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

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

Task 1:

Invasion of the body snatchers

Paranoia:

·         People complaining family members aren’t themselves.

·         Body found by Jack-no fingerprints/face

Fear of others:

·         Body found by Jack- no fingerprints/face

·         Fear of everyone- police/doctors/authority

Fear of annihilation:

·         PODS growing everywhere

·         Not being able to trust authority

 

War of the Worlds

Paranoia:

·         When the lightening strikes

·         When the Tripod comes out the ground

·         Rachel asking, “is it the terrorists?”

Fear of others:

·         When the Tripod comes out the ground

·         When everyone starts fighting for survival- cars, food, etc.

Fear of extermination:

·         Tripods coming out from everywhere

·         Tripods attacking

 IOTBS ends with Miles in another Town, he is trying to tell them what is happening but gets out in a hospital. Finally listened to they decide to close off the roads and he begins to feel safe. Loses everyone he loves and cares for through the film.

WOTW ends with a happy ending. Ray, Robbie and Rachel all get to the mums house and are safe. The Tripods are dead as they caught the common cold and the cuties destroyed start to rebuild their lives.

 

Task 2/3- IOTBS:

 At first, Miles encounters two individuals who complain that their family members are ‘different.’ He shrugs off the complaints as ‘psychological conditions.’ Little Jimmy’s mother and Ira both look and sound normal, but their families complain that ‘something’ is different. The ‘Grimalid’ family business has closed down as a result of the change; this is a comment on the threat to American way of life. McCarthyism grew from a small issue to a nation one. At first, a minority of people feared communist infiltration. The problem was perceived to be with those who were paranoid, not the people under suspicion.

 As more and more people start complaining about these symptoms, Miles begins to take notice and thinks that a genuine problem is emerging. We begin to see more people, Becky’s father, etc. affected by this mysterious ‘Psychological condition.’ Miles remains confident that a psychological condition is the problem.  More and more people begin to adopt McCarthy’s POV and adopt his ideologies. They begin to see people who do not share their POV as ‘others’ and ultimately, threats.

As the numbers of PODS grow they begin to show up in positions of author in the form of the Dr. and the Police officer who shrug off Mile’s complaint of the dead body/POD on the pool table, an in Becky’s fathers home. PODS begin to grow in number of those who raise concerns, question or challenge the POD people are labelled as crazy or paranoid or accused of imaging things. They are threatened with imprisonment id they do not persist. As McCarthy’s influence grows people in positions of power begin to adopt his POV, some believe him. Others do it out of fear of being labelled ‘Communist.’

Whilst at Jack’s house Miles uncovers more PODS and realises there is a conspiracy taking place. He attempts to phone the police and FBI (symbols of authority) but they wont offer any help or support. Instead, he tells his friends to escape whilst he waits. “If there is no-one here to answer, they will know we have gone.” Paranoia is beginning to grow, Miles has now re positioned as ‘threat” and “other.” He is in the minority; he goes against the status quo and is therefore considered a threat to it. As McCarthy’s influence grew he became a formidable foe for anyone. If he attacked, labelled or even suggested a person was a Communist, their lives would be over. This meant literally for some as many people committed suicide after being black listed. By this time (mid 50’s) McCarthy and his ideologies had become the status quo, they were held by the majority in US society. Therefore, those who opposed it ere in a minority and ultimately saw as potential threats.  People feared speaking out against McCarthy and would adopt the status quo, essentially becoming POD people. McCarthy’s power was so great and widespread that people in all levels of Government began to fear being labelled Communist.  As a result, the authorities backed him and even changed policies to support him. During the HUAC hearing Judges would be openly biased, the 5^th Amendment Right was refused and Freedom of Speech was restricted. People began to fear their government and began adopting the status quo view that McCarthy was right and if you fought him, you must be guilty. People became frightened and paranoid of their own government.

 

Task 2/3-WOTW:

When the lightening first strikes, Ray is excited and thinks it’s interesting to watch. Rachel gets scared so they go inside realising it is more than just a strike of lightening.  Ray goes on to find there has been another strike of lightening causing a hole in the ground. This intrigues him and everyone else until a Tripod bursts out of it. The camera then looks up at the Tripod from Ray’s POV, this links with 9/11 as most if not all the footage from that day was looking up at the disaster from camera phones or video cameras.

When the first Tripod attacks, Rachel asks, “Is it the terrorists?” this shows that the threat and fear from the terrorist attack on the day of 9/11 still causes paranoia and panic form people. Since 9/11 the paranoia and fear is still very much there and growing fast. Therefore, when we see Rachel react this way we, as the audience, know that even though she is a small child, she has been and seen a lot of what she shouldn't necessarily see at that age.

When the tripod first comes out of the ground and starts to attack, the gathering audience switch to survival mode, in which people who were once civil with each other are now fighting in order to save themselves. The fight for food and modes of transport were  trying to be required by any means necessary, and a disregard to dignity was lost in order to survive however, some but not all victims of the attack acted this way. Those few who tried to help reflected those in the 9/11 attack who tried to help to keep others safe or tried to rescue them from the burning buildings even though they could have run for safety themselves.

The fear of extermination started when more of the tripods emerged from the grounds showing that reinforcement was there if needed. The attack with the many tripods showed that they were there to conquer and to not be defeated. Much like the 9/11 attack the citizens felt unsafe in their own town and became more aware of the people around them. Not only did the attack on the Twin Towers reflect this but so did the attack on the Pentagon, the attacks on the larger monuments of America shows that they were making a statement that if the highest authority are defenceless then so are you and that no one can be safe anymore, anywhere.

Task 4:

Introduction

Both American films I have studied convey similar themes in similar ways. They both convey paranoia, fear of others and fear of annihilation/extermination. Invasion of the body snatchers (IOBS) was pre 9/11 cinema, where as War of the worlds (WOTW) was post 9/11. This means one was made before the disaster and one was made after.  IOTBS has a message about communism behind it AND WOTW has a message about 9/11.  Communism meant that everyone would be the same and it if you didn’t want that; things could go badly for you. 

Conclusion

To conclude, both films convey key themes, one through fear of communism and one through fear of another event like 9/11.  This helps show the audience what life was like before and after 9/11 and that there is always something that people fear.