In an article by New York State writers and a senior lecture in Media studies at Penn state wrote, Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatches has been called “An unprepossessing little horror film, made with a minuscule budget for a three-week shooting schedule -- and yet it produced one of the most trenchant social commentaries of the 1950 's(Filmnotes). The 1950 and 60s were a time of the “red scare/communism”, anything which sounded like opposition to the government or frowned upon anything which basically sounded "out of the ordinary/ unusual" was branded communist and this was shown in this movie. One would think that film writers would not be under much scrutiny, but many were called communists for their portrayals of what was …show more content…
Take for example the scene where Becky and Miles are in his office after escaping from the so called “pod people” in Teddy 's house, who were trying to make everyone conform to one way of thinking and acting by suppressing their individuality, and this would in turn make life easier for them all, “Love, desire, ambition, faith ... without them life 's so simple!" Being taken over makes life much easier -- you don 't have all those annoying emotions and desires.” This scene could be connected to Senator Joseph McCarthy communist rant in the 50s and his need for everyone to conform and to watch out for those being “different” as shown by Winkler in the chapter The Anti-Communist Crusade in his book. However, there are other points this view this could take, for example all these bizarre occurrences of people not being who they are supposed to be is referred to as a disease, In the scene where trucks filled with pods have gathered in the town’s square Miles says, “First our town and then all the towns around us, it’s a malignant disease spreading around the country”, the alien invasion / odd occurrence is being used as an allegory to communism – well the paranoia of communism taking over. This scene could be seen as placing emphasis on how Communism was seen as a disease, or a cancer that needed to be cut …show more content…
You 're next! You 're next!" This phrase clearly shows some insight into to the paranoia of the American people in the 50’s and how the people believed communism was taking over or you could even relate it to the witch hunts that was occurring with McCarthy being the Front-runner of this when Miles says that the pod people are taking over. In this case, although the movie could be viewed as “communism” taking over, if you “read between the lines”, you see that it illustrates how the paranoia of communism taking over when it actually isn’t is what is really going on. From watching I see that the film actually addresses the fear of conformity and not communism in the 1950s; though this may not have been apparent to the viewers at this time. When you even take a look at how a communist system is supposed to work, you have a system in place where the government controls everything and everyone is equal; in terms of wages and home life, and if you are all equal then there won’t be any jealousy or even conflict, hence a utopian society has been created. This whole perfect society is represented in the movie. Everyone thinks and acts the same not wanting to be different all one unit with no consciousness whatsoever. This point of view could be seen as a depiction of communist Russia, as during the
Some people that not account the story through the aspects of war and history may see this movie as a fiction movie due to its beliefs of people getting brainwashed or maybe a drama due to the ending. Others may see this movie as a threat to the president at that time, because one of the murder tentative was at one of the presidential candidates in the movie, which ended up to be a murder to the mother that was hypnotized her son and her elected husband. In details, Raymond (the son) was brainwashed by the Soviet Union and surprisingly his mother was also working with the Soviet Union. Indeed, the outcome finished with her assassination giving that it was an anti-communist movie from the
To get a clear view and understanding of the book, first must review the time period in history. The book was written in the mid 1950's during the cold war. Former General McCarthy, then U.S. Senator started a fire ball of suspicion, suppression, and incarceration. This had a very huge impact on the entrainment industry, which included everyone from playwrights to filmmakers, as well as writers and actors. If anyone in that time period was suspected of being a communist, the government could come and pull them out of their home. At the least a suspected communist would be banned, or put on a black ball list. Printed in the Times, McCarthy's First Slander, "Overnight, his speech sparked a media firestorm that played to the basest fears of Americans swept up in a frightening cold war and triggered loyalty oaths, blacklists and personal betrayals that cost an estimated 10,000 Americans their jobs and some shattered innocents their lives." (Johanna McGeary 28) This happened to a number of actors and film makers during that time period. The black ball list was a list of names of people who were believed to be communist. The people on this list came from the movie industry as well as writers. These people would no longer be able to get work ...
This is an immigration movie geared towards kids to show and teach them about immigration to America. It shows them the reasons they (the Mousekewitz) left their homeland Russia to come to America. In their case it was to escape the Czarist rule of the cats, parallel to most immigrants who escaped their land due to religious and political persecution. Once aboard the ship to America, it showed the long and unpleasant trip to New York Harbor, where in this movie, Fievel gets separated from his family to inclimate weather. Once they arrive in New York Harbor, it shows children the happiness immigrants got when they saw the statue of liberty and the process through Ellis Island to become a citizen of America. The rest of the movie takes place in America where it shows “political machines”, such as Warren T. Rat, who really is a cat but takes advantage of new immigrants by dressing as a mouse and receiving the mice’s trust. With trust came their money and broken promises, just as “political machines” really did back then. The movie shows the immigrants hardships and poor living conditions in America with tenement housing and unsanitary conditions.
My reception of this film was so positive because of my knowledge, experiences and values. I have always enjoyed learning about the 1960’s and admired the political activism and change that occurred in that time period. I grew up in a very liberal home, where we were freely able to discuss controversial topics and form our own opinions.
