Have you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?
This month, we’re joined by director Jeremiah Kipp (Slapface, The Geechee Witch), to discuss the great red menace which must be extinguished by any means necessary!
1950s Americana is met with an existential threat in the form of shapeshifting aliens which mean to replace our way of life, our entire way of thinking, in the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956), directed by Don Siegel. But is this threat really a metaphor for Communism, or is it meant to represent Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare? Perhaps the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, or at least that’s somewhat the stance of our second film, THE BLOB (1988), directed by Chuck Russell, itself a remake of another 1950s Cold War metaphor. Of course, this is the 80s, and so Reagan is bound to come up a few times.
From the early days of the Cold War to the final days, how has America’s shifting views of the Soviet Union affected the media we create? Is the greater threat an invading force, or is the call coming from inside the house? Let’s dig into the glorious sci-fi horror, mutts!
00:03:52 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers
00:38:01 - The Blob
00:56:04 - Comparisons
01:08:27 - Bone Reviews
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Follow Jeremiah at:
facebook.com/jeremiah.kipp.5
instagram.com/jeremiah.kipp
And watch Slapface on Shudder:
shudder.com/movies/watch/slapface/5c9da4c647252821
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“Red Scare,” by history.com editors
history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare
“The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America,” by Lorraine Boissoneault
smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-brainwashing-and-how-it-shaped-america-180963400/
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Cover art by Omri Kadim. Theme by Adaam James Levin Areddy. Music featured in this episode: Hostile Planet by Quineas Moreira, Silver Shamrock by White Bat Audio.