The Truth Behind Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Imagine waking up one day, your child, spose, mother, and father--everyone you know replaced by identical copies. Only you know they are different, and no one will believe you. This is the plot of Jack Finley's 1954 novel The Body Snatchers. It’s also a real world psychological condition.

Body Snatchers (and the film Invasion of the body Snatchers) is about a town whose citizens systemically disappear before being replaced by identical pod people. These replicas have the same physical characteristics, personalities, and memories as their original recipe counterparts. Eventually the remaining humans find some significant differences and send those aliens packing in true post war fashion. In the beginning, however, the aliens mostly fit in. Only their loved ones could tell something was off.

In chapter one of the book, Doctor Miles is told Wilma believes her Uncle Ira has been replaced by an impostor. After confirming “Every little move, everything about him is exactly like Ira’s”, Doctor Miles decides to talk to Wilma herself. On page 19 Wilma explains:

“Miles, he looks, sounds, acts, and remembers exactly like Ira. On the outside. But inside he’s different. His responses aren’t emotionally right. ....there’s something missing, and the same thing is true of Aunt Aleda, lately.”

Wilma's story is a textbook example of the psychological disorder known as Capgras Syndrome. According to Healthline:

“Capgras syndrome is a psychological condition. It’s also known as “imposter syndrome” or “Capgras delusion.” People who experience this syndrome will have an irrational belief that someone they know or recognize has been replaced by an imposter. They may, for example, accuse a spouse of being an imposter of their actual spouse. This can be upsetting for both the person experiencing the delusion and the person who is accused of being an imposter.”

Unfortunately for Wilma, none of the doctors had heard about Capgras. One of them even suggested a good old fashioned bleeding might help her out.

 

Body Snatchers is a pretty terrible book, yet the description of what Wilma was going through is so spot on, one can only assume Jack Finley knew somebody afflicted with Capgras Syndrome. He probably had no idea what the cause of the delusion was, but was inspired to write a story where people really got replaced by impostors. Mental health awareness has come a long way since the 1950's, but we still aren't where we need to be. If you’re interested in learning more about Capgras Syndrome, please check out this TED talk. It's how I was originally able to learn about Capgras.

Thank you for reading. This is a new website so please consider sharing or telling a friend. If you enjoyed post this please check out my post on The Walking Dead. 

You can find me @ChefCinephile on twitter.

The Philosophy of "The Walking Dead" Comics

Having never gotten into The Walking Dead franchise previously, I decided to give the comics a read. Two weeks and 48 issues later, I really enjoy the series thus far. Surprisingly, to me, I found the comic isn’t actually about zombies. Sure, the zombies are there (in all their horrific glory), but the comic is about people reacting to a crisis situation. The zombies represent an ongoing threat. The continual pressure on the human characters forces them into a position where society can never be normal again. 

***FULL SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ISSUES 1-48 of A 20 YEAR OLD COMIC***

(But please give the comics a read, if you haven’t already)

Protagonist, Sheriff Rick Grimes begins the series as a very morally upright citizen of the law. He upholds human values as much as possible, and seems to believe people are basically good. He steals abandoned goods for survival, but would never do anything to harm a living person. Rick’s good nature almost cost him his life when his best friend Shane decided he needed Rick out of the way. Rick, never expecting his best friend to act that way, would have died if not for the intervention of his son. 

A few months later, the convicts decided Rick and his people needed to leave their prison, leaving the relative safety of the prison could mean death. When nearby undead cause a distraction, Rick sees his opportunity and kills the lead prisoner. A few months after that, Rick sneaks away from his tribe, runs over a man, and leaves him to be eaten. Again he acts with the intention of protecting his people, but this time, Rick doesn’t feel bad about it. This time the person he killed isn’t an ex con, but somebody trying to look after his own people. Both time’s Rick kills he lies about it, knowing the others wouldn’t be so quick to give up their morals. 

Rick Grimes, at the beginning of the story, represents the best humanity has to offer. His rapid corruption is a commentary on the dangers of power. Every time Rick makes a compromise, every time he does something morally questionable--he does it in the name of protecting his people, the greater good. Rick fully believes his behavior is necessary, but knows his friends wouldn’t be so convinced. He makes those hard decisions, often acting alone. All in the name of his people. 

The Governor, in The Walking Dead, exists as a dark reflection of Rick. The governor does many obviously evil things, and the Governor justifies his own actions. This is where Rick’s behavior ultimately leads. Being forced to make amoral decisions, wears a person down. Eventually anybody would lose sight over basic moral principles. 

If you believe the rapid fall of Rick is improbable, look no further than the Stanford Prison Experiment. This social experiment saw students randomly assigned to play the part of prisoner or guard in a mock prison. After only a few days the guards were horribly abusing the prisoners. Keep in mind, they weren’t real  prisoners or guards. They were all students from the same school. Afterwards, in an interview, the students who played the guard insisted they weren’t bad people. I believe they weren’t. Anybody who finds themself with unchecked power will too soon lose sight of morals. The prison experiment was abandoned after only 6 days. 

Nobody questions the Governor. His followers have a cult like belief in him and follow his every whim. Rick, on the other hand, has friends who keep him in check. When his friends find out that he murdered a prisoner, they quickly decide the weight of leadership is too much for one man, and they establish a committee. The committee seems to help him regain some of his humanity, but he still manages to run another man over. Perhaps, Rick Grimes is already too far gone. 

If you enjoyed reading this, please check out my article on Dead Space or Invasion of the Body Snatchers 

You can find me @ChefCinephile on twitter.

Dead Space: A Dead Franchise

With Halloween right around the corner I decided it was high time to revisit the Dead Space franchise. I loved the first game; but, for some reason I neglected to play any of the other ones. I dusted off my PS3, popped in a copy of Dead Space 2, turned off all the lights, and prepared to be scared. I never expected to be so damn frustrated. 

It wouldn’t be so frustrating if the game's highs weren’t so high. The beautiful environments, the ambient storytelling, the ominous sound design, the palpable sense of dread. I loved the space walks. I loved sections where I had to slowly make my way down a dark corridor.  Unfortunately, these creepy elements only seem to exist as a bridge to more action heavy set pieces. Often the scary sections were rarely challenging, and the hard sections were rarely fun. 

Most of the times I died, it felt cheap or unavoidable: I missed a QTE,  got sucked out an airlock, or was one shotted by a boss. As the game went on, encountering waves of enemies in a single room became commonplace. Imagine trying to manage your limited ammo and life only for an enemy to spawn from behind and kill you. Eventually, I lowered the difficulty just to see the rest of the story, and beautiful environments, but I still lost interest as the frequency of action set pieces increased. 

I was looking back at the first game with rose tinted glasses. The first game still had a lot of the same issues, but I remembered all of the good things instead. The Dead Space games suffer from an identity crisis. A foot in both horror and action. The games kept leaning more towards action as they went on, and they suffered for it. One game that found a better balance was the more recent Alien Isolation which still had action heavy sections, but they rarely felt as unfair. The Dead Space franchise could rise again, but it would need to dismember its action heavy arm, and commit to being more of a horror game. 

Pleas check out my article on the rise of free to play games or the Walking Dead

Also you can find me @ChefCinephile on twitter.