The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

People in the 1950's were afraid of the bombs being produced and tested during this time. This was why American's were fixated on monster and Sci-fi movies. At one point when Becky asked Miles what could the pods holding the body snatchers were, he replied with it's probably radiation. The only place the radiation could come from would be one of the hydrogen bombs. They focused a lot on the effects of what could happen because that were visualizing everyone's fears.

Another American fear that was placed into this movie was about space. The unknown is always scary to man. Everyone probably had a least a small fear that there were some sorts of creatures that were ready to come destroy man. In the end of the film we find out that the pods are actually from space. This was the American fear, that maybe we shouldn't have left earth.

 During the invasion it was hard to kill the body snatchers because they looked like your friends and loved ones. When Miles finds four of them, one looking like him, one looking like his love, and the other two his friends, he was going to kill them, the only trouble was that they looked so much like his friends. He started to kill Becky's body snatcher, the only problem was that it looked too much like her, so he only killed his body snatcher. After WWII where Hitler tried to only have people that were the same, I think this sparked a fear that everyone wanted to hold on to their individuality.

I personally did not like Becky at all. She was a flirty wimp who we all knew wouldn't make it in the end. At one point She tells Miles that she just can't go on and basically made him half drag, half carry the rest of the way to the mines. Now I must give her the excuse that she was wearing heals the entire time, while I think she should have ditched. In the end she selfishly said I have to sleep and did so, making her a pod person.

Poor Doctor Miles, didn't listen to his gut when things were just starting out weird. Instead of trying delve into trying to solve the mystery he just sat back and let it happen. Even he admits this when telling his story to the doctors. He was the last one of his town to make it out alive, everyone else was a pod person. I think that would be very hard, everyone you know and love was not them, void of true emotion.

When I was looking for pictures of this movie I found out that at first instead of the doctor's believing his story about the body snatchers when a pod was found they were going to have it be very different. In the end they were going to have truck loads of pods just pass Miles as he screamed his head off. The studio did not like the pessimistic view they gave the movie so instead he had them add the doctor scene, making the story more of a flashback. This made the movie way more relieving in the end instead of freaking you out like the body snatchers are coming for you next. I have to admit though when the doctors exchanged glances after the end of his story I thought they were pod people.





A photo of Becky Dristoll (Dana Wynter) Left, and Doctor Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) Right.







A photo of the pods that would make the body snatchers.



The cover for Invasion of the Body Snatchers.