How far do the American films you have studied convey key themes in similar ways

I'm going to talk about War of the Worlds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and how they're linked to communism and post 9/11. Post 9/11 cinema is about films that are related to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and communism is about Joseph McCarthy and his rise to power with McCarthyism and his attack against communists, with his black listing and witch hunts. I will also mention the four themes in the films which are fear of others, paranoia, fear of annihilation and fear of assimilation.


When we start watching War of the Worlds we can see it is set in New York and this is a clear link to 9/11 as they're both in New York. When we first meet the Tripods they come from underneath us and when they first start up their engines sound like the start of plane engine and this is clear link between the film and post 9/11 as its saying that the equipment the terrorists is alien to us as its so evil and deadly. The fact that this scene is shot through a hand held recording camera and shot at an obscured angle represents the fact that people captured the whole event on their recording cameras. As they start to attack people, they shoot them and the people turn into grey smoke, this grey smoke represents the smoke that covered New York in the 9/11 and this shows fear of annihilation as people began running and screaming, trying to save their lives, it also links to the fear of others and people didn't know what was going on, who was attacking? Is it the aliens/terrorists? This scene represents allegory as it represents the attacks on 9/11.
When Ray returns home paranoia is shown as he is very jumpy and on edge, as a result of this his children become concerned and worried, becoming paranoid, this only reinforces the allegory that the tripods represent the terrorists.
The fact Rachael says "Is it the terrorists" shows it is a direct link to the terrorists who attacked on 9/11. This shows the heightened paranoia and how they're also afraid of others and annihilation. The scene in the basement with Olgilvy  and Ray represents fear of others as in the end he has to kill Olgilvy for survival and in the 9/11 people thought irrationally and didn't know how to react.


Invasion the Body Snatchers reflects the time in which it was made in many ways. The film opens with the final scene of Miles panicking about a powerful force that audience is yet to see. The film then cuts to the beginning of Miles’ story and we come to realise that the film is narrated in a flashback. Miles is panicking and in a state of shock. The film opens with this panic to reflect the time and problems they had in American society. The entire nation was in the middle of the Red Scare and feared communism and McCarthy with his witch hunts underway. McCarthy scared the nation and the pods in the film are there to represent McCarthyism and how people just followed him due to fear. McCarthy represents an internal threat to people as his ideologies used to be a minority but he grew in power, like the pods in the film, they went from the minority to the majority. The film uses peoples fear and paranoia felt by most Americans.
At first, Miles encounters two individuals who complain to him mentioning that their family members have changed and are ‘different’. He dismisses the comments and shrugs of the complaints as psychological conditions. Little Jimmy’s mother and uncle Ira both look the same and sound the same but their families complain that ‘something’ has changed about them. The Grimaldi family business has also gone out of business as a result of this change. McCarthy grew from a small issue to a national one, just like the pods. At first it was only a minority who fear communism and only the minority who were pod people. But the problem grew with peoples fear of McCarthy and paranoia of being blacklisted grew, meaning only a few were left, just like Miles was the only one left who wasn’t a pod person.