Sunday, September 29, 2013

Movie Critique: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The theme of Invasion of the Body Snatcher is very common to the science fiction films of the day.  The protagonist, Dr. Miles, is seen as potentially going crazy telling his story to other doctors.  Unfortunately his "campfire" story turns out to be more than just crazy. Dr. Miles goes on to explain the process of his town being overridden by so called aliens.  The persona of these aliens match that of a deep concern of the day. American concern with the Soviet Union and socialism can be seen by the underlying ideas behind these aliens.  Their attitude and their organized emotionless behavior is perhaps what this film is trying to portray as the potential threat of this type of government can impose on a free nation.
Another thing to notice is the cause for the aliens arrivals. Nuclear radiation causes these seeds from space to mutate and take the form of other human beings. It is interesting to see that so many of these movies focus around the side effects of nuclear radiation.
Throughout the movie we see the love interest build between Dr. Miles and Becky Driscoll.  The love story is often what pushes the protagonist to pursue a solution to the existing problem. Once Becky Driscoll is turned Dr. Miles goes through hell trying to get away from the cloned humans.
Love is often a powerful motivator in these science fiction films. No matter what happens that is always the key element that drives the story.

No comments:

Post a Comment