INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS Explained: Still So Relevant

The former starred in a film that metaphorically refers to the fear of communists, while the latter was the one who practically enacted that fear. So, do we have McCarthyism in full force here? Yes, but that’s not the only characteristic of the famous 1956 science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Seventy years after the premiere of Don Siegel’s film, is there still something to fear?

Looking back, even more surprising is the jealousy that Kevin McCarthy exhibited toward his colleague, Montgomery Clift. In 1956, the year of the release of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Clift was working for MGM studio, shooting the high-budget melodramatic film Raintree County alongside Elizabeth Taylor, based on a novel of the same title. At the same time, Kevin McCarthy was also appearing in a film adaptation, but one taken from an entirely different world, as it was a low-budget, B-grade science fiction movie. Neither McCarthy nor Clift knew at the time that the prestigious Raintree County would quickly be forgotten by audiences, while the unassuming Invasion of the Body Snatchers would forever be etched in both the annals of the genre and the history of cinema. Not least because of that one iconic shot.

Don Siegel’s film unfolds like a typical thriller, with gradually increasing tension, and its main substance is the paranoia of the protagonist. The character played by Kevin McCarthy is a doctor, Dr. Miles, who is approached by patients with strange symptoms. For some reason, they don’t recognize their loved ones—they feel as if they are not themselves. A colleague suggests to Miles that this might be related to mass hysteria, but he doesn’t believe him. Soon, the protagonist is called to an even stranger case—a friend has found something resembling a body, which, in the end, turns out to be a clone of one of them. Who is behind all this, and what exactly is happening here? The answer to that question doesn’t come from our world.

Both Kevin McCarthy and Jack Finney, the author of the book that the screenplay is based on, have always denied the rumor (still strong to this day) that the story depicted in Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a statement against McCarthyism and communism. However, the film’s director, Don Siegel, believes (and rightly so) that political associations with Senator Joseph McCarthy’s activities and his “witch hunts” were and are inevitable, even though he wanted the film’s focus to be different. It was meant to be simply a pure science fiction thriller, refreshing genre conventions. However, the Cold War-era audience, living in fear, preferred to see it as a political pamphlet. Siegel remained unyielding in interviews, repeatedly emphasizing that, yes, he considered Invasion of the Body Snatchers… as a metaphor, but not a political one, rather a psychological one.

What’s the point? It’s that, regardless of our worldview, political affiliation, or who we are, the germ of emotional passivity can emerge in any of us. Let’s put it plainly—in the interest of any regime, it is not that we should be engaged individuals, clear-headed like Dr. Miles. It is mass stupor and apathy that seem to be in demand. We impose these shackles on ourselves through our subservient attitudes. We are manipulated like puppets. We absorb media information without any filter, becoming mere pawns in a grand game for the throne and money. A society divided, a society discouraged, apathetic, and passive, is a society easy to control. “Bread and circuses”—nothing more is needed for the common people to stop caring about what happens behind the scenes.

That’s why, for decades since the film’s release, the term pod people has functioned in American culture. It was, of course, derived from the way the alien race in the film replaced real humans with their cloned copies which were used to describe those who simply vegetate, instead of consciously and attentively drawing from life what is best and most important. I don’t know about you, but I see many such people around me, and constantly. I see it in their eyes, devoid of spark. They live without reflection, merely ticking off the day’s routines. They are afraid to think, and even more afraid to make decisions. The perfect citizen.

So, is Invasion of the Body Snatchers a parody of Marxism, or is it a film of much more universal depth? I would opt for the latter. Certainly, that’s why the story taken on by the film became so inspiring that, to this day, no fewer than three remakes have been made. This happened, of course, in 1978, when the star-studded Invasion of the Body Snatchers was tackled by Philip Kaufman (interestingly, McCarthy himself appeared in the film). It happened again in 1993, when Abel Ferrara presented his version of Body Snatchers. And it also happened with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in the 2007 film The Invasion. Of this list, only the 1978 film can compare with the original, sometimes even surpassing it, whether in terms of horror or staging flair.

This doesn’t change the fact that the commentary made in 1956, according to which, by succumbing to the influence of various forces, we become emotionally lazy, ensuring ourselves an illusion of safety, remains a disturbingly relevant one. There is something symptomatic in the fact that all this cosmic infiltration and transformation into clones occurs during sleep. That’s why the protagonist and his partner fight bravely until the end not to close their eyes. In reality… they are already in that sleep, just like all of us, because we are part of the culture that gags us. The thing is, we created it ourselves.