Essay

Invasion of the body snatchers is an allegorical film which reflects the time it was made because of its commentary on McCarthyism.The film invasion of the body snatches begins with the reinstatement of the equilibrium making the narrative non-linear, we see miles in a state of panic speaking talking to what seems to be a psychiatrist about an unseen alien force taking human bodies as hosts, the invasion is ideological.   The opening of the film helps reflect the on going issues in American society at the time, Miles’s state of panic is a reflection of how the people of American felt at the time when Communism and the McCarthy witch hunts were on the up. 

After the prologue, the next scene is a flashback narrated by Miles; it is miles returning to his home, small town Santa Mira. By shooting this movie in a small town instead of the usual big city, the director creates an uneasy feeling for the audience, it could be them. The director also uses dialogue to reinforce these fears, "everything looked normal,but it wasn't, something wasn't right" this is used as a contextual signifier of how McCarthyism wasn't noticeable or visible, at the time McCarthyism was an internal problem; the allegory in the film was designed to speak to all Americans at the time.

There is then a disruption in the peaceful town, miles encounters two people who claim that their relatives are ‘different’ with no logically proof which leads miles to shrug it off as ‘psychological conditions’. Both individuals ‘uncle ira’ ‘little jimmy’s mother’ look sound and remember the same, in miles’ eyes they seem to still be themselves. The only flaw is that their families can see that something is ‘different’; also the ‘Grimaldi’ family business has gone out of business in a result to the change- the director has done this to comment on the threat to Americans. This represents how McCarthyism grew from a small issue to a national one, people under suspicion became paranoid.

Miles then comes to recognise that there is a general problem emerging. The number of pods have began to increase and show up in positions of authority i.e. the police, this is a symbol for how McCarthy’s influence grew in the positions of power, some begun to believe him, but others merely agreed with him out of fear.

Although miles is unaware that the pods have grew in size taking over the bodies of authortive figures he comes face to face with one when jacks calls him over to his house, he uncovers more pods and realise that there is a conspiracy taking place. In an attempt to repair the disruption miles tries contacting the FBI, but they don't offer neither help nor support leaving miles to take things into his own hands, he tells his friends to escape whilst he waits. Miles paranoia begins to grow, due to how rapid the pods have increased miles is against status quo becoming the label of 'threat' and 'outsider'. This has connotations of how mccarthys influence began to grow, meaning by going against him he would then suggest or even label them as a communist, this caused some to commit suicide because they would be blacklisted. At this time in the 50's McCarthy and his ideologies became the status quo, because the government begun to fear being blacklisted they resulted by supporting him, people began to fear and become paranoid over their own government.


Miles results in travelling to his nurses house hoping for help only to find out that all of his close friend are also there, they have all been 'assimilated' and changed into pods. The pods have taken over the majority of American society, others are treated with deadly force. This forces miles to only trust Becky, he is depicted now I'm the film as an outsider, a man who his losing control of his identity. His isolation makes him appear to have lost his mind, he is labbeled crazy. This signifies how mccarthys influence was so pervasive that it affected everybody in American society. The paranoia spread over the people of America fast, they begun to fear and become paranoid of their closets friends and family. This lead to an insecure, untrusting, fearful society.



Miles and Becky end up being chased out of town to end up hiding from the alien forces in a cave. This is were Becky hears beautiful music being played so she follows it to find its source. Becky is lead to believe that there are others like them because the music is clearly an emotional piece.When
miles investigates he witnesses the farmers switch off the music and work in silence. This scene conveys messages about mccarthyists, music is a form of personal expression, people respond differently to music, this signifies our emotional individuality. Becky's enjoyment of the music reflects her humanity as well as identity. In the 50's the majority of people took comfort and felt safe adopting status quo, giving up their identities. Individuality was no longer desirable, people would rather be apart of a bigger group. The music in the film signifies subversive, people would reject this in order to avoid suspicion.

Becky unfortunately ends up falling asleep shuck leads her to awaken as a POD, Becky then shouts to the others so they catch miles which lead him to run for his life onto the freeway. This scene is a representation of how even a persons closets friends and family could slowly be turned with the person being conscious to it. This scene comments on the extreme paranoia of 1950's American society.

The final scene goes back to miles talking to the pychaitrist showing the ending of the flashback. At first they don't believe miles and think he has lost his mind intending to send him to a asylum. However at the last someone else confirms miles story, he is no longer a minority, which leads them to begin to take him seriously, after this the film ends with a close up of miles anxious expression. The film ends with no resolution which raise enigma codes from the audience, the film has an open ended narative. The ending contradicts stereotypical film ending because it suggests that the characters did not live happily ever after, instead the threats of the pods are still presented. Basically the film opens and ends in a state of panic highlighting that this is an ongoing problem yapping in society and by standing up to McCarthy they face real danger of their nation being taken over by these 'invaders' which in the movie are pod people.

In conclusion this film is allegorical to McCarthyism because it contains signifiers that highlight contextual issues during the 1950's, this is presented by 'aliens' which is us.