Comparing The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers And The Million Year Picnic

The author and poet Albert Camus said, “If only nature is real and if, in nature, only desire and destruction are legitimate, then, in that all humanity does not suffice to assuage the thirst for blood, the path of destruction must lead to universal annihilation.” In both the The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Martian Chronicles story The Million Year Picnic show the fear of annihilation in two different ways. The Million Year Picnic shows the fear through the family and why they have to go to Mars, the reason being that Earth was destroyed because of nature and nature itself. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers shows the fears as aliens taking over the town of Santa Marara because the people are going against the “pod people”, aliens

and the people of the town are trying to stay awake once the “pod people” desire a world of destruction by annihilating the humans. Invasion of the Body Snatchers takes place in present day in 1956 (when the film was made) and the moral of the story is that an alien race in this case called the “pod people”, are trying to take over the the town of Santa Marara in Los Angeles. In The Million Year Picnic a family that is taking a “vacation” but the family then realizes that they are staying there when the father purposely blows up their own rocket so others could not find their location. Throughout the film, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers shows the uprising of a new type of species and how the town went under mass hysteria. Through the fear of annihilation and the Bradbury story, The Million-Year Picnic. The two stories show that the alien race the “pod people” and the family are both at their last resort and that Earth is either under attack (The Invasion of the Body Snatchers) or the Earth is already destroyed (The Million Year Picnic). The fear also shows what the family and the citizens have to do to try and protect their loved ones and their own life.
In the Invasion of the Body Snatchers the main characters, Betty and Miles, a doctor, goes through unforeseen conflict and they don’t even understand the conflict until later in the film which is then later
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realized. The film first starts out by introducing the characters to the local doctor one which later in the movie is very important. As the characters start to realize that, these pod starts to show up containing exact copies of the people that are going to be “taken over by” in their sleep. The main characters in the film have to battle it out against the “pod people” which in this case can also be seen as infected by the aliens and many think that they are themselves when they are really not. As the Betty and Miles are running throughout the mountains the “pod people” can be seen as hypnotized and confused, in other words they are trying to find out where they are going. The cause of this is Betty and Miles trying to escape from the “pod people”. Then a new conflict arises in the mountains when she falls asleep. Then as the doctor tries to escape and he successfully does, he then town that hasn't been infected yet. Then he tells the whole world about this problem. As the film ends the viewer is left with question on how the Government in this case the police and is going to fix the problem of the alien infestation, of the “pod people.”
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers shows two science topics that were formulated ten years before the film was made.

The science topic of alien contact and the innovations in genetics and cloning were the main focus of the film. Throughout the time period many but, During the 1940s many different scientists, were active learners in genetics. This was some of the best advancements in it time which then later has been proven to be useful . The Invasion of the Body Snatchers mainly focuses on the topic, genetics this can be seen through the films heavy reliance on the townspeople being copied by the new form of people called the “pod people” in this case. An example from the film being, there when they find bodies of people that were taken over by the “pod people” and then how they looked exactly the same. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers shows connection to “early 1940s researchers made a major breakthrough in genetics, the branch of biology that deals with inherited characteristics in all forms of life” (Biology: Genetics). The Invasion of the Body Snatchers investigates the reasoning behind genetics by showing you first hand how the “copy” of the person is made, this is done via a pod and this is how the “pod people” were created. During this time period many were “...concern[ed] over the potential impact of genetically altered life on the [biosphere]. Unforeseen problems with potentially

