Humanity's Invasion

There was a line in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers that seemed to sum up everything I wanted to cover about the alien invasion and replacement of the true person for the "revised" one, but the reading does not at first seem to back up the line. To paraphrase (since I was writing and listening and completely lost track of what I was writing down), Mile's voice over said something along the lines that after we lose humanity and have to fight for it we realize how precious it is. The humanity of the population of his great town is being stripped by the alien forces and he is forced to either comply or fend off against the growing alien population. At first the quote doesn't seem to resonate with much of Katrina Mann's "You're Next!" article because she focuses on the anxieties of the postwar 50s, but perhaps the article and this loss of humanity can be correlated somehow.

What was American "humanity" in the 50s? From past movies and articles we might be able to say that America's humanity was a white democracy in a male and middle class dominated society. If you will accept my definition of American humanity (aka the status quo of the time. I know it's a stretch but bare with me) then perhaps it's easier to find a connection between this line from the movie and an argument or two from Mann's article. The movie draws on the fear of losing the normalcy during the time of anti-Communism. Every 50s stereotype seems to be played on this film: the assertive, do-gooder dominant male; the complacent women of the town who are fragile and timid; and society working together in perfect harmony. Nothing could possibly go wrong in such a white washed little town. So we think.

The aliens stand for everything that stands against normalcy. Though the article's use of race seemed to almost be far-fetched to most of us in class considering there were no minorities used in the film, there does seem to be a point made in Mann's article. She talks of African American families starting to move into white small towns more after World War II. This was definitely something against the norm in these towns. Normalcy is what keeps the people of the town in the film "human." When things change, people get scared. The same could be said for the migration of African Americans and other minorities "invading" the towns of rural middle class white neighborhoods. Again, if we are accepting my definition of American humanity in that era, we can see how this migration can be related to Mile's line about losing humanity.

To derail from the article, the alien invasion has its obvious connections to fear of Communism. Our capitalist society cannot fathom a world where everyone is paid the same and not an individual. The individual could also be part of the "humanity" definition considering that is what the town in the film was losing because of the aliens. They are emotionless and expendable with no personal motives. They don't waste time on individual concerns such as love or money for themselves. Sounds like a pretty obvious tie to Communism, but didn't the director say he was just making a film and it's nothing more than just a horror film? I think that statement is more far-fetched than my definition of American humanity in the 50s.

The 50s: Fear Incarnate

Ah the 50's. What a peaceful and glorious time to look back upon. The war to end all wars was over with the drop of a bomb and the women were back in their respectful homes making dinner for the men after they get home from a hard day's work. Little Billy has been doing great in school and Susie just said her first word. There's not a care in the world in this ideological utopia that is depicted in all the television shows and popular movies.

Except there were plenty of cares and worries during this faux-utopia. The "Atomic Cafe" film was more than enough to attest to the overwhelming amount of fear and anxiety that seemed to be brewing in the aftermath of World War II. Film clip after film clip depicted the horrors of the Atomic Age. Hiroshima survivors were shown to have disfiguring radiation burns. Americans were so caught up in how we could tell ourselves "it's ok" or "we're safe" by ducking and covering, or being shown that a nuclear blast wasn't so bad. See the happy Bikini villagers? See the soldier running into the fallout zone after an atomic bomb test? All he can talk about is how beautiful the blast was. Those Commie bastards won't see what's coming! One can only guess that the soldier didn't see the affects of radiation coming later in his life either.

The film and "Civilian Threat" article really seemed to emphasize the importance of fear in the 50s. Fear kept people aware of the dangers of nuclear war. Fear put faith in the government and emphasized the importance of Christianity to not be apart of the atheistic red Commie. Fear kept people American. The beginning part of the article was what seemed most important to me. It focused on the fact that civilians would be the targets of an attack on America. I mean if we could do it to others (Hiroshima, Nagasaki) what would stop others from doing so? The "panic stopping" described in the article of drilling one's family doesn't seem to do more than suggest that the threat of war and death is real and being prepared is the only way to to have a chance in survival. If that thought doesn't scare the hell out of anyone, then I don't know what is scary. The bomb shelters being sold in the film clips also are a lot like the reminders of impending doom. Sure you think your safe but the reason you buy this insurance isn't just for safety, but that thought in the back your head telling you that you constantly are in danger of being vaporized by Communists.

We generally think of the 50s as being some sort of time of "normalcy" or a time of American "tradition" ,though the incredibly corny notion of "normal" back then is sickening in itself. Through the film and article we can see that the 50s were a time of high stress and constant fear of the other. If that's normal then I don't want to know what isn't.