Invasion of Conformity

The film that we watched for this week, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, had a heavy theme of conformity about it. You have the hero and heroine fleeing for their lives against alien beings who "replaced" normal, everyday folks and loading seed pods onto trucks.

Like most 1950s science fiction films, Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a heavy theme of paranoia; the film may reflect on the "Red Scare" but would also represent "McCarthyism," when Joseph McCarthy began a campaign that resulted in people accused as communists, with individuals such as Arthur Miller facing up to communist charges. The 1950s era was one of conformity with its emphasis on acting in the same manner. This case was-and is-especially apparent in small towns where you could have a narrow-minded community being judgemental to a flamboyant outsider. My instructor, Dr. Clemente, brought in a funny quote from pop artist Andy Warhol, "There is only one good thing about small towns: leaving!" I suppose anyone would agree after witnessing the public loading up seed pods!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers takes place in a small town, where a physician is puzzled by people claiming that someone is not like who they were. He is skeptical until he sees a "clone" of a man working at his personal bar. The aliens who take control have no passion or need for love. In a sense, they would be the proverbial wolves in sheep's clothing; your friendly accountant might be a conniving alien being and you might not know about it. In the science fiction movies we saw, the use of teamwork was used in The Thing from Another World to illustrate that humanity needed to stand united against a common foe. In Invasion, standing united meant standing amongst like-minded individuals bent on taking control of the world and molding it into their similiar liking. As a self-proclaimed nonconformist, this would scare me and others who do not want to be controlled by alien beings in pods!

The movie's theme of paranoia and fear of conformity has aged fairly well. It has aged so well that it was remade three times. The latest version is The Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

- Kristopher