Invasion of the body snatchers

Often films reflect the time that they where made –Invasion of the Body snatchers 

In the opening scene we are introduced to an America that we are unfamiliar with. We see that the scene opens in a state of panic and give the audience a sense of paranoia. This is done to reflect the change in the US society at the time.  By doing this it gives the audience an America that they can relate to. Furthermore we are introduced to the themes of paranoia and fear early on in the film. This is used to enhance the sense that something is not right therefore we don’t know who to trust. Also we known that fear and Paranoia played a large part in peoples live during the time the film was set, to add to we known that people of the time where in fear of a lot of things for example the 50s was known for the time of the cold war and we also know that the second world war had just ended and the fear of world war three was constantly all around them. Furthermore we also see the rise of McCarthy and the fear of communist. This also played a big part in people lives because from this we see that people where in a constant state of paranoia because they didn’t know if people where who they say they where. We also know that many people who where accused of communism were excluded from society and therefore classed as being outside the statues quo. As the scene progress we see the vast majority of the town are normal while we also see that there is a minority of the people that are showing a mental psychological condition, we see that these people that are shown as having a psychological condition are shown as not being part of the status and not being listened to. In addition to this it links into the way McCarthy treated people at this time, and we see that this will have been something that the audience would have been able to relate to and they would have been familiar with this type of society that is portrayed in the film.

We also see that this invasion takes place in a small town instead of one of the larger city. By doing this it shows that this is a national problem. And that this could happen to anyone. In addition to this we see that the main character of the film is not seen as a hero, he a normal person that the audience can relate to. This shows that it can happen to anybody it gives of the sense that everybody will have to work together in order to fight this. This is also something that the audience will have been able to relate to, we know at the time that McCarthy made people paranoid and the people at the time were constantly in fear of communism  

Furthermore we also see in the opening scene that the first authority figure that is taken over is a police officer, we see that he looks normal but we known that he is psychological different and that he his a pod person. But because he is seen as a greater authority figure then Miles it makes him conform to the status quo. This was also very com at if they would speak out they would be seen as being outside the status quo therefor being referred to as Alien.  We also see this in Miles narration when he says that he knew something was wrong but he did not know what. This also played a part in McCarthyism because people did not know who was a communist and who wasn’t and McCarthy used that to invoke fear and paranoia onto the nation.