MovieChat Forums > Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Discussion > One scene I'm confused about

One scene I'm confused about

posted 9 years ago by malley321
4 replies | jump to latest

When Matthew and Elizabeth are running from the clones, and they round a corner and suddenly stop running. Are the people on the streets (or at least some of them) suppose to be humans or clones? The movie at this point is giving the impression that nearly everyone else are clones, but then why don't the people on the street scream and chase them when they come around the corner, since they are already being chased and could probably hear the screeching behind them? I thought the fact that the clones stop their pursuit after Matthew and Elizabeth round the corner might be because they didn't want to give themselves away to the crowds of still human onlookers on the street. The news guy also still seemed human, he was being very pushy and exciteable. Or are they all supposed to be clones like most everyone else is at this point in the film? Can someone explain?

[–] TopFrog 9 years ago

The movie throws aside logical consistency for this scene. Given that everyone who is cloned assumes a flat affect (with the exception of the Leonard Nimoy character), I'd guess that the characters they interact with on that block are still humans, given their emotional and energetic behavior. If there's some logical reason why a block of strip clubs would be a holdout against the cloning process (or why a cloned steerer for such a club would defy the usual flat affect) the movie doesn't provide it.

[–] malley321 9 years ago

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

You know what I think? I think that strip club is meant to TRAP people. Only a real human would be interested in going in, the pod people had no sex drive, none of them pod men even glanced at the naked Elizabeth at the end.

The sign said FREE ADMISSION. What kind of club would have naked woman on stage and let men in for FREE? its one of those "too good to be true" kind of things.

The pod people probably all KNEW that Matthew and his friends were a liability since they were making so much effort to reveal the "conspiracy". Its possible that a small percentage of the people in the city were still human at this point but were more clueless and not considered a threat so the pods figured they could just let nature take its course with them.

[–] glaeken777 9 years ago

The movie is ultimately toying with us - you're a big city rapidly taken over by pods, so everyone becomes suspect. It's masterful how amped the paranoia is in this film and how subtle it is shown off.

The barker is doing his typical hustle, telling people "You'll feel like a new man!" after seeing the show. While he's excitedly shouting, that isn't the exact same thing as being emotional. I believe he is a pod person, and the irony is his siren song remains unchanged from when he was human.