Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) is a horror thriller and science fiction movie directed by Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy as the protagonist Dr. Miles Bennell and Dana Wynter as his girlfriend Becky Driscoll. The film is based on Jack Finney´s novel The Body Snatchers (1954).

Narrative

Story:

-set in a village, St. Mira, in California, USA -main characters are Dr. Miles Bennell and Becky Driscoll --> romantic interest; Dan Kaufmann (psychiatrist), Jack Belicec (first victim) -conflicts: Becky and Miles try to find out what is happening to the village (people acting weird) and later try to flee from it, when Becky is snatched.

focus:
 * invasion, paranoia, community

Discourse:

-order: foreshadowing (Miles arrives at the clinic in LA), after that the story is told chronologically --> story inside the story; narrative frame -narrator: intradiegetic, homodiegetic --> Miles´ POV -voice-over in the beginning: information that he has not been snatched -not many time-jumps --> adds to suspense

Medium

-black and white film -cinematography: eye-level shots, steady camera, less technical devices than today, conventional, no special effects, person-based, nighttime outdoor shots --> dark, also important role of sleep -editing: faster towards the end -sound: natural, orchesral, extradiegetic, highlights dramatic moments

Genre

-horror thriller and science fiction (process scientifically explainable)

Theme

-´plant-creature-feature´, invasion of alien creatures that replace humans and have no use for emotion. They can be tricked by showing no emotion. Proliferous expand.

Source(s)

-novel contemporary --> important, as the cultural background has not changed much between the novel and the first filmic adaptation

Cultural context

-historical: end of World War 2, Korean War, Cold War -political: Cold War, increasing conflict, fear of communism, spies, blacklists, MASS hysteria -social: sub-urbanization, `New American Dream`, consumption goes up, family (baby boom), economic growth, bomb-shelters, tranquil, mass media UFO sightings

Film technology

-improved film formats, colour production, Hollywood becomes THE city for film, new lens --> wide screen, actors blacklisted, new actors --> want to be represented - studio- system changes: anyone can produce films now, smaller companies come up -new genres: fantasy, science fiction -rivalry with TV: changing motivation for movie- industry

There have been three other movies published that are considered to be remakes of this movie: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Body Snatchers (1993) and the latest version Invasion (2007).

Possible approahes to interpreting the film:

Fear of communism

-idea that communism turns everyone into an unfeeling shell --> everybody is the same -criticism of political situation --> people not informed about goings- on -metaphors: disease, infiltration, infestation

Fear of spies, blacklists, etc.

- no means of telling friend from foe (all your neighbours might be spies) --> friends suddenly snatched -staying awake --> also alert -paranoia -criticizing institution such as police and medical/ official institutions

"Return of the Repressed" 

-Sigmund Freud: as soon as an individual enters into civilized society it represses various primitive, archaic desires -Whatever we repress will come out in a different form using a different way to express itself Doppelganger motif (romanticism) --> usually connected to death and sexuality

Comment on Sub-urbanization

-landscape made up of houses that are all the same -people trying to be like everyone else --> same car, same kitchen, same mailbox, etc. -no chance of being ´individual´ -USA is known for its tolerance --> in reality not true --> Even though everyone tells them to be individual the real environment wants them to be all the same --> thus the realization of individualism is repressed --> This fact comes back to them: they are already the same