Invasion of the body snatches

Invasion of the body snatchers (1956) was made for allegorical reasons, to display what was happening at the time. The film comments of the growth on McCarthyism directly and gives us a clear idea what it was like when this was happening in real life.  The clear relationship between the people turning into aliens from an internal source and McCarthy turning people against communists and if you wasn’t following him you were a communist becomes more apparent throughout the film.

            In the first scene we see Miles in a delirious state, shouting about aliens, which makes him look insane at first and we as an audience can establish this too as well as the doctors he’s gone to see. The fear that is portrayed by Miles is a fear shared by most of the American citizens at this point in time, as there was the cold war happening and of course the McCarthy witch hunts. This made people feel paranoid and most likely think they’re trapped as they have an internal threat trying to change them.  This is shown in Miles’ expressions and body actions even in the first scene, we can see this.

Straight after we see an establishing shot of a small town. The fact that it’s set in a small suburban town, Santa Mira, shows that it could happen/could of happened to any one of us. A small town such as this represents a lot of small towns in the US so the audience can easily relate to it.  The fact it’s not set in a major city is very unusual for its genre, as generally invasion films show big cities getting taken over and destroyed. To connect with the audience however, the film needed to be in a small town and link in with current affairs, fear of McCarthyism.

            When Miles returns to his role in the small town, as a doctor, he encounters two people who complain that one of their family members is in someway different, which isn’t visible. A psychological condition is what Miles presumes it to be and shrugs it off. These are the scenes when we see Uncle Ira and when we see Little Jimmy’s mother. The way that no one is going to the local business anymore is showing that the aliens have started to affect the American way of life.  This is mimicking the McCarthyism issue that grew from a small one to a nationwide ordeal. At first there were only a few people who supported McCarthy’s ideas, but no one did anything about it so it grew. The growth in the McCarthyism led to people supporting McCarthy just in fear and they felt a lot safer.

            More people start complaining about the symptoms and overall getting more paranoid as it seems like the ‘infection’ is growing. This is where Miles assumes that there’s something not right establishes something is wrong. Miles and the audience begin to see more and more people affected by the ‘psychological condition’, Miles still calls it a psychological problem and doesn’t see the bigger picture. This is conveying the idea that lots more people in real life were converting to McCarthyism and still people didn’t see it as a threat and no one saw it coming. The people who don’t share their POV about McCarthyism are an ‘other’, a threat and a communist. People were denied their freedom of speech and their right to remain silent; McCarthy would accuse people who didn’t speak as a communist. 

            As the number of PODS grows, they begin to show up in high up and well-paid jobs such as Doctors and police officers. This is seen when they simply shrug off the complaint of a dead body and say it must be Miles’ fault. This is showing that it can affect everyone and even people high up in a high authority. This isn’t stereotypical for any alien invasion film, as they normally are green and come from another planet. This again links back to the fact that the film needs to connect to things happening in real life. PODS begin to grow in number, so people who challenge the POD people are just labelled crazy rather than the other way round as we see with Uncle Ira at the start of the film. This is linked to the fact that McCarthy’s power grew to such an extent that more people were with him than against and everyone who wasn’t was a threat.

            The day after we see Miles find the bodies and hear the doctor and policeman give a logical explanation to why they’re there. Miles seems satisfied with this explanation and accepts that it’s correct. He’s now noted as a suspicion now, as a threat to the PODS. This is reflected into real life as more authoritative figures started to follow McCarthy so people couldn’t even trust them and peoples personal beliefs were being questioned. Anyone who displayed any signs that they were against McCarthy was considered to be potentially problematic and viewed with suspicion and as a threat or dangerous. People eventually became scared of being blacklisted and changed their ideologies to fit the status quo.

            When Miles is at Jack’s house and reveals that there is a conspiracy theory taking place; this is shown when he see’s the PODS growing in the greenhouse. He attempts to phone the police to no avail, they offer no support or help because they are POD people. Miles also says ‘If there is no one here to answer, they will know we have gone’ this shows the paranoia that is setting in and he knows he’s a threat to them and is labelled as an ‘other’. As McCarthy’s power grew he became so big that people would be incredibly worried of being called a communist and being blacklisted. By the mid 50s McCarthyism had become the status quo, so the majority of the US population support McCarthy. People feared speaking out against McCarthy and would just convert to McCarthyism; this is easily relatable to the film the status quo being the POD people.

McCarthy’s power was so great that people in all levels of government began to fear McCarthy, in fear of being labelled a communist. The authorities even backed him and changed laws in order for him to be able to support him. The judges during the HUAC hearings would be very biased and refuse freedom of speech and if they said anything but they wasn’t a communist, then they would be put in jail. This is then the point people became really frightened of their own government.

            As Miles attempts to leave the town he looks through a window and encounters a number of people that he suspected to be POD people. He is correct and all the people who he suspected are there in the house. Miles becomes more aware of the situation and able to challenge it, which makes him more of a threat towards the POD people. When Miles is at the gas station he is fearful of what Mack was putting in the trunk of his car, this is showing Miles is viewing every person suspiciously now, even if he trusted the people before. Also the scene at Sally’s house with the POD being placed in the baby’s bed shows that ideologies from parents are passed down to children. This is used to comment on if McCarthy isn’t challenged now it might be too late. After McCarthy’s ideology became the status quo, people who didn’t follow him were beginning to become increasingly paranoid. Paranoia grew so much that it even led some people to label their own family as ‘communist sympathisers’; people mostly did this in hatred of ‘the other’.