Comparing Invasion of the Body Snatchers and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — Eduqas GCSE Film Studies C670
Eduqas GCSE Film Studies · C670
Comparing Invasion of the Body Snatchers and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Comparison
What you need to know
How science fiction treats the alien in 1956 and 1982: a hidden enemy to be feared and a friend to be protected.
Genre conventions compared: the alien, the scientist and the authorities, spectacle and special effects.
Narrative compared: the frame story and flashback against a linear story, and hopeful and doubtful endings.
Contexts compared: Cold War fears of an enemy within against 1980s suspicion of government, in a low-budget B-movie and a summer blockbuster.
Representation compared: the 'other', authority, children and adults, and gender.
Kept to what the comparison question rewards: points of comparison in genre, narrative, context and representation, each linking an era's context to a specific choice in that film; film form appears only as brief support for a comparison, since each film's form has a lesson of its own.
A plan and model paragraphs for the 20-mark comparison question, with both films given equal weight.
Worked answers with their marks, and practice questions to try, each headed 'Practice question' with its marks.
Quote only short lines of dialogue you're sure of, a few words at a time, and base every point on what happens in the finished film.
