Invasion of the body snatchers reflects issues going on the time it was made, this is shown during the opening scene when Miles is having a flashback in a state of panic about a unknown problem that he is labelled crazy for believing is true.
This reflects the growth of the fear of communism that went on during the time the film was made, this is due to the way Miles is treated as crazy for what he says and believes is true which is his theory that aliens who take human form are taking over starting with the USA which is the way people would react about communism and the red scare which were developing threats at the time. Miles in the film is paranoid as the aliens are a national and internal threat for the USA which reflects how communism was a threat during that time which many Americans would have felt paranoid and in fear off because they had different believes and ideologies compared to communists as they are capitalists. But due to this being viewed as the equilibrium for the audience and the characters reflects how these issues took place in the everyday at the time and would be seen as the average normal everyday.
After the prologue miles encounters two people who believe that their family members aren't their own as they are different but Miles decides as the people are in some sort of psychological condition but as more and more people become effected by this condition Miles begins to realise that it is a threat to his way of life.
This is linked into McCarthyism which started off as the minority of people having fear of communist infiltration, but as McCarthy gained followers who shared his fear and he became the majority and he put people who he was suspicious of being communist under paranoia as he made them the issue. The Grimaldi family one of Miles patients go out of business due to the new issue, which comments on how people thought would happen if communism took over and would ruin their lives and create a real threat as people would go out of business and no longer have a job.
The film is set in a small town Santa Mira in the USA other than the usual large city like New York is unusual because the audience would expect the threat to spread terror in a highly populated city that is world renown and puts the threat on a even bigger scale but IOTBS does not do this because it wants the audience to see the threat and issues as an internal problem that grows from a small issue into nation wide.
This also highlights McCarthyism which Joseph McCarthy made a bigger issue by making people make the decision on whether they were communist or not and if they were he would blacklist them and label them as communist which he made people view as others and threats and would do the same even if they refused to answer which made people fear to preach their own believes as they would be posed as a threat. This is also how McCarthy became the figure of authority as he accused others who had power of being communist and made them a threat and took any power they had away from them, he also labelled them as aliens if they didn't agree with him which dehumanised them as they were singled out and imprisoned by McCarthy and his followers.
Which is how Miles feels in the film as he becomes paranoid about the aliens and they view him as a threat as he is the minority with different beliefs, which is how McCarthy made the majority view the people he viewed as communists.
The aliens in the film are in human form which makes them different to aliens in typical sci-fi films as they usually have one eye and three arms which distinguishes their otherness, but makes them alike the people McCarthy viewed as communists or aliens.
The day after the events when Miles shows the body to the police officer but it disappears and the officer allows Miles to get away with a warning and tells Miles that the first body he saw in Jacks home was found burnt on a hedge which satisfies Miles as a explanation. Miles wakes up the following morning viewed as suspicious due to his strange behaviour the night before.
Miles accepts the officers reasoning as he believes him due to him being a figure of authority and someone Miles can trust but in the film it is clear Miles himself is still suspicious and distrustful of the police officer, which reflects how people in the USA would act at the time to being in fear of others about expressing their beliefs if they are anti capitalists which would make them a threat to society because society had taken on McCarthy's view point as it would be too dangerous not too. Which is what would have a caused distrust towards authority figures who could inform McCarthy and his followers which would put people at risk and make a threat and get them black listed by McCarthy which would ultimately ruin their lives.
During this time people did stand up to McCarthy but McCarthy made a example of them by putting them into prison or black listing them and making them a national threat which would put them and their families lives at risk. Which was a warning to others and a example of the power he possessed which made him a bigger threat.
Whilst Miles is at Jack's home he uncovers more PODs and realises that there is a conspiracy taking place as authority figures like the police are lying to him to cover it up. Miles rings the FBI for help but realises they are a part of the conspiracy and is afraid to put the phone down on them incase they know that has gone. Which shows Miles paranoia towards authority and how he has been positioned as the threat as he doesn't follow the status quo in the conspiracy theory.
This reflects how McCarthy's influence grew at the time and instead of him being the threat he made others the threat because he became a formidable force not to be reckoned with and if he was to be attacked he suggested that the attacker is a communist and therefore a threat and black listed them.
McCarthy and his ideologies became the status quo that the majority of the US population had taken on in payment of giving up their own ideologies alike the Pod people in the film. This made people scared to speak up to him as they would be black listed if they did and labelled a threat.
McCarthy gained so much power that people began to fear being labelled by McCarthy even authority began to fear him as he would ruin them which made them back him and even change their policies to support him, for example judges became openly biased and refused to give trialists freedom of speech. This made people fear authority as McCarthy made them corrupt and made people paranoid of them which is shown by Miles in the film.
As Miles tries to escape his town he encounters different people who he is wary of and suspects are Pod people, he spies on a family who are sitting with a POD between them and the parents plan on passing it down to their children and Miles realises what they're about to do but they see him and chase him to his car explaining that he should join them, due to the vast amount of them this positions Miles further as the threat and the other.
When Miles is trying to escape from town he comes across a local gas station which he has been to before the PODS and he gets gas but remains wary as one of the workers checks his boot which he would have done countless times before but Miles remains wary and decides to get away as soon as possible, he says "I saw Mack checking the trunk of my car. He could have been checking my spare tire, but... I didn't thin so". Miles is correct in doing so as when he checks his boot he finds two PODS, which makes him correct about his distrust of people he has known and trusted which highlights how alone with Becky and he is and how he is a 'other'.
The parents passing the Pod down to their children is similar to how children would have had McCarthy's ideologies passed down to them as it is what their parents believe in. When Miles encounters the gas station he is wary of the people who work there even though he knows them which shows how he is suspicious of everyone he encounters and distances himself from them, which at the time the film was made people would have been like because they would be unsure if even their own family members are threats or 'others'.
Miles decides to return to his friends home before he leaves for help but before he enters he looks through their window and realises that they are now PODS and that PODS have now taken over american society and puts Miles in perspective of how he is the threat now.
Miles is wary of everyone now as even his closest friends have become POD people. Which shows the influence the POD people have and how they can overcome the majority and make them the minority and Miles realises this and realises that the POD people are indestructible and that the only person he can now trust is Becky. Miles is shown to be losing his mind as he has become so isolated and lonely that he is losing control of himself.
McCarthy's influence was so powerful that it affected all levels of american society and affect the huge majority of people. People became so scared and paranoid that they became distrustful of their closest friends and family as they felt that everyone was capable of being a communist and a threat due to what McCarthy was making them believe in, which is similar to Miles in the film.
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