I watched "The Thing" during the weekend with some friends (Thanks Ramus), and noticed one very interesting parallel that I belive was a direct source of inspiration for Snatcher, specially considering it is a John Carpenter movie.
Simply put:
All controversy begins with DOUBT
Throughout history, suspicion
has always bred conflict.
The real conflict, though,
resides in people's hearts.
This conflict has just begun.
And, besides the "take the host's place" element (which Body Snatchers and this movie share), the Thing is based precisely on the concept of fear and suspicion as the basis for conflict, just as Snatcher does.
What do you guys think?
From the mathematical perspective, consciousness might be regarded as a second derivative of sensation.
-- Terrel Miedaner
You know, i love the thing, and have never realised or thought of any connection between the two, but the points you brought about are very true. At the minute, i cant think of anything else to relate the two, but if i watch it again, which i should, perhaps then i will see some other stuff
I love both The Thing and Snatcher, but to be honest I don't think there's much similarity between them. Of course there's the element of the 'host' and it being nearly impossible to tell the difference between what's human and what's not, but with The Thing it concentrates more on the isolation of the men, all gathered together in a small space, and the mistrust and paranoia that goes on between them, and the gradual mental decline, while with Gillian Seed he's simply tracking them down - and yes, some of the suspects are snatchers and some are not, and there is the feeling that 'anyone could be a snatcher' (although the case is that they usually are not), but I think the two work on very different levels.
Of course, that wasn't really your point and you're right that the concept of fear and suspicion being the basis for conflict is true in both The Thing and Snatcher, but I just wanted to spill my brains a bit. And I'm sure that Bill Lancaster must have had the original 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' in mind when he was writing the screenplay for The Thing, since neither the original 'Thing' or the short story have the paranoia / suspicion element.
Rick Deckard wrote:And I'm sure that Bill Lancaster must have had the original 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' in mind when he was writing the screenplay for The Thing, since neither the original 'Thing' or the short story have the paranoia / suspicion element.
At least in the commentary Carpenter and Russell say they wanted to have more of the original's short story feeling, whose elements weren't the central point of the first piece.
Of course you are right, the focus is different. But I could almost bet that Kojima saw this movie, along with Blade Runner, Dune and Terminator 1 and had to do Snatcher based on elements from all.
EDIT
Here's a link to the original short story "Who Goes There?"
Kojima is a Kurt Rusell fan, who starred in The Thing -- eg. the influence for Snake form Escape from LA,
Also, I'm sure Para-medic talks about The Thing in Snake Eater - as far as I know, the film's she speaks of, eg. James Bond, are movies that Kojima is a fan of.
Therefore, along with Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Blade Runner - it is very much a possibility.
Mr. Seed wrote:
Also, I'm sure Para-medic talks about The Thing in Snake Eater - as far as I know, the film's she speaks of, eg. James Bond, are movies that Kojima is a fan of.
Though I've read in some interview or comentary that those films are not necessarily his favs, just Paramedic's...
From the mathematical perspective, consciousness might be regarded as a second derivative of sensation.
-- Terrel Miedaner
Is that right? Well that maybe so, but from what I know of Kojima and his likings (which is admittantly little) movies such as Godzilla, King Kong, War of the Worlds, The Thing, Sherlock Holmes, the Bond movies - these are all Kojima's inspiration... some one had to create a database of Para-medics likes and dislikes. But in either case - The Thing is a reference point I would assume.