Following is the Wiki entry for the classic Sci-Fi thriller --The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954). It stars Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, and Carolyn Jones. The screenplay was adapted from Finney's novel by Daniel Mainwaring, along with an uncredited Richard Collins, and was directed by Don Siegel.The GOP is a cult. It's values are subversive, often hostile to 'human' values. Very early in life, I became aware that there were 'sects' within the GOP that were opposed to the teaching of the so-called 'humanities' in high schools and colleges as well as various 'sub-plots' of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, specifically, what they called 'secular' humanism....
Set in the fictional town of Santa Mira, California (actually shot in Sierra Madre), the plot centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy), a local doctor, who finds a rash of patients accusing their loved ones of being impostors. Another patient is a former sweetheart of his; recent divorcee Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who tells him that her cousin, Wilma, has this same strange fear about Uncle Ira.Assured at first by the town psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kaufman (Larry Gates), that the cases are nothing but "epidemic mass hysteria", Bennell soon discovers, with the help of his friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan), that the townspeople are in fact being replaced by simulations grown from plantlike pods; perfect physical duplicates who kill and dispose of their human victims. The Pod People are indistinguishable from normal people, except for their utter lack of emotion. The pod people work together to secretly spread more pods — which grew from "seeds drifting through space for years" — in order to replace the entire human race.The film climaxes with Bennell and Driscoll attempting to escape the pod people, intending to warn the rest of humanity. They hide; Driscoll falls asleep and is subverted. With the pod people close behind, a seemingly crazed Bennell runs onto the highway frantically screaming of the alien force which has overrun Santa Mira to the passing motorists and (in a moment that could almost be considered a breaking of the 4th wall) looks into the camera and yells, "They're here already! You're next!"--Wiki
As allegory, the 'invasion' aspect is just a device. What made this film so 'scary' is that there are people who look just like you but, in fact, are alien and seditious --as good a description of the modern GOP as I've ever seen.
THEY'RE HERE!!!!!Published Articles
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part I, Police States Begin With False Flag Attacks
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part II, A Climate of Fear is Maintained
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part III, In Fascist Dictatorships Telling the truth becomes a crime
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part IV, the state forces an 'existential' choice
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part V, Public Opinion Becomes Irrelevant
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part VI, The government places itself above the law
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State: Part VII, The Government Denies 'Due Process of Law'
- Bush's Conspiracy to Create an American Police State Part VIII: Atrocities are justified with lies, myths or propaganda
6 comments:
I read an interview with don siegel many,many years ago and he said the main point for him was the disassociation of people, the atomisation which would lead to an authoritarian culture.
Looks not a bad guess from here.
I don't trust the GOP, Len -- or McCain. I Think Winter Patriot is right and the fix is in. Yes, I think they would be prepared to steal the election and brazen it out. We are talking about organized crime.
If i recall, The film was actually a part of the McCarthy attack on communists in US!
So do be too ready to praise the film
Brian
Anonymous said...
If i recall, The film was actually a part of the McCarthy attack on communists in US!
I am quite sure the film was 'never' a 'part' of McCarthy's smears and innuendo. It was released in 1956. McCarthy was already HISTORY by that time.
In any case, the better analogy is the 'seed pods' with the "GOP". Indeed, the 'seed pods' with ANY kooky cult and the GOP is most certainly a cult by any acceptable defintion of 'cult'.
At last, the film is not merely class Sci Fi, it ranks with other great 'film noir' classics: Gilda, A Touch of Evil, Casablanca, The Big Combo, The Lady From Shanghai, and Out of the Past.
this is too good, Len! and true!
"the film was actually a part of the McCarthy attack on communists in US!"
actually I'd say it was the other way around -- the film was a commentary on how people drink the current political kool-aid and the mind-numbing sameness of people who can't think outside the box and are afraid to speak up!
Linda Sama said...
this is too good, Len! and true!
Thanks, Linda!
"the film was actually a part of the McCarthy attack on communists in US!" ... actually I'd say it was the other way around -- the film was a commentary on how people drink the current political kool-aid
That's always been my view. During the 'witch hunt' and the 'red scares' and 'red baiting', there was no need to couch 'anti-communist' propaganda in an allegorical film. The RIGHT had all the media coverage they needed and it was not done symbolically --but overtly.
Screenwriters were notoriously targeted by 'red baiters'. Many Hollywood careers never recovered. Screenwriters and film makers fought back with the tools of their trade.
The most prominent example is Arthur Miller whose "The Crucicble" is the story of the Salem Witch Trials.
It is also the story of McCarthy's reign of terror. Every technique practiced by McCarthy may be found in "The Crucible" ---a classic that should be REQUIRED READING.
'Body Snatchers', as I recall, was released in 1956. McCarthy's hearings were over and Ed Murrow had already done a number on him. That's not to say that everything was suddenly OKEY DOEKY. The GOP STILL EXISTS!
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