MovieChat Forums > Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Discussion > Question about the pods

Question about the pods

posted 9 years ago by t-bone_2003
5 replies | jump to latest

One thing I never could quite understand is whether your consciousness transfers over when you are replaced. I realize that they clone you with everything being the same except for emotion, but if you are turned what's the experience like for the person being replaced? Would they just go to sleep, and just sort of wake up in this new body without feeling emotion? Or do you really just die and the clone takes your place?

The movie seems to give contradictory information on this. The clones go out of their way to tell humans that there will be no pain, and you'll be a "new and improved" person. Leonard Nimoy's character refers to it as simply "evolving". But then Donald Sutherland's character says that that they're killing him.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

1. I think they left it ambiguous on purpose, maybe they wanted us to experience it from the perspective of the (human) characters and since they do not know neither do we. There was a debate here a while back about whether or not its "death" in the classic sense or if your consciousness just transfers. I see no reason why Dr. Kibner would not lie to them though if doing so could calm them down and make the whole thing easier on everyone.

2. To be honest actually DYING when getting body snatched would be BETTER. I would rather be dead than be unable to feel emotion for the rest of my life. Losing permanently your ability to feel emotions would take away all of what makes life worth living, so if the story had established as canon that you do not actually die but just change it to me would have been EVEN SCARIER.

[–] Binkconn 9 years ago

All the person's memories are transferred to the plant (clone) body, but the emotions are left to disintegrate in the original body.

[–] Cult_of_Kibner 9 years ago

The way I interpret it is that the original person simply dies and the "copy" comes to life with a "copy" of the victim's memories and knowledge, so from the pod person's point of view it's more like a reawakening than a birth. At the same time Kibner's dialogue also implies they have instinctive knowledge or memory of their history as alien lifeforms, so it's really a hybrid intelligence.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

It's weird to think that if you are a child and your parents get snatched you are technically an orphan though you might not know it immediately and if you are a husband and your wife gets snatched you are technically a widow but might not know, kind of odd.

[–] nubyan 9 years ago

I feel that both Nimoy and Sutherland are correct. Death can happen without pain in a very peaceful and calm manner.

My understanding of the pods is that the human body dies and within that same space and time the memories of the person is the only tangible part of the former human that is transferred to the pod alien.