Connected Fear

Paper 3 Revision

In the 1950s, there existed a Cold War between America and Russia. During this time, there was a paranoia that Russia’s communistic beliefs were going to inflict on the American society. Communism was an unfamiliar form of lifestyle to Americans, and the idea of change was terrifying to them. They feared their liberty was going to be destroyed by an unfamiliar political power. This fear controlled American’s everyday lives. Some Americans even went to the extent of searching for communists in the government, a time period in the United States referred to as McCarthyism. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a horror film that was produced during the McCarthy era. The producers did not intend to represent this conflict between McCarthyism and Communism; however, in retrospect, the movie can be viewed as a model of the fear the American people demonstrated. The intensity of horror presented in the movie about the foreign pods taking over humans connects to the real life situation of the McCarthy era. Invasion of the Body Snatchers contains several parallels to the controversy between McCarthyism and Communism by presenting the same paranoia experienced by both the movie characters and the American people.

Communism was a huge concern for the American population. People were frightened by the controlling nature of a communistic society. They did not like the idea of being imposed on by communistic values, because they viewed these values as constricting and horrible. Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a controlling theme similar to the controlling nature of communism. Miles, the main character, and the other characters are terrified of foreign pods invading their bodies and stripping them of all emotion. They did not like the thought of losing their souls. At first they were in denial, because each of the characters could not believe something could actually take over their bodies, changing their personality and physical being. For instance, towards the beginning of the movie the police officer did not believe Miles when Miles told him about Becky’s body/pod was growing in the basement of her house. The police officer was naïve along with the rest of the town. They thought Miles and Becky, who did believe in the foreign pods, were crazy. By the end of the film, everyone realized the threatening situation of pods existing. At this time, horror struck the people living in Santa Mira, the setting town of the movie.

Audiences across America saw the movie. They viewed Invasion of the Body Snatchers as being realistic. The fear they initially had of communism sweeping over the nation grew. They saw their worst fears come to life on the screen, being taken over by a foreign invader that would control their lives. Critic Whitehead states, “The mob hysteria, the sense of paranoia, the fascist police, the witch hunt atmosphere of the picture certainly mirrors the ills of McCarthy’s America” (Whitehead 1). The idea being vividly presented to them made everyone’s mind stir. The writers of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers do a very good job in intensifying this fear by the dialogue used. In the beginning of the movie a little boy says, “Don’t let her get me,” about his mother. Towards the end of the movie Miles screams out, “They are like a disease spreading through the whole country.” This dialogue creates an image inside of their head that is similar to the image of what the people think about communism; an image of an unknown pod or idea spreading across the nation converting everyone into some type of inhuman enemy. This image is the connection of communism to the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, creating a more frightening film to the American people, who were already afraid of a different lifestyle.

Critics like John Whitehead agree that Invasion of the Body Snatchers do fit the Communist metaphor saying:

The alien pod people perfectly fit McCarthy’s profile of Russians and, not coincidentally, American schoolteachers. The Soviets were considered ice cold, outwardly peaceful but very authoritarian and emotionless. Many Americans even considered Russians a different species who, because of their disbelief in God, were soulless and wanted to destroy Americans or turn them into Communist clones. (Whitehead 3)

The connection to communism is unmistakably seen in the movie, even though the producers did not intend to represent the two political views. This unintentionally act can be noted by a critic, Whitehead, when he quotes the editor of the movie Al LaValley. Whitehead writes, “If the pods in Invasion seem to incarnate the popular image of a communist totalitarian state, it is only because the government-dominated, bureaucratic, and conformist fifties was itself creating an America like this picture of Soviet Russia” (Whitehead 5). They produced a science fiction horror movie dealing with alien pods taking over earth, which is a common theme in science fiction movies; however, the audience of America took the horror to a next level. They viewed the film as representing their present day fear of Communism spreading through America. The connection they saw in the movie with reality caused their fears to grow. McCarthyism supporters were consumed in this fear to the point where it disrupted their lives. People went to the lengths of making everyone sign a loyalty petition to prove they were “good” citizens and not communists. They even searched within the government. Everyone was skeptical of each other. In the Invasion of the Body Snatchers Miles becomes skeptical of all his friends, because the transformed were indistinguishable from the unaffected people. This mistrust Miles experiences is the same as the McCarthyism supporters felt with society, another parallel characteristic between the movie and reality. The multiple similarities add to the effectiveness of the horror of the movie, and to the growth of the fear within the audiences’ minds.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers intensified the fears that people felt during the McCarthy era, a result that was unintentional by the movie producers. The horror movie frightened its audience through the idea that people could be taken over by a foreign being. Americans were already scared of the spread of Communism, so they were already vulnerable to the idea of an emotionless, controlled society. This horror movie achieved its purpose of scaring the American people through its theme of aliens invading people, but unintentionally it did connect to the paranoia in the situation of that era, McCarthyism versus Communism.

Works Cited:
Whitehead, John W. "'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'-A Tale for Our Times." Gadlfy Online. November 2001. 4 October 2007. www.gadlyonline.com/11-26-01/film-snatchers.html