Invasion of the Body Snatchers was originally adapted from the 1955 novel ‘The Body Snatchers’ by Jack Finny. The film has been interpreted in many different ways throughout the years. It has been continuously argued about whether it reflects on the right-wing paranoia of a communist takeover, or the left-wing paranoia about the growing control of the McCarthyists. However, either way, the film shows the themes of a loss of individual identity and of human feeling, representing the paranoia which was consistent both in film and society in America in the 1950’s.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers presents a clear picture of a society being overrun by another kind despite the special effects budget being under $15,000 dollars. People were very
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This is possibly one of the strangest things about Invasion of the Body Snatchers' as the allegorical message can been linked to both ends of the political spectrum: right-wing paranoia about Communists or left-wing paranoia about McCarthyism. Naturally people read what they already know about the 1950s into the film. Body Snatchers can easily be seen as an appeal to fight back against the conformity of mass society and the pod people: "Join us - life will be much simpler and better." This phrase is eerily reflecting on conformist 50s culture. The scene in which the pod people begin to get into groups in order to spread the pods across the country, represents the idea of how quickly the mass hysteria and panic of the time could be spread across America. The setting of the film could easily be any home town, and becomes a symbolic representation of the country as a whole. And yet although the film indisputably shows individualism under attack and challenges Americas national identity and humanity, the social or political target of the film is not made clear. Robert Kolker asks an important question: “Was noir merely reflecting, as many critics have suggested, a postwar depression so prevalent that the audience merely assented quietly and passively to images of its own fear?” This reinforces the idea of how maybe the film doesn’t have a political agenda and rather, due to the fear and paranoia of the time, audiences read the fear of Communism or McCarthy ideas into 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
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
A Documentary History (Paperback). Oxford University Press, USA, 1996. Scott, Peter Dale, Deep Politics, University of California Press; Reprint edition (June 22, 1996). Mitgang, Herbert Lillian Hellman's FBI File, Dangerous dossiers: exposing the secret war against America's greatest authors, New York: D.I. Fine, 1988, retrieved from a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html">http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html/a>. Ted Morgan, Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America, New York: Random House, 1st edition, 2003.
This week’s readings of the reviews of Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ and Marilyn Fabe’s “Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’, raised a number of questions regarding not only the moral issues the film addresses but also the intention of the artist. This dialectical opposition, which Pamela Reynolds suggests “challenges the audience to choose” (Reynolds, p.138) between the narrativized hostility shown between that of the hero and villain. More specifically Lee’s portrayal of violence vs passive opposition. This can be perceived through Lee’s technical employment of contradictory quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcom X at the conclusion of the film, which not only highlights this concern but also deluges further into themes of political opposition. Marylin Fabe discusses this where she states that Spike Lee’s film carries a “disturbing political message” (Fabe, p.191). Arguably, ‘Do the Right Thing’ acmes themes of racism (Black vs White); with underlining motifs of imperialism (colonisers’ vs colonised), psychoanalytic (power vs powerlessness) and even Marxist theory (ownership vs public space/consumption), with Clarence Page stating that Lee provides a “public service… (not trying) to provide all the answers, but raising the questions.” (Reid, P.144). In saying this we explore this concept of the role of the artist, with Georgopulos stating that the role of the artist is to create a consciousness within the audience by revealing a fraught set of truths about the human condition. Thusly, the reactions and responses to the films reveal Lee to be successful in conveying his intentions, which back in its zenith, explored this issue of racism in a way that had rarely been seen, and presented the ways in which t...
The Cold War ushered in a new era in the American society that would change the way in which everyday life was carried on by the public. Men, women and children were convinced to fit the “average” mold that was promoted through propaganda issued from the American government and media. Events, such as the McCarthy hearings and Hollywood Blacklisting, contributed to the overwhelming fear of nonconformity. The American public was bombarded with images of conformity such as the popular “family sitcoms” that were mass produced in the 1950’s. The insistence upon normality and conformity was also portrayed metaphorically in numerous Sci-Fi movies of the time which exemplified xenophobia, the hatred or fear of strangers or foreigners or of anything strange or foreign.
