Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Opening Scene

It is often said, “films reflect the time in which they are made.”

How true is his for the invasion of the body snatchers (1956)?

The late 1940’s and early 1950’s were overshadowed by feelings of intense sense of fear, paranoia and insecurity. This stemmed from the events and attitudes, which appear, post World War 2. American status quo was overwhelming in this era, the ‘normal’ American society included white, republican, heterosexual couples to be married in a Christian church and have 2 children. People feared the change of the American status quo and viewed those who could cause a change as ‘others’. These ‘others’ were people who did not fit in; these were black people, communists, homosexuals and anyone who generally didn’t fit into this ‘typical’ American society. An increased sense of paranoia and fear of annihilation came from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attack, once people heard about these atomic bombs and destruction they caused they feared it might happen to them. The media informing society that other countries have these bombs heightened this; this made American people more anxious and paranoid that Japan would retaliate.

Invasion of the body snatchers comes from this time and the film represents society in the 1940s and 1950s. Much like the opening scene of War of the Worlds, this movie opens with 1950s USA in a state of panic; this was over fear others fear of annihilation and paranoia. This film instantly builds a link with the real world. In the same way War of the Worlds opens with an unfamiliar New York where society feels intense paranoia and fear. The main character we are introduced to, Miles, is positioned as ‘other’ in the opening scene. Miles is seen as a threat to American society and because of this his sanity is being questioned. The threat type in this film is not a physical threat like it is in War of the worlds but is in fact unknown. The threat type is psychological; this demonstrates the threats present in 1950’s America, the ‘threats’ in this era were not visible as people viewed them as a physiological condition if they were communist or homosexual because they were ideologies, which could not be seen by anyone unless, that person wanted them to know. This is similar to the society was in the early 1950’s, if a person was seen to be ‘other’ they could be arrested and questioned in a court of law.

The film is set in an American town ‘Santa Mira’, this allegorical to represent all small towns in America. This shows that this town’s society represents the overall idea of American society. Miles establishes the status quo in the film; he’s evaluating all environments in various scenes and saying how everything seems ‘normal’. Miles is established as Santa Mira’s doctor, the director has chosen to use Miles as a doctor because he is a relatable character; everyone has a doctor so therefore he is an important figure in this town. Paranoia is present in the opening sequence as the patients who wanted to see Miles when he was away were referred to another doctor, but none of them would go. The people of Santa Mira only trust Miles, which again shows how iconic this character is. This also represents the paranoia felt in American society, they were very fearful and were careful of who they spoke to and trusted. There are indications that people have complaints but don’t raise them and in fact stay silent, this is because they may be seen as ‘other’ and therefore a threat to status quo. So instead these people conform to society. Much like 1950’s America people did not want to stand out from the crowd and draw attention to them. Its was said that in the 1950s if a man or woman was not married with children by the age of 30 they were looked upon as a homosexual, therefore they would not fit into the status quo and were seen as ‘others’.  People were afraid to stand up for who they were and what they believed in because they feared being an outsider and pushed out of society so instead they would choose t conform to society in order to fit in. This theme is show in the opening sequence of invasion of the body snatchers.

Jimmy Gramauldi is also positions as ‘other’ in this opening sequence. He is taken the doctors for no physical reason but he believes that his mother is not his mother; Jimmy is referred to as ‘deluded’. Jimmy represents how ‘others’ were treated in the 1950s as he is given medication, which the doctor, who is an authorities figure, believes, will cure him. This expresses the attitude of authority figures in the 1950’s, the government propaganda showed public videos saying that people like communists and homosexuals were ‘sick’ people who had psychological conditions, that they believed could be cured with medication. Uncle Iras nice was positioned in a similar way at the start of this film, she is seen as ‘mad’ she is seen as ‘other’ who the doctor also believes can be cured by a psych doctor.

The pod people in this film represent conformity. Uncle Iras niece refers to these people as emotionless, this represents the segregation in America. Black people and white people were segregated. White people protested to stop race mixing, which shows their emotionlessness. Pod people and ‘others’ represent this massive segregation.

In addition it is established in the opening scene that one of the first people to conform and become a pod person was a police officer. This is established when we see Miles talking to the police officer as he obviously knows him well, the police officer is cold and emotionless. This signifies America in the 40’s and 50’s as authority figures where the first to conform as people were more easily persuaded by authority figures. Test show that 60% of people will follow instructions if an authority figure tells them to, this suggests that it is easier to get people to conform if authority are conformed first.