Different versions have different political backgrounds:
1956 version - The political background is the white terror of McCarthyism.
The 1956 edition was the era of McCarthyism. Americans' fear of Communist infiltration created the McCarthy Commission's white terror of persecuting suspected communist spies. Those alien pods who pretend to be human have aroused the audience's fear of the Communist Party; however, those fake human beings who persecute normal people have insinuated the white terror of McCarthyism.
1978 Edition - Watergate Raises Distrust
The setting for the 1978 edition is no longer McCarthyism, but America after the Vietnam War and Watergate. At that time, the entire country of the United States was divided and distrusted because of the Watergate scandal. Those pods create distrust, deceived humans suffer, and those who are not deceived find themselves in a world where no one can be trusted. (By the way, the ending of the 1978 version is one of the famous unexpected endings in the history of cinema.) The
1993 version - not ideal at the box office, when the
1993 version was painted in the United States of peace and prosperity, it can be said to be the most peaceful and windless in the United States. Waveless era. By then, the Soviet Union had disintegrated and the United States had defeated Iraq in the first Gulf War. There is no political message in the film, at most it points out that the army emphasizes obedience, which is actually very similar to the world of pods. This version was not a blockbuster at all and was seen as something close to a B-movie.
2007 Edition (The Invasion) - No Fear, No More Resonance
When the 2007 edition was released, there was no major political and military crisis.
When the story of the pod people's invasion of the earth is not supported by a political background, it will be difficult for the audience to resonate, and it is destined not to sell well. The fear in the minds of Americans in this day and age is Islamic terrorists, but their Arab appearance is easily recognizable and does not fit the story of alien infiltration.
This version is not without political messages - human beings will kill each other (examples in the film are the US invasion of Iraq, the conflict between India and Pakistan, etc.), and if they are assimilated by alien creatures, they will achieve peace. This peace, however, sacrifices human free will.
However, this political message has nothing to do with the infiltration of aliens, and is very powerless, making this classic story an ordinary sci-fi film.
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