StoryreaderIdentity in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
November 30th 2006 04:30
The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, as an allegory expressive of the fear of loss of identity is perhaps unsurprisingly preoccupied with identity in its various forms, and the struggle to retain it. In the study guide one definition of science fiction is defined as ‘ ‘the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition… ‘(Suvin qtd in Roberts 7) Cognition deals with our attempts to understand the alien landscape, and estrangement refers to the alienation caused by the novum and its consequences - that is to what “ ‘estranges’ us from the familiar and the everyday.”’ (Fitzsimmons 2002:10). In The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers identity is the thing which causes this disturbing estrangement.
While it is true that identity rather than the alien seed pods is framed as the novum it must be stressed that the identity that functions as the novum is a new (alien) identity, not identity in general or even ordinary individual identity - it is the replacement identity that is positioned as both new and threatening.
The setting of the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is a small sleepy town where everyone knows everyone else by name (and in theory by identity). It is a place where there is nowhere to hide externally. So the invasion is an internal one focusing on that most personal of spaces - the internal space – the identity.
When the protagonist Dr. Miles Bennell returns home he is faced with a bizarre outbreak of people insisting that their nearest and dearest are not actually their nearest and dearest, but unemotional ‘others’. At one point Miles jokingly asks his new found old flame Becky Driscoll if she really is herself. The question has a prophetic ring as one by one the people around them change - loosing their individuality while still retaining their physical identities.
Before they take full form the pod people are all identical. Gradually taking on detail for detail the exact external details – the physical identities of the people they are duplicating. But one thing is left out in the duplication process - the individual identity which is inferred as humanity - in effect reducing the simulations to emotionless drones, mere machines. Or perhaps more accurately mere cogs in a larger machine.
In the beginning of the film the loss of identity hovers as a paranoid misapprehension, a vague collective fear – echoing the McCarthy era paranoia and its perceived dehumanising threat. A fear which it soon becomes apparent was well grounded, but by this point identity or the inner self has become the site of mass colonisation - for most of the characters it has become a lost zone. Then as Miles, Becky and their friends fight for their individuality identity becomes a site of contest. Finally identity in the form of Miles becomes the literal last man or last identity standing against the creeping loss of individuality.
Throughout The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers the concept of identity is closely aligned with the idea of ‘humanity’. It should be noted that there are no psychopaths, social outsiders, misfits or non anglo characters so the image of identity and ‘humanity’ that is presented is a very straight, ‘safe’ conventional ‘normalised’ one.
Identity is shown variously as a symbol of humanity, as a site of colonisation and contest, it is both object and subject in a struggle for control. Identity as humanity is shown as an important part of the social order. The loss of identity (humanity) is implied as being worse than death.
Bibliography:
Fitzsimmons, J. & O’Brien, W. (2002) Science Fiction And Film: Study Guide Central Queensland University: Rockhampton.
Siegel, Don (1956) Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
The setting of the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is a small sleepy town where everyone knows everyone else by name (and in theory by identity). It is a place where there is nowhere to hide externally. So the invasion is an internal one focusing on that most personal of spaces - the internal space – the identity.
When the protagonist Dr. Miles Bennell returns home he is faced with a bizarre outbreak of people insisting that their nearest and dearest are not actually their nearest and dearest, but unemotional ‘others’. At one point Miles jokingly asks his new found old flame Becky Driscoll if she really is herself. The question has a prophetic ring as one by one the people around them change - loosing their individuality while still retaining their physical identities.
In the beginning of the film the loss of identity hovers as a paranoid misapprehension, a vague collective fear – echoing the McCarthy era paranoia and its perceived dehumanising threat. A fear which it soon becomes apparent was well grounded, but by this point identity or the inner self has become the site of mass colonisation - for most of the characters it has become a lost zone. Then as Miles, Becky and their friends fight for their individuality identity becomes a site of contest. Finally identity in the form of Miles becomes the literal last man or last identity standing against the creeping loss of individuality.
Throughout The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers the concept of identity is closely aligned with the idea of ‘humanity’. It should be noted that there are no psychopaths, social outsiders, misfits or non anglo characters so the image of identity and ‘humanity’ that is presented is a very straight, ‘safe’ conventional ‘normalised’ one.
Identity is shown variously as a symbol of humanity, as a site of colonisation and contest, it is both object and subject in a struggle for control. Identity as humanity is shown as an important part of the social order. The loss of identity (humanity) is implied as being worse than death.
Bibliography:
Fitzsimmons, J. & O’Brien, W. (2002) Science Fiction And Film: Study Guide Central Queensland University: Rockhampton.
Siegel, Don (1956) Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
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