"In what does Invasion of the bod snatches reflect the time in which it was made?"

The film opens up with a scene of Miles in a state of panic, the scene then cuts into a flashback to show us the beginning of the story, making the entire story narrated as a flash back. Miles’ state of panic and shock reflects the on going issues in American society during the 1950’s. Fear of the Red scare, Communism and the McCarthy Witch hunters are all of the factors that brought paranoia and fear into the United States. But most notably from McCarthy who presents as an internal threat to the entire country. The film’s setting taps into the fears and paranoia that many of the US citizens felt during this time. From the establishing shot of this scene we’re shown a small local town, but as many of the US citizens live within these small local towns brings a more familiar look to the public, furthermore informing the audience that this unseen threat facing Miles and all of the inhabitants of Santa Mira are under threat.

After the prologue the film opens with Miles returning from his medical trip and coming back to the small town, Santa Mira.  The setting again isn’t set in a big major city, going against the generic convections of a Sci-fi film. This challenges what the audience’s expectations and this contributes to the uneasiness sense that the film intends to generate. McCarthyism is an internal problem and the film intends to speak to speak to the casual and normal US citizens and taps into their already existing films.

At first, Miles comes across two different people who are in the same scenario, but concerning different family members. They both raise awareness towards the same problem. But Miles shrugs of these complaints as “Psychological conditions”. Both little Jimmy’s mother and uncle Ira both look and sound normal, but their families complain that they’re not ‘normal’ and that something has changed. Also the ‘Grimaldi’ family business has also been closed down as a result of this change, this comments on the threat of the American way of life and that no ones safe. This represents the growth of McCarthyism, as it started out small and that the minority who worried of this were just seen as paranoid of communist infiltration and how it was going to impact America.

As more people start to bring up the same issue and complaining about other people having the same symptoms, Miles starts to take notice of this and starts to think that there’s a genuine problem emerging. This represents the growth of McCarthyism and that it started to affect the more people, and is shown through characters such as Becky’s father and etc being affected by this mysterious up rise. But Miles is still confidant that it’s only a psychological condition is the problem. During the 50’s more and more people begin to adopt McCarthy’s view and his ideologies. This was still seen as not a big problem, but the people who followed McCarthy started to see people who didn’t share the same views as ‘others’ and that they were threats.

As the number of pods starts to grow they start to show up in the buildings of where the authority were, this happens in the Dr’s and the police officers who shrug off Mile’s complaint about the ‘dead body’ (The pod) that laid on the pool table in Becky’s fathers house. This shows that McCarthyism started to attack the places of authority and wanted to gain control of them. The PODS also started to grow in number and those who questioned these PODS were seen as crazy/paranoid or accused them of imagining things.  As the growth of influence of McCarthy spread America people were forced to see form his POV unless they’d be punished.

The day after the events with the confusion of the dead bodies and the authorities, Miles wakes up and accepts the authorities explanation of the situation of the night prior. However Miles ‘weird’ behaviour has been noticed by these authority figures and is now being viewed with suspicion. Many people were discouraged from questioning anything about the new status quo and changes set in society because of McCarthy. People weren’t able to trust the authority figures as they began to adopt this new ideology forced by McCarthy. Paranoia started to grow as people felt that their thoughts and personal beliefs were unimportant, as now we all have to think the same way. Anyone who displayed any signs of questioning McCarthy’s ideology was considered to be a potential threat or problem towards the status quo was identified and viewed with suspicion. People in society would also adopt these viewpoints and these people under watch were considered a potentially dangerous or a threat.

Whilst at Jack’s house miles uncovers more PODS and realises that there is a conspiracy-taking place within their town. He attempts to phone the police and the FBI as these are the main forces of authority and are the symbols of authority. But they don’t offer any help or support to the situation. Instead, he tells his friends to escape whilst he waits for them to call back, knowing if that if there isn’t anyone to answer then they’ll know that they’ve left. Showing that paranoia is beginning to grow within the people who aren’t apart of the status quo, and are now re-positioned as a threat and as an ‘other’ as Miles and his friends are the minority.  As McCarthy’s influence grew across the United States he became a formidable foe for anyone to challenge. If he attacked, labelled or even suggested a person was a communist, their lives would be over – but for others, literally as many of these blacklisted people committed suicide. During this time in the mid 50’s McCarthy and his ideologies were now the status quo and where backed by the majority of US society. Therefore those who opposed it were the minority and were also seen as potential threat towards McCarthyism. So people feared speaking out against McCarthy – otherwise known as becoming POD people. McCarthy was so powerful during this time as his ideologies were widespread so that people of all levels of government began to fear being labelled as a communist. As a result of this authorities backed him and even changed policies to support him. During the HUAC hearings judges were biased and the 5^th Amendment right was refused and freedom of speech was restricted taking away the normal American way of living. People than began to fear their government and began adapting towards the status quo view that McCarthy was right and that any other ideologies that didn’t support it were wrong, and that meant anyone following this ideology were communists.