...s at that time who have come of age. Perhaps no film in recent history has captured more attention and generated more controversial debate. This film resonates the feeling and question that common people had about the JFK assassination in the 60s. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers noted. The JFK was a telling incident demonstrating the larger cultural conflict over values and meaning in America and the competition to define national identity. The whole affair demonstrated how effective a motion picture can be as a transmitter of knowledge, history, and culture. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers have noted.
There are two main issues in the movie the “The Color of Fear” that I will discuss. These two issues include grouping people of color on the basis of the way one looks, and the attitudes of different races towards one another. Including also the idea that the white “do-gooder” feels that subconsciously racism is being taken care of, when in all reality it isn’t. The eight men in The Color of Fear candidly discussed racism not only as "whites oppressing blacks," but also the less addressed sides of racial trouble in America. A white man earnestly stating that he had never oppressed anyone in his entire life, and a Hispanic man talking about being afraid of driving in front of pickup trucks with gun racks, shows how there needs to be more progress towards ending these feelings in America. Stereotypes were openly declared, from Asians as "the model minority" to blacks as "lazy, violent, and dangerous."
Every film can be related back to socially significant issues that occurred during the time it was released. It’s a snapshot of the issues during that time period. Film is not created in a vacuum. As described in our textbook, film “Conveys “the temper of an age of a nation” as well as that of the artists who produces it” (Belton 22). Films tend to reflect current society, country ideals or beliefs in order for the audience to relate. Some of those techniques used include, the American dream, family, corruption, divorce, and crime. If a director decides not include current social issues than it becomes harder for an audience to relate to the film because they will not be able to connect to the characters and get into their shoes. One film that encompasses all of these current social issues is American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013). This film is a melodrama because of the context and social issues this film deals with. American Hustle has a social significance to today’s current culture, society, beliefs and social issues through the use of the American dream, corruption, divorce, crime and family.
In the duration of one year, 1968, the American national mood shifted from general confidence and optimism to chaotic confusion. Certainly the most turbulent twelve months of the post-WWII period and arguably one of the most disturbing episodes the country has endured since the Civil War, 1968 offers the world a glimpse into the tumultuous workings of a revolution. Although the entire epoch of the 1960's remains significant in US history, 1968 stands alone as the pivotal year of the decade; it was the moment when all of the nation's urges toward violence, sublimity, diversity, and disorder peaked to produce a transformation great enough to blanket an entire society. While some may superficially disagree, the evidence found in the Tet Offensive, race relations, and the counterculture's music of the period undeniably affirm 1968 as a turning point in American history.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
In the article “The Thematic Paradigm” exerted from his book, A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, Robert Ray provides a description of the two types of heroes depicted in American film: the outlaw hero and the official hero. Although the outlaw hero is more risky and lonely, he cherishes liberty and sovereignty. The official hero on the other hand, generally poses the role of an average ordinary person, claiming an image of a “civilized person.” While the outlaw hero creates an image of a rough-cut person likely to commit a crime, the official hero has a legend perception. In this essay, I will reflect on Ray’s work, along with demonstrating where I observe ideologies and themes.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced based on Jack Finney's science fiction novel The Body Snatchers (1954). The storyline is based around an extraterrestrial invasion that begins in the fictional town of Santa Mira. Extraterrestrial plant spores have fallen from space; these spores then grow into large seed pods. Each pod can reproduce a duplicate copy of a human. As each pod reaches full development, it takes on the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of each human placed near it.
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when” (Albert Hughes). Why would Caine consider these crimes “funny”, or rather, so insignificant? What caused Caine to become so deviant? The answers to such questions were woven into the plot of the film and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Spent shells rain down over the heads of panicking citizens of Los Angeles. Across the city, antiaircraft batteries open fire in response to a Japanese air raid. Soon, the night sky fills with smoke, obscuring the view of the gunners. People either congregate outside to find out what is going on or cower under shelter, as the blackout plunges the city into confusion. Reports flood in of a downed enemy bomber burning in the city—hardly putting a dent in the hundreds that people are sighting. It is only a day after a Japanese attack on oil facility outside the city and three months after the horrific Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It seems fears of an invasion of the American homeland have materialized. The next day the full destruction of the Battle
Psychological manipulation the Party uses on the citizens is one of the first themes Orwell exposes in this dystopian society. The Party maintains this manipulation by constantly overwhelming citizens with useless information and propaganda.