Invasion of the Spirit-Snatchers
Simply because we had to, Tara and I went to see the film INVASION on Friday night. It is the fourth cinematic incarnation of what is essentially the same story.
The incarnations began in 1956 with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the best of the series because of its originality and the marvelously understated performances of Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, and a pre-Addams Family Carolyn Jones.
In 1978, Philip Kaufman (director of THE RIGHT STUFF, among other fine films) remade INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. This time around, the strong cast included Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, and Pittsburgh’s own Jeff Goldblum. It too was a good film, one that followed the original story but added enough to it to make the remake worth the time and money.
In 1993, the folks in Hollywood felt that another remake was in order. The result was a cinematic hodge-podge called BODY SNATCHERS, featuring Gabrielle Anwar, Forest Whitaker, Meg Tilly, and R. Lee Ermey (!!), all looking as though they were bored out of their skulls. I would encourage you to stay away from this one.
Which brings me to the film that we saw the other night–INVASION. It would be hard for me to recommend the film. It did nothing to justify its existence as a remake, although Nicole Kidman’s performance was certainly worth watching. Her angst-ridden performance, in fact, was easily the best part of the film.
All of the versions focus on essentially the same story: An alien life form invades earth. What makes the story quite unique, however, is that this alien life form does not invade in spaceships or flying saucers. Rather, it invades as a microorganism or, as was the case in INVASION, a virus. Here’s where INVASION’s storyline differs a bit from the original. In the original, the microorganism produced spores that replicated human beings as they slept. The old body would be destroyed and the new creature would have the mind and intelligence of the alien being. In INVASION, the virus simply takes over the mind of the already existing person (so that it’s more like INVASION OF THE MIND SNATCHERS than INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS).
At any rate, the end result is the same in all the films: zombie-like and soulless creatures who disdain all emotion, who champion the eradication of human passion, and who reject any form of individuality as a stumbling block in the way of a cold and analytical uniformity.
These films, then, represent science fiction with a message. The particular nature of the message, of course, could be debated. Back in 1956, however, I wonder how much of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was a cultural commentary on people’s minds and souls being “snatched” either by the identity-consuming political ethos of Communism, on the one hand, or the heart-hardening paranoia of McCarthyism on the other. Having not lived through that time period, I will leave that for other minds to decide.
Personally, I have always been drawn to the spiritual implications of the BODY SNATCHER films more than I have to their political undertones. In fact, as I reflect upon their content, the films provide for me a new vocabulary with which to speak of a condition that I find myself occupying all too frequently—a condition of being “snatched” by things that have no business whatsoever holding dominion over my soul.
I believe wholeheartedly, for example, that the joy of the Lord is my strength. Why, then, am I so prone to allowing my areas of discouragement in ministry to snatch that spirit of joy?
I believe with every fiber of my being that it is my responsibility to allow God to make me a conduit for the transformational love of Jesus Christ. Why, then, am I so vulnerable to that love being snatched by my frustrations with church folk who relentlessly miss the point of the Kingdom?
I believe in the depth of my soul that the ministry of God’s Kingdom deserves my passionate investment. Why, then, am I so willing to surrender my holier passions to the energy-snatching powers of resentment and discouragement?
I wish that I could blame an alien life form for this kind of snatching! But it isn’t that simple, is it? When I describe the circumstances above, I realize that I have moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the realm of the principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. I am speaking, in other words, about spiritual warfare (yikes! I said it!). No scientist will put an end to this kind of spiritual snatching. Rather, the spiritual armor of God is our only defense.
Interestingly, on those days when I find myself “snatched,” I start acting like the snatched people in the films—passionless, joyless, dull, and disconnected. Perhaps that is why I have enjoyed the initial INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS so much over the years. Perhaps I have always known that the film stands as an effective metaphor for the kind of spiritual thievery to which all of us are so thoroughly vulnerable.
I’ve mentioned this quote before in one of my posts, but I’d like to mention it again. Halford Luccock, the great biblical scholar, once said that the most dangerous “ism” facing the contemporary church is not racism, sexism, or even Communism. Rather, according to Luccock, the most dangerous “ism” facing the contemporary church is somnambulism—sleepwalking! People sleepwalking from worship service to worship service, meeting to meeting, workday to workday, with no real vision, no real passion, no sense of freshness and vitality in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
INVASION reminded me of how urgent it is to guard against that kind of spiritual sleepwalking. If I am not intentional about putting on the whole armor of God, I may just find that my soul has been snatched by something unholy. And the aliens will not be to blame.
Good post; food for thought. I “sleepwalk” all too often in my spiritual life!
I also prefer the first “Body Snatchers” film, and have always viewed it as a Cold War, anti-communist parable (kind of the sci-fi counterpart to “High Noon”.)
I haven’t seen the new take yet, but have heard that Nicole Kidman has little to do in the film but look beautiful, which, not surprisingly, she does admirably well. Tonight, I’m watching Errol Flynn’s “Robin Hood” with the wee McIlwains; then, if I’m not too tired, it’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space”.
Eric…I just came out of one of the funks you are talking about. I had been sleepwalking just thinking my mental health ministry was all God wanted me to be doing.
But at Kingdom Bound, God spoke to my heart through one of the artists who said,”Why do we spend so much time trying to convince ourselves that the Word of God doesn’t say what we know it does, and less time reading it to see what it says.”
Now that comment isn’t necessarily profound, but it woke me up to how little time I was spending in the Word…how I was reading books about the Bible, but wasn’t really engaging the text itself.
The result has been a big wake up call. Since I’ve gotten back I have read through Matthew and Galatians with no commentary or guide…just me and God and it has been great.
I felt snatched for awhile by indifference, but God gave me a mighty shake. Thanks for your post. It helped me to process what I’ve just been through.
As far as somanbulism goes…I have it. Because of the sleeping meds I take, I frenquently awake to find myself in a chair, on the floor or even eating cookies with absolutely no idea how I got there. It is really bizarre.
My body and mind have been snatched by an insidious disease known as depression. It has snatched the real me and I’ve been replaced by someone who simply goes through the motions of life, barely, with absolutely no passion for anything. However, there is enough of myself left to do something about it and I’m working on ridding myself of the invasion.
Eric, this is quite a metaphor for what I’ve been dealing with over the past few months, and even more so recently. You never cease to amaze me with how you can take a film and apply a metaphor for life. It’s just this time, the metaphor hits home like it was meant for me. Thanks for more insight into my struggles and for a new way of looking at it. My guardian angel is at work again! THANKS!
Eric,
You speak to areas with which I regularly struggle. It reminds me of something I once heard John Ortberg say: “We Christians love to talk about being saved by grace; we’re not so good at living by grace.” In other words, we’re fine with giving Jesus control of our ultimate destinites, but we let other “forces” determine our choices and emotional responses in daily life.
By the way, when do you have time to see all these movies?!?
Cheers…………………
Jeff
Eric, if I may weigh in:
What we need is a good old fashioned revival!
Seriously, I witness this sleepwalking condition in myself and recognize it in others on a regular basis. It’s called stress. The stress of paying the bills. The stress of getting along with family members and co-workers. The stress of keeping up the right image for the sake of the perceptions of others. I am reminded of the old adage, “Let go and let God”. That’s precisely what we need to do. We need to abandon pretense and half-hearted, going-thru-the-motions behavior. We need to jump up and down and skake off our dusty old souls. We need to shout Hallelujah
from the rooftops and tell the world we love Jesus!
We need a good old fashioned revival. It can be methodic if we insist - but we need to let it all go and give ourselves to God completely! The INVASION OF THE SOUL SNATCHERS has to be stopped! AMEN!