Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion of the body snatchers starts showing a police car driving down the road, with officers and doctors then running for the door. Inside we see Mile’s character shouting “I’m not insane” and “before it’s too late” showing us his state of panic. This directly links to the state of panic felt in the 1950’s USA over fear of ‘others’ and their annihilation. Miles character also tells us that the fear and threat he knows of isn’t visible but its immediate, just like peoples fear of homosexuality and communism, people thought there were no visible signals of these issues and could strike at any moment. However, the authority in the room (doctors and police officers) don't believe him so Miles is immediately placed as the other.  

The film also opens in a state of panic because of the time and world the film came from. During the 1950’s, McCarthy was a hugh profile man who used the fears of 'others' to isolate and group people together. He claimed there was many communist people in the US government and sought to name them in public and humiliate them. He also used the power of the media to do this and ruined peoples lives because of how easily media picked up the stories and made them bigger. People were also in a state of panic due to fears of nuclear war and weaponry and people who were homosexual. 

To direct attention from themselves so they didn't seem communist, people would conform to the status quo. In the film, the status quo is established by the opening shot of the scene, an establishing shot of Miles at the train station were the environment looks 'normal'. Miles job is also familiar, he is a doctor and everyone has a doctor and visits one. However, we know straight away that something isn't quite right about the town, "something evil had taken possession of the town" which signifies that the 'threat' is unknown, it's psychological which is a direct reference to peoples fears of communism and homosexuality. Also, we know its psychological because we don't see anything obvious like a tripod from War Of The Worlds. Furthermore, from the outset we get little hints of paranoia from different characters, such as, people only wanted to see Miles as a doctor, they wouldn't go to another doctor which signifies that he is a trusted person and that these people were afraid that other people may have been 'changed' and they wanted to see only him. The indications of complaint we hear from people that are never raised shows people trying to not draw attention to themselves in fear of being judged and labeled as 'other'.

The film is set in a made up town called Santa Mira which is allegorical for all small towns in America where the vast majority of people live. This sets up a very familiar feeling for the audience at the time and would have heightened the fear and paranoia they would have felt after seeing this film because it looks so relatable. To increase the fear for people even more, we see that the first people to become pod people are the police officers, people who are in authority, people always listen to what authority tells them to do and now people have a reason to distrust them. This is a link to the real world at the time because people were becoming less trusting of the government. 

At first, we see Jimmy Gramauldi and Uncle Ira's niece talked about as being deluded for believing one of their relatives isn't in fact their relative. People don't take the accuser seriously which is how people would have reacted to the news of Communists in the government before the rise of McCarthy. The fact that other people refuse to believe Jimmy and Ira's niece shows that they are conforming to society and don't want to seem deluded themselves. The aliens also represent conformity in the film because they are trying to spread their ideology and create a new normal and anyone, like Miles going against that is a threat to them and their beliefs. 

This opening scene from Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is both similar and different to the opening of War Of The Worlds. In the latter film, the film doesn't open in obvious chaos, we see shots of normal life an then an establishing shot of New York. However, the shot of New York directly references past chaos in the fact that the twin towers are obviously missing from skyline. The film also starts at the beginning of the narrative, unlike Iotbs which starts with a scene from the end of the narrative. This goes against the norm for a film and can be a reference to the change in status quo around the 1950's in America due to different fears emerging and new weapons and war emerging. WOTW opens at the start of the narrative because its a reference to how events such as 9/11 or the tripod attacks come as very unexpected, a big attack on normal life that nobody saw coming and caused people to become increasingly paranoid. They are similar in the way they are both shot. At the very beginning of iotbs, its shot in the clouds, from above, suggesting that something 'other' is watching. It's also a reference to the mushroom cloud created by the dropping of little boy and fat man, the nuclear bombs from 1945. The first scene in wotw, there are also shots from above, suggesting they are being watched. They both also feature harsh or creepy music that is quite unsettling, creating and unnerving tone for the films.