Mar 2
Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
TicketsJenny VanWyk
Assistant Professor of Ecology and Global Change, Hampshire College
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)— Rooted in Science: How We Understood Plant Sentience in the 1970s Versus Today
Program Description
In the early 1970s, a plant craze spread in popular culture. It was a transformative period in botanical research as scientists actively pushed the boundaries of how plants respond to the world around them. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) came out on the heels of the best-selling book The Secret Life of Plants, which challenged conventional science and blurred the line between science and pseudoscience, ultimately contributing to a decades-long pause in research on plant sensing and behavior. Fifty years later, this talk revisits that history and highlights how new research is updating and refining our understanding of the science behind plant sentience.
Film Synopsis
In San Francisco, a group of people discover the human race is being replaced, one by one, with clones devoid of emotion.
Spores rain forth from outer space over San Francisco, and soon strange flowers begin popping up all over the city. After bringing one of these hybrid specimens home with her one night, biologist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) notices that her boyfriend (Art Hindle) doesn’t seem like himself. Her friend and coworker Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) dismisses her concerns at first, but begins to worry as more people report similar observations. His fears are confirmed when writer Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife (Veronica Cartwright) discover a mutated corpse. Besieged by an invisible enemy, Bennell must work quickly before the city is consumed. Based on the novel by Jack Finney, this 1978 film is a remake of the 1956 sci-fi thriller.
About the Speaker
Jenny VanWyk is a community ecologist and botanist. Her research addresses factors that govern community dynamics for native bee populations, including disease transmission, plant-pollinator networks, environmental stressors, and community response to human disturbances. Her research focuses on how plant and insect traits mediate species interactions, and how these interactions—both mutualistic and antagonistic—affect population dynamics and broader ecological outcomes. Jenny obtained her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis and completed her postdoctoral work at UMass Amherst. In her spare time, she grows plants that take over her greenhouse and gardens at home.