devastating
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consequences might result from having a genetically altered animal escape into the wilds” (Patenting Life). While The Invasion of the Body Snatchers has no animal life, this quote can be related to the movie because of the “pod people” slowly taking over the other people. So, this can be seen as “escaping into the wild” (Patenting Life).This can relate to the film because of the avid fear of being taken over by ourselves. An example is trying to hide from the “pod people” and also the massive risks this portrayed as a threat to the town.
Ten years before the actual movie, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was even thought of, “A Time in history that changed everything about how people live in the 1940’s was the Alien Registration Act during this time period people that that wanted to live in the United States would now be eligible. “Nearly one million people” became citizens (The 1940s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview.) Portrayed in the film many people that live in the town are afraid of being changed over to the “pod people” and they were also afraid. Going back to the real world during the 1943-1944 is the time when becoming an alien was the norm back then and then this is what happened in the movie because of the change because of “the pod people” were aliens that were slowly becoming more populated in the movie and the were “taking over” the town. During the time before The Invasion of the Body Snatchers there was new advancements of people coming from foreign countries this was part of the “Political containment translated into expectations of strict behavioral conformity...Security and behavioral conformity came to be valued above personal risk and experimentation. Parents were urged to rear their children properly, lest they be vulnerable to Communist subversion”(The 1940s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview). After World War II, the fear of others was apparent from the quote. It even warns parents to keep their child safe from the world of communism. This was also a main part of the movie, fear that we would be taken over by different life, in this case, the “pod people” and instead of parents saving their own children everyone had to survive on their own. The most controversial part of this science topic being the law “Enacted by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, the Alien Registration Act, best known as the Smith Act, was one of the most controversial laws passed in response to concerns over possibly subversive groups operating in the United States”(The Smith Act). This later
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allowed Aliens to come on Los Angeles Santa Marara Soil. While the people of the 1940’s they were against the Smith Act. The people of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers were forced to deal with this because the “pod people’ were taking over and quickly while Becky and Miles were trying to overcome and escape from the “pod people.” This can also be connected to the quote because the “pod people” were allowing their own life form onto the land of Los Angeles Santa Marara.
In The Invasion of the Body Snatchers the conflict, man vs.

man plays a major role in the fear within the movie on the alien side. The “pod people” want to replace the old humans without causing any suspicion of the humans and try not to tell the humans how not. On the man side the struggle is to stay awake and keep their body and not to be taken over by the “pod people.” The fear of annihilation can also be connected because they didn't want to be taken over by the “pod people.” What Miles says about his practices shows the foreshadowing of what's going to happen to all humans being taken over the “pod people.” This can be related to the fear of annihilation because Miles says “...people have allowed their humanity to drain away.”(Invasion of the Body Snatchers). This can also be said for the conflict of man vs. man because of the “pod people” taking over the town one by one, one human at a time. As the pod people are slowly taking over Miles says, “ They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!” (Invasion of the Body Snatchers). This shows that the people of the town have been overwhelmed by the “pod people” and they can not overcome the problem of the aliens slowly taking them over and transforming them to their kind. This can connect to the fear of annihilation because they are slowly taking over the city in Los Angeles and they can be seen wiping out the human population one by one. This can also connect to the conflict because they eliminating the

humans left and right and replacing their body with their own. Later in the movie, Beckey then identifies the alien life forms as “...huge seed pods!” (Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Since Beckey identifies the pod this way we can understand her fear of the aliens and how they are slowly taking over the human race by replacing them with copies of themselves, which can also show the fear of annihilation because of the fear of being taking over. This can also connect to the conflict of man vs. man because the aliens slowly taking over and humans that are
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trying to stay alive. Then Dr. Hill states “Get on your radios and sound an all points alarm. Block all highways, stop all traffic, and call every law enforcement agency in the state...Operator, get me the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yes, it's an emergency!” (Invasion of the Body Snatchers). The film slowly starts to show the fear of the aliens taking over then as the film is near the end Miles is telling the doctor about his experience. He doesn't believe him at first but, then quickly realizes what is going on and then warns everyone. The connection to the fear of being annihilated is because they don't want it to spread and more and more people to get infected by the “pod people.” The conflict here is the humans are trying to escape the “pod people” by going to authorities and telling them about what is going on. Both the fear and the man vs. man conflict both of these can result into an interesting film with results that the viewer wasn’t excepting an example being that one human was able to escape.