Invasion of the Body Snatchers

In Tim Dirks’ article about the movie, he says the movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is “open to varying interpretations, including paranoia toward the spread of harmful ideology such as socialistic Communism, or the sweeping mass hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s and blacklisting of Hollywood, the spread of an unknown malignancy or virulent germ, or the numbering of our individuality and emotional psyches through conformity and group-think” (Dirks 2). This quotation demonstrates how in Dirks’ review of the movie he does not give a main argument to the meaning of the movie. At one point he states that the main theme is communism but he does not state any arguments as to why communism is the main theme over any of the other ideas that he mentioned in his article. Instead, in his review Dirks’ first talks about the plot of the movie and then enters into the epilogue and prologue of the story. In the prologue of his article he gives the basic ending. He does not go into full detail as to how the movie ended instead he states a quote that shows the reader what situation he is in and then states how they discovered that Miles, the main character of the movie who ends up being the only man to escape, is not psychotic. In his epilogue, Dirks’ starts from the beginning of the movie when Miles returns home to close to the end of the movie when Miles has discovered the about these pod creatures and is trying to escape from them. In Dirks’ epilogue and prologue he does a good job of not only telling the actions of the movie but also using quotes to support and follow his writing. This is Dirks’ best quality of the review; how he told the story. Dirks’ review was poor in anglicizing the purpose of the movie unlike the other review we read by John Whitehead. John Whitehead’s article goes into detail about each possibility of meaning for the movie. Whitehead also makes connections to the American timeline. He speaks about the events surrounding the time this movie came out and then relates it to the nine-eleven. Whitehead also differentiates from Dirks’ by giving only an overview of the movie while continuing on about metaphors. In my opinion I enjoyed Whitehead’s article more than Dirks’ because Whitehead told me about the overview of the movie so I knew what was happening but spoke more about the possible meanings of the movie. Whitehead’s review allowed me to know going into the movie what were the meanings and why people believed them which helped me form my own ideas while watching the movie.

After reading the reviews and seeing the movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for myself, I believe that the movie has a double-meaning of being a science fiction movie while demonstrating America’s lifestyle during this time as a fear of communism. The movie came out as a science fiction horror film. It was then that people began trying to explain the metaphors of the movie. Many tied it to communism as the director saw it as a “conflict between society and individualism” (Whitehead 5). However, both of the reviews that we read believe that the movie has some communist connection while the director’s idea can be tied to communism. The movie displayed a sense of “loss of individualism” and paranoia. Both of these communist traits are true. Each person was losing their individuality as the pod creature took over them. The pod was an alien creature hatched out of a shell-like form. This pod was created into the human it was replacing. It would become the exact replica of the human except now the human would not have any emotions. The pod people were just trying to survive. The loss of emotion stood for the loss of their individuality. Now the people were all the same just different on the outside. As Whitehead states, “without freedom of thought people are vegetables” (Whitehead 5). This quote shows how that each person now was just like a vegetable because it is dead on the inside. Paranoia was the other main characteristic of the communist idea and the movie. The movie displayed the paranoia of the people as they found out that there was something different happening to the town and as people were changing. Paranoia was also happening during this time to the American people as they realized that communism was a threat. Some people were changing towards communism as others fought against it. Another similarity to communism was a scene in the movie when the pods were being delivered and the whole town came to the town square to hear orders for the day. This scene demonstrated to me the communist connection to the movie. The uniformity of the town and the control of one individual allowed me to make my opinions of the movie and unravel the metaphors of the movie.

Invasions of the Body Snatchers is a science fiction horror film that can be relevant to us today. It can in the sense that although there is not the threat of communism or McCarthyism there are still threats of one losing their individuality. There are also still threats of one taking over America; Attack on the World Trade Center as an example. I think it is good for audiences today to watch this movie because not only does it satisfy ones entertainment but it also shows the viewer the threats around us. It also teaches the viewer the importance of individuality. This movie contains many different ideas and morals through an amusing and unique plot.