invasion of the body snatchers

  It is often said, “films reflect the times in which they are made”. How far is this true for invasion of the body snatchers (1956)?

The film invasion of the body snatchers was made during the time of the red scare and McCarthyism, during the making of the film paranoia and fear of others where large fears spread across the whole of the USA. The ‘others’ during this time where communists, homosexuals, multiracial or black people, pretty much everyone who did not conform to the status quo. The status quo is the existing state of affairs, mainly regarding social or political issues. This means that if people in the US were not white, Christian, family orientated and a republican they were the ‘other’ and where more than likely to be made an example of by McCarthy.

During the time of McCarthyism large amounts of people conformed to what society was doing and saying, this was due to the fact they were fearful of the consequences and did nor want to stand out as going against the status quo as they knew society would view them different. The three main reasons people conformed were due to number, strength and immediacy. Number was due to the fact more people were conforming to what McCarthy said so there were more conforming than sticking to their own beliefs, strength was due to the fact important people in authority were conforming so other people followed suit and immediacy was that an individual will have a greater influence on a smaller group. In addition to this people were fearful of nuclear weapons which links to fear of annihilation and duck and cover exercises where carried out in many public places.

The film begins with very atmospheric and tense music indicating to us that something bad will happen that will change a lot of things, this adds a dark tone to the film. The introduction for the film is very chaotic and unfamiliar as it starts with Miles shouting and being very emotional and try to get across the fact he is not being crazy, this is the first clue that something is wrong in America and that the society is fractured, in addition to this it shows an altered view of America which is not what we expected and shows the change in society through panic and fear. This is in contrast to war of the worlds as although they both stared in a fractured society this one starts in a much more panicked way whereas war of the worlds was much more calm to begin with. The film is set in Santa Mira which is a made up place that represents small towns in the US signifying that it was a growing national issue and even the smallest of towns were effected by this sort of threat and conformity. These two things introduce the themes of the movie from the off set and conveyed the society at the time. During Miles voice over he expresses the idea of paranoia from the start and shows the distress and fear people were feeling, however he can’t seem to put his finger on the actual thing that is wrong and the cause of it.

Further on into the introduction we hear the line “everything looked normal but” this signifies it was a psychological condition and what we see a ‘normal’ town with the vast majority conforming to the status quo and the minority had this psychological condition (communism). In addition to this it shows that it wasn’t a physical condition that you could identify it was in people’s minds. The first ‘pod person’ we properly see is the police officer as we notice Miles knows him but can tell he seems very unfamiliar, this links to the fact that McCarthy changed people in authorities’ perspective which later made other people change as they did as authority said, there is also the fact this shows the beginning of the change and the minimal amount of followers McCarthy had but soon there would be many more.

Overall Miles is the hero of this movie, however he is not expressed as a hero with special powers he is just a doctor showing anyone could be the hero, in addition to this he is a normal, relatable everyman showing the real problems could be solved by normal people they didn’t have to be special. In addition to this he is relatable as he has a ‘normal’ job and everyone has a Doctor or knows a Doctor so they are able to identify with Miles.

Overall the ‘pod people’ in this movie are not communists the pod people represent McCarthy’s growing followers and popularity, this movie also expresses all the existing social problems during the 1950’s and all the fears that people were coping with as they tried to hide their true opinions and feelings about politics and society.