in what ways does IOTBS reflect the time in which it was made?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers reflects the time in which it was made in a number of ways.  For example, the film starts with one of the ending scenes of the film. The majority of the film is told from narrated flashbacks. In this scene, Miles is shown to look to be worried and panicked about an unseen force. This is reflective of the panic that the American people were experiencing at that time. The fears of communism and "The Red Scare" were ingrained into American society at the time in which this film was made. As well as this, the nation was gripped with fear and paranoia from an internal threat. This internal threat was Joseph McCarthy and his "witch hunts" in which he would accuse those who didn't agree with his ideologies if being communist, which in turn led to many people being "blacklisted" meaning that finding employment and acceptance in society would be very difficult. The film portrayed the fear and paranoia felt by many Americans, this is shown in the opening shot and instantly tells the audience about the unseen threat facing Miles and the people of the fictional town in which the film is set, "Santa Mira". This town is representative of many small towns in America at this time.

After the prologue, the film opens with Miles returning the Santa Mira after attending a medical convention. What's unusual about this is the fact that the film takes place in a small town as opposed to a major city. This challenges the audiences expectations of the films and adds to the uneasiness the film creates. The threat of McCarthyism was an internal threat, the message portrayed by the film taps in to the existing fears of American society at that time.

At first, Miles is shown two people who feel that their family members have changed, but they cannot actually determine what's changed. Miles sees these issues as "psychological conditions".
Both Jimmy Grimaldi's mother and Uncle Ira do not appear to have changed in the slightest, but their family members feel as though something is not right, however again they cannot tell what has actually changed. As well as this, the Grimaldi's also owned a family business, which has now shut down, this is a direct commentary about how these internal threats threatened the American way of life.
McCarthy's influence went from small to nation wide. It was an ideological invasion rather than an physical invasion. At first not many people feared communist infiltration into the United States. The problem was initially perceived to be with the people themselves and not what they actually feared.

As more people start complaining of the alleged "symptoms". Miles begins the realise that a genuine problem is emerging. We begin to see more people affected by this "Psychological condition", which is what Miles still believes the problem to be. This relates to American society as more and more people began to follow McCarthy and believe in his ideologies, either out of fear of being an outcast or by genuinely believing him. People who did not agree with McCarthy's ideologies were considered to be "others" and potential "threats". They were also denied the 1st and 5th amendment which are the freedom of speech and the right to remain silent, the biased judges agreed with McCarthy and a fair trial was denied. This was due to the Alien registration act, which enabled McCarthy to discredit people and deny them their constitutional rights.

As the number of "pods" grow, they began to effect people in positions of authority, most notably, the doctor and police officer who regard Miles' complaint of the dead body or "pod" on the pool table in Becky's fathers home as irrelevant. "Pods" began to grow in numbers and those who question their ideologies are seen as crazy/paranoid or accused of imagining it. They are even threatened with imprisonment if they do not persist. The link between the film and American society is that, as McCarthy's influence grew, people who were in positions of power began to adopt his ideologies, some out of genuine belief, others out of fear of being labeled "communist" themselves.