Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1956 film, directed by Don Siegel and based on the novel of the same name (1955) by Jack Finney, in which seed pods arrive on Earth from space (see panspermia) and begin forming emotionless duplicates of people. The human victims are then replaced as they sleep by their alien doppelgangers. In his analysis of the film, Ernesto Laura writes:

It is natural to see the pods as standing for the idea of communism which gradually takes possession of a normal person, leaving him outwardly unchanged but transformed within.

Others have argued that the film reflects left-wing paranoia about McCarthyism. In any event, the theme was a popular one of this time – the threat to individuality and personal freedom. A good remake, directed by Philip Kauffman, was released in 1978.

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• SCIENCE FICTION

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