As Miles tries to leave town he encounters a number of people who he suspects to be POD people and is correct every time, as Miles becomes more aware of the situation and sees how many people are POD people and is now able to challenge it, the PODS increase in number further isolating him as an other and a threat. When Miles gets at the gas station and says “I saw Mack checking the trunk of my car. He could have been checking my spare tire, but… I didn’t think so” this quote shows that Miles is now more paranoid about the people around him and if they’re POD people, even the people who Miles used to trust are now PODS. The scene at Sally’s house with the POD being placed in the baby’s room shows that ideologies get passed down through parents to offspring. This comments on the fact that if people are to stand up and challenge McCarthy that it must be now before it’s too late. After McCarthy’s ideology became the dominant view of the public people became increasingly paranoid. As this was an ideological invasion and that people weren’t sure that their friends, family or neighbours couldn’t of been a threat. Paranoia grew and even led to many people exposing their own family members as ‘Communist sympathisers’. People did this out of fear and hatred on ‘the others’ brought by McCarthyism.

Miles returns to his friend’s house for help only for when he arrives and looks through the window all of his close friends and family have now been ‘assimilated’ and have been converted into PODS. The PODS have now taken over all of areas of American society and anyone who opposes them is now seen as a serious threat against their agenda and the ‘others’ are treated with deadly force. The PODS have now taken over all of the areas of Santa Mira and the status quo now see that anyone who opposes them as a threat to their agenda. Miles’ is horrified that all of his closet friends and family have been converted. This shows the huge influence that the PODS have and their ability to overcome all obstacles. The PODS seem indestructible and capable of assimilating anyone. Miles is unable to trust anyone apart from one person-Becky. He’s a complete outsider. He’s now depicted in the film as someone who’s lost their mind and that his actions and thoughts are unrational. He’s been isolated from everyone. McCarthy’s influence was so pervasive that he was able to affect all Americans of all levels. This was because everyone was afraid of being blacklisted and because of this fear people started to mistrust family and friends, eventually ending up to families and friends calling each other out. People became paranoid and became very insecure and fearful of the people around them

Miles and Becky are hiding in Miles’ office over night, they check out the window to see the army handing out PODS for the families of the town. Miles then discovers that his closet friends have been assimilated, also realising that him and Becky are the only humans who remain in Santa Mira. The PODs are being handed out when Jack discovers Miles and Becky are in the office trying to convince them by saying “It’s not that bad…” Miles sees that the entire town has been assimilated and that the ideological changes imposed by the POD people. The People that Miles know look the same, talk the same and all have the same memories. But they’re different in some different way. Any dialogue given by these converted people is now a comment on how people gave up their identities to fall in line with the status quo. The characters who have lost their emotions are a comment on those who gave up and joined the status quo out of fear of being named as a communist. With an ideology established as the status quo, anyone who attempts to challenge this was labelled as an ‘other’. The greater the opposition to the status quo, the greater the perceived threat. Through McCarthy’s campaign he was able to say that anyone in any position who opposed him as a threat he called list them as an outsider.

Miles and Becky then are chased and ran out of town by a local mob. Mobs symbolise the group think mentality, otherwise known as mob mentality. This mentality is what the PODS have as they have a lack of individual identities. The PODS come together as a unit against Miles and Becky as they’re the threat against the PODs way of thinking and must be stopped at all costs. When an ideology becomes the ‘norm’ then it becomes harder to oppose, these people who do oppose are seen as different, as an ‘other’.

After being chased out of town Miles and Becky hideout in a cave. Becky hears some music and asks Miles to check it out. The music seems to be heavenly and elegant and Becky comments on this by saying “I’ve never heard anything so beautiful. It means we are not the only ones left to know what love is” Becky as a human and not a POD enjoys the music and takes comfort to it, reflecting that she’s still got some humanity left and is an individual. Miles investigates and he sees POD farmers turn off the music and work in silence. During McCarthy’s reign many people adopted the status quo so they could feel safer and give up their own personal identities, as they weren’t able to express how they felt against McCarthy. People wanted to be seen as a part of the group instead as an individual. This music is a form of expression and could be considered subversive. People therefore would reject these things in order to remain a part of the status quo.

At the last moment Becky falls asleep and awakens as one of the PODs. Miles then runs for his life onto the freeway. This scene shows that anyone at any moment in time can be converted without anyone knowing, Miles gave his absolute trust to Becky and she betrayed it. In the end Miles is left with nobody else to trust and that he can only trust himself. This scene is used to comment on the extreme paranoia felt in 1950’s America.

The penultimate scene sees Miles run away and on to the freeway. Miles tries to warn all bypassing cars of the invasion. Miles keeps getting ignored and represented as a man shouting about the end of the world as trucks with the names of different cities pass him. The trucks have names of well-known American cities written on them, Miles then sees that the truck is filled with PODs and that they’re getting distributed across the nation. Showing that it’s spreading at a massive rate. Miles now seems isolated, a loner standing alone on the freeway screaming about the end of the world. Showing that the paranoia of others heavily affects people, even those in authority. He’s also been isolated completely as a ‘other’ and is seen as a threat from the status quo.

The finale sees Miles finally reach help, but is only seen as a crazy lunatic by the police and doctors, only when someone else can confirm Miles’ story can it be took seriously. The film then ends without any conclusion or resolution. Instead the film ends with text saying “The end?” As the film ends with no clear resolution, it’s message is left for interpretation of the audience, as most films normally show a conclusion to the story and the characters have a happy ending. The film starts how it ends, with panic and by returning to the beginning the director informs is that there is no resolution to this issue at the present time and that the audience would return to reality that still remains in panic. The director tries to draw out the attention of the audience onto a more serious tone, that being that this problem is an ongoing, current problem and that people must be aware of. Miles in a CU warns them shouting “your next!”