Invasion of the Body Snatchers

“Something evil had taken position of the town,” Miles. Sea pods are not what someone would consider to be scary or a political allegory but in this particular movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, they could be either. Since the movie was made in the 1950”s a ton of political innuendos are seen throughout this film but are they meant to be that or just a horror/sci-fi movie.
After reading the critics reports on the movie I have to say I fully agree with John Whitehead. When I first saw this movie and knowing information previously before watching it, I think john Whitehead really hit this one on the head. His Criticisms of the movie is fair analysis and it was very relevant to the movie. I know back in the 1950’s the scare of world domination and control of another country was a very big scare. This movie I think conveys that terror perfectly but just using a different metaphor. In his essay John Whitehead talks about his views of the people on cold war of the 50’s.The invention of the atomic bomb transformed the American people’s way of thinking about death. As John Whitehead as stated the fear of knowing there is something out there can could just destroy the whole world with just one blow had the people in hysterics. Before death was like a normal thing. People knew they were going to die inevitably and there was nothing anyone could do, but with this new horrifying invention hanging over their heads, a sense of fear rose and sent the American people into hiding. Another Criticisms I read was one by Tim Dirks. He stated how he thinks its just a movie. And that’s it. There is no real connection to McCarthyism, its just a horror/sci-fi movie.
After watching this horrible movie and reading the criticisms, I can definitely see where John Whitehead is coming from. When I first read his criticism, I was very confused and didn’t really know what to expect from this sea pod eating horror film. But now after watching it twice I can see the political allegory the director is trying to convey. Because of the fact it was made in the 1950’s, a time of fear and terror of the communist government overtaking the world, there can only be a connection with that theme and they American people. I don’t think this movie is just a horror/ sci-fi movie at all, it shows way too much characteristics of the theme of McCarthyism, to conform to the new “American way”. The sense of fear, not being able to trust anyone and the fascist police are all important parts in the movie. I don’t think they are making too much out of the McCarthyism theme. After reading up on McCarthyism, you can see that the movie conveys those types of fears. They fear about communist influence on American Institutions and spy’s of Soviet agents. The part in the movie that really stuck out to me as being a crucial part is when Miles and Becky escape and they are in the doctor’s office and the philologist and their friend Frank finds them and tells them they have to conform. To just go along with what everyone does and be satisfied with that new way of life. They want miles and Becky to like the new “American way” and to just let it go. This is a very similar theory that the anti- communistic people thought they way the solvates were conducting their mission. This movie may not have been meant to be about the fear of communism but it definitely is a metaphor of the McCarthyism view. The sea pods are the Russian soviets who are trying to change the American way and Miles and Becky are meant to be the American people trying to fight back. John Whitehead really goes into much detail and examination of this movie. I think sometimes John goes overboard with analyising this film. With reading all his full criticisms he was able to make a connection to almost everything with the anti-communistic way of thinking. I can see some of his points but a lot it I think is overblown. There is a point when I think this movie could have been just made to be a horror/sic-fi movie with the underground theme of McCarthyism and I think that’s what John Whitehead is trying to prove.
I definitely believe this movie is a political allegory but it does not relate to us today. People should absolutely see this classic movie but as far as relating it to us today it’s a theme of the past. Invasion of the Body Snatches was an exaggerated theme of McCarthyism and in a way it makes fun of the American people in the 50’s, I think we as Americans can look at this movie and laugh at the absurd way we thought of the Communistic governments. The American people have learned that the McCarthistic view was a little ridiculous and now we just look at it as good vs evil. After the scare of 9/11 there were some people who thought that going on a man-hunt for anyone who was of Arabic dissent would clear out all of the terrorism in the United States that is somewhat the view of McCarthyism, but it didn’t last long. I think our Situation today is unique and different from the past government scares we have had. I would like to think we have learned a lesson for the 1950’s and we can just grow on that.