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The effects of the cold war on film
The invasion of the body snatchers introduction
The invasion of the body snatchers introduction
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a 1956 American Sci-Fi Classic film directed by Don Siegel, is an allegory for the Cold War. The film begins with Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) and several of his patients who’s suffering the paranoid delusion, false belief that impostors have replaced their friends and relatives. Eventually he seeks for the cause of this phenomenon and finds out the truth conspiracy by the aliens. The movie itself was directed as an allegory for the Cold War, they often come to different conclusion on the nature of this allegory. The film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, may seem to portray a paranoid warning of the Communist threat to the United States because of the setting and the story synopsis of the film. The Cold War was a political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II until the approximate date of 1985. The period of this tension was commonly termed as “Cold” because there was no direct contact fighting between the two sides. The United States government was in name of stopping communist expansionism. The Cold War influenced on many aspects of American society culturally, politically, and economically. During this time period, the citizens of the United States were already paranoid with the facts that they …show more content…
will be attacked at any given time by the Soviet Union. Many people built their bomb shelters and practiced for the nuclear emergency drills. The national security agencies encouraged Hollywood be to produce anticommunist movies. The movies raised the nation’s patriotism, but also raised suspicion of communist activity in America. Many changes have been done to the film itself compared to Jack Finney’s novel. Daniel Mainwaring (Screen Play) added an extra scene in the movie of Dr. Miles Bennell’s speech to Becky (Dana Wynter). "In my practice I see how people have allowed their humanity to drain away…only it happens slowly instead of all at once. They didn’t seem to mind…. All of us, a little bit. We harden our hearts…grow callous…only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is” (Mainwaring). Although according to Mainwaring there was no anti-communist message in the film, but many of the United States citizens viewed the pods in the invasion of the Body Snatcher as the incarnated popular image of a communism taking over the United States. Director Don Siegel understood citizen’s fear of communism taking the country over one day. Director Siegel changed the ending of Finney’s novel. Rather than following Finney’s ending that depicted pods rising from a field and away from the earth, director Siegel showed a lone, seemingly madman in a rage. Where Finney provided hope, Siegel presented conspiracy and destitution. Many saw the invasion of the Body Snatchers as presenting an overt communist metaphor.
The alien pod people perfectly fit the profile of Russians and the Soviets were considered ice cold and emotionless like the alien pods. In one of the scene, Mile says, “So much has been discovered the past few years. They may be the result of atomic radiation or weird alien organisms” (Invasion of the Body Snatcher). Director Siegel made the audiences believe that the alien pods are out there, ready to take everyone down. In 1994 Invasion of the Body Snatchers was nominated for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being aesthetically significant during the time of
released. Although the way director Siegel produced the film, Invasion of the Body Snatcher, he may didn’t mean to frighten and give the American citizens new terrors to live in other than the fear of the Soviet and communism, but made the situation worse for some people over the others. The film itself cautioned many Americans on the problem of being complacent with our lives and falling asleep or being ignorant is very danger. If one loses hope and give up, pods can quickly take everything over. Even though the Invasion of the Body Snatcher was filmed to give a warning of the communist threat to the United States, this fear made the American stronger and encouraged them to never give up.
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries.
Hoberman, J. An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. New
During the Cold War from 1945 to 1953, the civil liberties faced many challenges as the citizens of the US faced and lived in a lot of terror. The Cold War in 1945 to 1953 brought about a period of tension and hostility due to the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union. The period began with the end of the Second World War. The situation acquired the title for there was no physical active war between the two rivals. The probability of the tension is the fear of the rise in nuclear ammunition.
{ Hitchcock never explicitly referred to or mentioned developments of the period or the ongoing political machinations that made daily news; and while he hardly stove to substantiate David Lehman’s claim for the overriding theme in Hitchcock’s America, that “paranoia is sometimes a reasonable response to events in a world of menace” (qtd in Pomerance 12). As pointed out by Marshall Deutelbaum Hitchcock’s films were diligently faithful in their representation of the look and style of American everyday reality and it repeatedly focused on the
The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.
My premise is really quite simple: aliens are among us.And they're bad.But they're not the aliens you think they are, and they're not bad for the reasons you might imagine.In order to understand who these aliens are and why they're bad I want to begin by reaching back into the dark heart of the McCarthy era, when American paranoia in its most popular incarnation as American patriotism was at its peak.The year is 1951 and the film is Howard Hawkes' The Thing: From Another World.
The Cold War was a post-World War II struggle between the United States. and its allies and the group of nations led by the Soviet Union. Direct military conflict did not occur between the two superpowers, but intense economic and diplomatic struggles erupted in the country. Different interests led to mutual suspicion and hostility in a rising philosophy. The United States played a major role in the ending of the Cold War.
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in Europe in the wake of World War II but quickly expanded into Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced domestic American politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change domestic American politics in the first twenty years of the conflict?
The Cold War was an argument between the Soviet Union and the United States of America after WWII. During WWII the USA and the Soviet Union were allies fighting a common cause: Adolph Hitler who was attempting to overthrow the surrounding countries. Although the USA and the Soviet Union were allies, the relationship between the two countries was very tense (What Was). Neither country trusted the other. After WWII their relationship became even more tense due to the building of new weapons capable of destroying entire countries.
The cold war era is when America was at its most suspicious and paranoid. The cold war grew out of tensions that were post WWII. Two worldly super powers clashed over rivalry and one wanted to have more influence. This rivalry went for almost half of the 20th century, and led to many international incidents that almost brought both powers to a mutual destruction.
Ray, Pratt. Projecting Paranoia – Conspiratorial Visions in American Films. 2592 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, 2001. Print
The Cold War is a term developed to represent the antagonistic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union between the mid 1940s until the end of the 1990s. The development of tension between these two countries represented two differentiating perspectives on ideological that also impacted the rest of the world. As a result, I believe the Cold War still has an impact on our world today due to the constant issue of the security dilemma as well as the current relations countries have with each other.
In 1945, most of the countries around the world are devastated further to World War II which had stroke the globe for six years. Only the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, also called USSR, seem to be in a stable economic situation despite weighty losses. Both states are considered to be the great winners of the war and this is the beginning of a confrontation between two superpowers but also the confrontation between two distinct ideologies: communism and capitalism.
The story involves Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who, after being ambushed and captured during the Korean war, is brainwashed by Chinese communists and sent back to the United States to assassinate the conservative presidential candidate so a puppet ruler (the vice presidential candidate) can step in and shift the American government towards a communist regime. The initial reaction to The Manchurian Candidate is that of a movie trying to capitalize on the population’s emotions at the time. All of the United States publics’ fears regarding the communist infiltration of america were realized within the film. The brainwashing of a soldier who is part of a prominent political family, described as “the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being” (3), highlight McCarthy’s ideas about political corruption and Soviet influence within the US government. The garden party scene, wherein it is revealed that the films platoon had been successfully “conditioned”, gives the viewer a visual representation of their greatest fear, the corruption of an American to work for the communists.