking their own opinions back to make McCarthy and his views become the minority again. The film leaves the audience with this dilemma as a result of creating no solution within the narrative.

In addition, at the end of the film we would still see Miles as the protagonist even though he is the minority as Miles reinforces the views held by the main society and those who oppose McCarthy would see Miles as a hero and he reinforces their values; because of this the audience would feel betrayed by Miles if he turned into a pod person therefore because he didn’t become a pod person he remains the protagonist of the film.

Finally, binary opposition is used in Invasion of the Body Snatchers to demonstrate the conflict between the ideology of McCarthy followers and the ideology of the communists. This binary opposition leaves the film with two possible outcomes – one of Miles turning to McCarthyism and becoming a pod person and one outcome of Miles remaining the minority and continuing to represent communism. These two possible outcomes in the narrative create tension and conflicts making the audience pick sides with the audience most commonly rooting for the protagonists and hoping that they overcome the evil that they face. Lastly, the binary opposition within this narrative helps to keep it moving forward and creates cause and effect in which each scene has a connection to each scene either side of it.