SSC Film Studies

How Far do the American films I have studied convey key themes in similar ways?

In this essay I shall talk about the effects of Communism and Post 911 cinema, in the films War of the Worlds and Invasion of the body Snatchers.  Post 911 cinemas, are movies that relate to the 911 terrorist attacks, and films that were influenced by 911. The effects of communism were the rise of Senator McCarthy, and the rise of paranoia over America, due to McCarthy accusing random people of being communists, and you could be next.

In this essay I shall also tackle the major themes in the genre of both movies and how they deal with them; they are: paranoia, fear of others, fear of annihilation, extermination (WOTW) and Assimilation (IOTBS).

The first time we encounter the tripods in War of the world, the people are afraid of them, even before they begin to exterminate people, due to their difference in appearance; such as the cultural ideologies at the time, people were afraid of the middle eastern people, due to their appearance they are now stereotyped as possible terrorists, because of the 911 terrorist attacks. When the tripods begin to attack the people, they obliterate into grey ash, which is very reminiscent of the grey ash cloud that swept over New York; this leaves the people with the fear of Annihilation, and an increased fear of the others (Tripods/terrorists).

This scene is very allegorical of the 911 attacks, as before this people were afraid of terrorists/aliens. And after the attack, the people were left with more fear of terrorists/aliens. When Ray (Tom Cruise) returns home from the attack, his family immediately jumps to the conclusion of terrorists. This reinforces the allegory of the tripods being terrorists.

Also the scene is entirely shot on a shaky hand camera, and at eye level. This is reference to the amateur home video shot by the civilians who witnessed the attack. And a final reinforcement of the allegorical nature of the tripods is the sound. As it stands up, the sound of the tripod is that of a plane engine, and as we all know, the 911 attackers used planes on the two towers.

The ending of Invasion of the body snatchers is very allegorical of McCarthyism, and Communism, as these were the cultural problems at the time. The scene starts with Miles (Kevin McCarthy) peering down at Elizabeth (Dana Wynter) as she is unconscious, and as she awakes she is a different person, a POD person. This adheres to the cultural ideologies of the time, as it was thought that people can change so very easily from American to Communist, and this is what happens to Elizabeth, but the PODs are very allegorical of communists.

The scene continues as he runs to the highway and looks inside some trucks, and contained within are the PODS. Miles then begins to shout at the camera, “they’re coming after us, they’re here already, you’re next!” This is allegorical of Communism and McCarthyism; we see the PODs in the trucks being delivers to states all over America, suggesting that thy are spreading. Suck as communism is spreading all over the country, and the communists are already here. But the line he says, “they’re coming after us,” this suggests that senator McCarthy is coming after “us” the people, as this is what McCarthy did in society at the time, he accused innocent people of being communists, and had them locked up.

In class we had watched a film called, Good Night and Good Luck, which shows Ed Murrow, the only person to stand against McCarthy, beat him, and it also tackles the cultural ideologies at the time, such as if you are married to someone in the work place, you could be fired or worse put in prison, for being a communist.

The scene also adheres to the audience, as Miles says, “You’re next!” increasing the audiences paranoia, and fear of assimilation, as he is basically saying, you could turn communist, and assimilate with the rest of them. It was also saying that McCarthy is coming for you next, and this is fear of annihilation, not exactly the annihilation of life as in death, but the annihilation of a personal life, as their own family will never trust them again, and they will never get a job, and they will be too afraid to make friends, as the people they talk to will be accused of being a communist sympathiser, and end up in the same boat.

These are just some key scenes from both movies which covey all of the key themes perfectly. So in conclusion both films, War of the Worlds and Invasion of the body Snatchers covey the key themes in similar ways. Such as being afraid of the, “Other.” Communists/Aliens (POD people) and Terrorists/Aliens (tripods). The only difference that I can deduce is that of the Annihilation. In War of the Worlds it is the annihilation of life, and existence. Whereas in Invasion of the body Snatchers, it is the annihilation of American culture and the invasion of a different culture, taking over. It is also about the annihilation of a personal life, as I had explained earlier.