"Invasion of the Bodysnatchers": An Anti-Communist Critique

The 1956 film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” details a revered physician’s realization that his entire community is being replaced one-by-one by look-alike aliens. Upon returning home to Santa Mira from a trip, Dr. Miles Bennell is confronted by numerous complaints from patients who believe that their relatives aren’t who they were previously. He believes that they are simply victims of mass hysteria until his friends Jack and Teddy discover a body that resembles Jack in their home. Miles then begins to theorize that his patients are correct. He decides to retrieve his girlfriend Becky from her father’s house, suspecting that her father has been replaced by a decoy. When he enters the home through the cellar, he discovers a body that looks like Becky. Miles takes Becky back to Jack and Teddy’s house, and then returns to her father’s house with Jack to inspect the body. However, they cannot locate the body. Becky’s father hears them in the basement and calls the police. The police assure Miles and Jack that they are simply being paranoid, and dismiss their theories that the body in Jack’s house is non-human. Soon thereafter, Miles, Jack, Becky and Teddy find duplicates of themselves growing in pods. They realize that the entire town is being gradually replaced by emotionless lookalikes and that the police chief has likely been transformed. Jack and Teddy leave town to seek help while Miles and Becky seek refuge in Miles’ office. They try to avoid sleep, convinced that if they fall asleep, they will be replaced by pods. Jack returns the following morning transformed, forcing Miles and Becky to flee the city. When they are hiding in a cave, Becky falls asleep and turns into an emotionless pod person. Miles races to the highway to find help outside of Santa Mira.

Critics have debated whether the film refutes or affirms the spirit of McCarthyism. There is strong evidence supporting the theory that “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers” is anti-Communist. The movie details the infiltration of the United States by an undetectable alien force. In the 1950s, Americans were fearful that Communists existed undetected in the US, quietly promoting their ideologies. Moreover, Communism discourages individuality, and the characters in “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers” that are replaced by pod decoys are void of emotion and personality. Therefore, it is likely that the film was an anti-Communist critique.