Thinking to Deep

Invasion of the Body snatchers, in my mind, was one of the great classic horror films of all time. Like most producers in the American film making industry they want their movies to be a hit. Most directors are looking for the chance to make one of the greatest movies ever in a particular genre and make millions. One of the easiest ways to make a movie a hit is to incorporate controversy. In the American society most people love to argue and always have to be right. Look at today’s ongoing war, the media cannot get enough of it. Some media stations bash the fact that America has engaged themselves in a war that some people call the second Vietnam, meaning that there is a lost cause. Even though these media stations bash the war they love the attention. Think about it, whenever there is a big story in the Middle East the media has to rush so they can get the first interview so that their rankings will go up and make more money. The same is true with the film industry. If you make a controversial movie then people will talk more about it and comment about it on the news. Doing this, your movie gets more attention even if it is being criticized; making more people interested in watching the movie so they too can see what the fuss is all about. As crazy as this idea sounds look at Michael Moore and most of his movies. Many people hate Michael’s theories and some like them. Michael has made his living off of controversial movies. Every time I see a Michael Moore movie add I want to puke because I think he really does not care about all of his political views. I think he is just trying to make money. Event though I may be wrong nonetheless his movies are extremely controversial. I think his movies are not very good or interesting. Take an article I read from Merissa Marr, she said that “Controversy has become a key ingredient of marketing Mr. Moore’s work, and the backers of “SiCKO” hope that the new movie will stir up emotions and help generate the kind of buzz that made his last movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” both a topic of national debate and an unprecedented blockbuster in the documentary genre” (Marr). The fact is he makes movies about things he knows are going to arouse people’s emotions. It is a genius plan. He makes a lot of his money because people want to interview him and ask him why he has to be so controversial.

I feel the director of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, did the exact same thing that Michael Moore is doing right now about political views in today’s society. Siegel knows that during his time period people were terrified about Communism. The fact that there could be a nuclear war scared the American public. Also people were terrified of the thought that they could be going to be accused of being communist because of McCarthyism. I think Siegel knew that if he made a controversial movie that was symbolic to the political problems of his time period he would not only make a lot of money but also have a hit movie.

The movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was perfectly made. I think Siegel wanted to make the movie in a certain way so that people would think that he was referencing to communism and McCarthyism. In the review by Tim Dirks he says that the movie is “An allegory for Communism and McCarthyism; the traits of being “one of them” is being cold, unable to express emotion or closeness” (Dirk). Anyone during this time period who knew anything about communism knew that the main way to tell if you were a communist was if you were emotionless and coldhearted. Siegel knew that if he made the aliens in his movie all the same and emotionless and coldhearted that people would think he was referencing to communism. I just think that this was Siegel’s impression of being an alien. Another example is when everyone who has already been overtaken by the aliens meets at the center of the town early in the morning to get their instructions of what they have to do for the day. This could easily be mistaken for a reference to communism, but Siegel is smart. He knew that most of society knew that if you were communist everyone was basically the same and did everything the same as everyone else. Now in my opinion Siegel was trying to show that the aliens were not smart beings. He thought that they had to be told by the king alien what they had to do every day. No one has ever met an alien so everyone has their own interpretations of how aliens are. Siegel wanted to show the world his interpretation of how he thought an alien was. Now do not get me wrong. I think Siegel knew that his interpretations of aliens were very similar to that of communism, but he did not make his movie to be related to communism.

Every director’s dream is to make a movie so big that people will still be talking about it more than fifty years later. Siegel knew how to make his dream come true and he did it. He knew that making this movie was going to be very controversial. The fact that is was controversial made everyone talk about it and in doing this he became famous and more than fifty years after the movie was made I am writing a paper on it. Siegel accomplished what every director dreams of.

Work cited
By MERISSA MARRThe Wall Street JournalMay 18, 2007; Page B1. Physicians for a National Health Program29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/may/for_michael_moore_c.php
Dirks, Tom.”Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” 2007. 12 Oct. 2007