The 1950’s Red Scare did majorly impact artists and intellectuals of the time, but it also affected everyone from the average citizen to the highest ranking solider in the military. It is also very important to mention that the Red Scare also affected Canadians of the 1950’s and Canadian immigrants that lived in the area at the time. The thesis statement however is still a solid fact that can’t simply be shirked away and is a part of a moment in time that historians say is “the most despicable moment in human history.”
Hoover’s first lines are “Let me tell you something. The SCLC has direct Communist ties. Even great men can be corrupted, can't they? Communism is not a political party. It is a disease. It corrupts the soul, turning even the gentlest of men... into vicious, evil tyrants. What we are seeing is a pervasive contempt for law and order.” On the surface, this is clearly about the Red Scare that took place around 1920. As shown in the film, fear of radical communists led Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to lead his “Palmer Raids”, which J. Edgar Hoover oversaw when he was only twenty-four years old. At the time, he was the director of the Radical Division of the Justice Department. Hoover had a list compiled of radicals who simply were thought to have held communist ideals, not just those who had committed crimes, and as a result, “more than 5,000 persons were arrested” (Foner 760). There is a dual meaning to J. Edgar’s monologue,
The 1950’s have received a reputation as an age of political, social and cultural conformity. This reputation is rightfully given, as with almost every aspect of life people were encouraged to conform to society. Conforming is not necessarily a negative thing for society, and the aspects of which people were encouraged to conform in the 1950’s have both negative and positive connotations.
In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey argued that this presumed model society was actually quite the opposite. Kesey argued this through the use of the characters in the novel. Nurse Ratched was a character who symbolized the communist rule in Russia, and she displayed absolute power over the patients in the ward. She was depicted as what was wrong with society, and the patients feared her as the Americans feared communists. Randle McMurphy retaliated against Nurse Ratched in order to challenge her control, just as the Americans fought against Communism in the Cold War. Although it seemed as though there were some positive aspects of domestic life in the 1950s, Ken Kesey argued that American society at the time was tainted due to the roles of fear, the rejection of those who were different, and t...
The 1950s in America was a time that brought about simplicity and perfection amongst the American society. The “all-American Dream” with the flawless family, which was emphasized by the constraints, and expectations that were demanded by the American Republican era of Eisenhower, would pave way for manifesting changes of the 1960s. Through the emphasis of media and societal expectations and political and wartime upheaval, Americans would fit the cookie cutter mold that would breed the fighters and lovers of the 1960s.
Along with the Korean War, many Americans were also affected by the tensions between America and communist Russia. The Russian hydrogen bomb of 1953 had scared people into believing that Communist Russia could start an atomic war, ending life as most people had known it. Scholars of the time period were scared to teach anything about what Marxism (communism) was about. According to Daily Life in the United States, 1940-1959, Shifting Worlds (Kaldin, 2000). There were also very few communists teaching at universities such as Harvard during the 1950s because of the fear that Americans had of communists during this time. From the years 1951 to 1957, 300 teachers were fired from New York City public schools because they did not give the names of teachers who were supposedly communists. This shows how uneasy of a topic communism was for Americans to talk about, even when the culture had started to become more liberal towards the end of the decade, when the 1960s began.
...e American Dream. Larry Ceplair and Englund stated in the book The Inquistion in Hollywood, “The destruction of the motion picture Left not only transformed the political atmosphere in Hollywood, but also adversely affected the kind of product which the studios turned out. “ In the early 20th century Hollywood reframed from producing politically controversial films in fear of becoming a target of McCarthy or the HUAC. Anti-communism influences the films produced, films portrayed communism as evil and immoral. The films during the cold war certainly portrayed the political storm between the progressive left and the conservative right. Films such as Ninotchka in 1939, showed anti-communism, guilty of Treason 1949, showed an attack against communism, exploiting the evils of communism was shown in Docudrama. The Red Menace in 1949 showed the immense threat f communism.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
The timing of this film was a significant factor in the story line. In the middle of the Great Depression unemployment and poverty were a major
In the American Social Classes in the 1950s: Selections from Vance Packard’s The Status Seekers, which was edited with an introduction by Daniel Horowitz, Packard discusses the the social construction of America in the 1950s after the Cold War ended and McCarthyism began to diminish. There was much too cheer about during this time period, but also much to worry about Mccarthyism and the atomic bomb produced fear among millions of Americans. At the time there was much economic growth and prosperity in the United States, and the baby boom occurred. This was a time characterized by fear of communism. Many people were dissatisfied by society and unsure how to create a better one. It was widely believed that this time period created a classless society. It was an era of abundance and economic growth. Packard believed that in reality, there was a drift in society and social stratification. Page 45 in Horowitz’s book shows Packard’s view of the social structure of America at the time, The Diploma elite being higher socially, and the supporting, or working and lower classes being lower. Page 45-48 describes each class in detail, from the “real upper class”, being “people who are likely to be on the board of directors of local industries, banks, universities, and community chests to to lowest group of people on the totem pole, being the