All Pod People Aren't The Same -The Many Adaptations of The Body Snatchers

Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers, published in 1955, has been adapted four times. Its enduring appeal comes from a mix of paranoia married with the greatest of horrors, being taken over while we sleep. It has been attributed allegorical status for everything from the state of modern marriage to the rise of homeland totalitarianism.

It’s the changing focus of these adaptations that interests me in this paper. Current theories on the approach to adaptations can be helpful but primarily I will explore the artistic choices and production decisions that determined the screenwriters’ choices.

How do the adaptations reflect concerns of their times, are they part of the zeitgeist that created them? What do they use, develop from the source material or totally invent? Most importantly what do changes in the main character tell us about the themes and the period of the different versions?