Danny Glynn
Adam Weinstein
English 101
12 October 2007
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directed by Don Siegal, was released in 1956, and during this time there were many events going on in the world that this movie had parallels with. Before watching this movie I read several reviews that were talking about the movies parallels with the events going on in the 1950s, but in specifically Communism and McCarthyism. The movie shows a parallel to Communism by making the “pod people”, the people that have been taken over by the aliens, not be able to express their thoughts or any of their emotions and following the ideas of the government. McCarthyism is shown in the movie by the “pod people” going out and hunting down the humans that have not been turned into “pod people” yet.
In Invasion of the Body Snatchers Miles Bennell is the local doctor and he is one of the only citizens who refuses to be taken over by the “pod people” and convert to their ways of thinking. Miles is symbolic of a non-Communist in the movie and the majority of the rest of the town is seen as the Communists. An example of Miles being a non-Communist and the community being Communist is when Miles and Becky are in his office looking out the window and they see the town’s people begin to gather around the time square. When all the town’s people are gathered they receive orders to deliver pods all over the county, and it did not matter what social class any of these people were in, they all did it. This has direct symbolism with Communism because in a Communist government labor is supposed to be divided equally among everyone, not mattering what social class you are in (www.projectsdday.chs.edu). Another example of Communism in this movie is when Jack, a local friend of Miles, comes to Miles and tells him that joining the “pod people” is the best thing that he could do, and the same happens when Becky turns. This is symbolic of Communism because with Communism comes a single party government that forces its citizens to agree with their ideas, and that is what the “pod people are doing in this movie.
Another popular view that is taken about this movie is its relationship it shares with McCarthyism. During the 1950s thousands of Americans were being blamed of being Communists or having Communists beliefs, and those that were accused of this often times lost their jobs, lost their families, or some even lost their lives because they committed suicide (www.gadflyonline.com). In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in this case Miles would be the Communist and the other locals would the Americans in the 1950s that went on the “witch hunts” for people that believed in Communism or had Communists thoughts, the whole community shared the same views and was always on the look for people acting in suspicious behavior. This happens when Miles and Becky are walking out of Miles’s office acting like they became “pod people” and they were stopped because of Becky’s reaction to the dog getting hit by a car. Another example of this happening is when the “pod people” go out on their “witch hunts” throughout the county and look for people that have not yet became “pod people.”
Depending on whether you look at this movie as being symbolic to Communists or to McCarthyism is whether of not this movie is relevant to today’s society. If you see this movie as being a parallel to Communism then this movie does not have much relevance in today’s society because Communism is not near as much of a threat as it was in the 1950s and people do not have to worry about punishment when they want to express themselves. On the other hand, if you see this movie related to McCarthyism then I believe that this movie shows many relevant points that are still related to today’s society. There are always people walking on the streets stereotyping people as to whether they are “normal” or some kind of threat to them.
Some of the reviews I read have talked about both the Communist view and the McCarthyism view, and I would agree with most of the comments that the critics give about this movie. Usually when watching a movie a person will get an idea of what the movie might stand for, and they usually stick with that idea. This movie caused me to have two interpretations of the movie, and they are the same two that most of the critics talked about, Communists and McCarthyism. I can see parallels to both in this movie and I think that the director did a very fine job in letting his audience decide what the movie’s message was because he really leaves everything up in that air at the end.
In conclusion, I would view the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a movie that has parallels with Communism and McCarthyism in the 1950s. This movie also has some similarities with today’s society if you see at as a parallel McCarthyism, but either way you look at Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a terrific sci-fi horror movie.

Works Citied
Halsall, Paul. Modern History Sourcebook: Stalin's Purges, 1935. 1997. 12 Oct. 2007
<http://projectsday.chs.edu.sg/2001/web%20reports/cat5/2/files/Communism.htm >

Whitehead, John W. Invasion of the Body Snatchers a Tale for our Times. 1998.
27 Sept. 2007 <http://www.gadflyonline.com/11-26-01/film-snatchers.html>