Abstract
This paper presents three articles and [ ] websites that help explain the context and themes of the 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (IBS) directed by Don Siegel, while also doing the same for the 1993 remake of the film "Body Snatchers" (BS) directed by Abel Ferrara. Each source gives different inputs on what helped influenced the film's creation, while also noting their time periods and social conditions of that time. Jenkins (2012) points to the domestic issues of post-World War II that IBS portrays, and argues that the film's genre is a Gothic representation of the social conditions of the US at that time. Meanwhile, Hendershot (1998) speaks on the paranoia of radiation contamination in a postwar America. When moving up almost forty years, Ebert (1994) talks about BS and its connection with military conformity and also the AIDS epidemic. Liss (2001) tells us how these films can teach us post-World War II history. Telotte (1983) touches more on the science and biology of the film, which connects with how we as a species want to abdicate from human "responsibility", as in becoming an automaton like the people become in the movie can actually be desirable. Wikipedia just gives us some more general information about the films.
References
Ebert, Roger, (1994-02-25). "Body Snatchers Review". Chicago Sun-Times.
Hendershot, Cyndy, (1998). "The Invaded Body: Paranoia & Radiation Anxiety in Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space & Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Kent State University Press
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (2017, September 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Jenkins, Jennifer L., (2012). "'Lovelier the Second Time Around': Divorce, Desire, and Gothic Domesticity in Invasion of the Body Snatchers."The Journal of Popular Culture Volume: 45 Issue 3
Liss, Neil. (2001). "'FILMS FOR OUR TIME: USING "INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS' TO TEACH RECENT AMERICAN HISTORY." Teaching History: A Journal of Methods Volume: 26 Issue 1
Telotte, J. (1983). Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film. Film Quarterly, 36(3), 44-51. doi:10.2307/3697349
You mention how Telotte has an article which “connects how we as a species want to abdicate human responsibility”. I believe there is an argument here when it comes to what we expect from the government. As a people (in general) healthcare comes from the government, answers are supposed to come from the government. This article, and the movie in general, is an over-dramatized way of portraying that happening in a science-fiction way. It might have a scary effect on some, humorous on others, but the message that the movie is portraying is that by abdicating responsibility we are giving up all control. In this sense, the body snatchers are a symbolism of something, and it could be argued that they are the government.
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