“They want to do this to you,” “they will get you,” “they are destroying us,” “they are coming for you.” We have heard about “they” a lot in the last few years, and not without merit. There are many “theys” out there, mostly corrupt government(s) exploiting people for their own gain.
But all the talk gets tedious and quickly become an obsessive conspiracy theory. Suddenly, everywhere you turn, it’s “they” who are the main cause of the world’s ills. John Carpenter explores this theme in his film, They Live (1988). But unlike endless political speculation found on the endless feeds of the social media, he takes a creative approach to address an unsettling alienation of the American people.
The film opens with a nameless drifter (credited as Nada, played by Roddy Piper), getting off the train, greeted by the griminess of Los Angeles. He finds a job as a construction worker. Not having a place to live in, he’s invited by a fellow worker, Frank (Keith David) to a make-shift soup kitchen, surrounded by tents. The air of desperation and destitution is thick.
Next to the encampment, there’s a church that appears to have an ongoing sermon. Nada explores it only to find a sermon recording. Clearly, a clandestine operation is in progress. In addition, there’s something strange going on with television signals. In the midst of regular programming, a scientist interrupts the signal, telling people they’ve been brainwashed by aliens who are controlling their minds through television.
Nada’s curious, and after the police raid the church and arrest the dissidents, he finds a box of sunglasses in the building. It turns out these aren’t simple sunglasses but spectacles that illuminate the reality of the world. Nada sees everything in black and white but the truth of the subliminal messaging forces him to understand the situation’s gravity.
Instead of funny advertisements that have subliminal messages, Nada sees words, such as “OBEY,” “CONFORM,” “BUY,” “MARRY AND PROCREATE.” He resolves that something must be done, and alerts his co-worker Frank, but Frank wants to be left alone. He doesn’t want to get involved in any kind of fight. At first, Nada’s asking him to put on the glasses and see for himself but Frank refuses. What ensues is one of the most ridiculous fight scenes in cinema—lasting over five minutes which was rehearsed for three weeks. (Roddy Piper was a professional wrestler and it shows.)
Carpenter meant the film to be a criticism of Reaganomics. Setting aside political agreement or disagreement with Reagan’s policies, Carpenter’s film can be applied to any authoritarian regime, or any symbolic “invasion of the body snatchers.” One of the themes in the film is aliens’ objective in eliminating countries and borders, and creating a world government. We already have that in the form of globalist ideology, espoused by organizations such as World Economic Forum. In one of the film’s scenes, we see the aliens (read: global elite) celebrating their dominion over America: “Our projections show that by the year 2025, not only America but the entire planet will be under the protection and the dominion of this power alliance. The gains have been substantial both for ourselves and for you, the human power elite.”
We’re one year away from 2025, and it’s probably best to not predict anything at all. One thing’s for sure—the elites have been unmasked and for the most part, Americans are aware of the power elites exert. However, at the same time, in the midst of this recognition lies another weakness, substituting one alien with another. One kind of “they” can just as easily become another “they,” especially in the world of mass media that didn’t even exist when Carpenter made this film.
The title comes from the graffiti in the film: “THEY LIVE. WE SLEEP.” It’s not hard to conclude that people’s addiction to the internet and social media have rendered them asleep. We’re all in Plato’s Cave, controlled to fight against each other until there is nothing of the humanity left. Is the resistance useless? Life isn’t that simple, and just as there’s no such thing as perfect freedom, there’s no perfect dominion or slavery. We can imprison ourselves just as easily as some big and nasty regime.
One of the most important elements of They Live is its inherent humor. Nada and Frank’s fight, for example, is filled with absurdity. Dystopian films are generally bereft of sex, eros, and pleasure. Life is usually deadened and sterile for obvious reasons. But Carpenter’s sense of humor changes the dystopian game.
At the end of the film, Nada destroys the satellite signal that was preventing the people from seeing the real messages on television. A TV show host (revealed to be an alien) pontificates about the harm of the media culture: “All the sex and violence on the screen has gone too far for me. I’m fed up with it. Filmmakers like George Romero and John Carpenter have to show some restraint.”
The film cuts to a couple, naked, in the throes of sex, while the television car commercial is blaring in the background: “You’re feeling that V-6 power as you take control.” She’s in control alright, riding the man, until she realizes that she’s in bed with an alien, who simply says, “Hey, what’s wrong, baby?” It’s a purposefully, meta-gratuitous sex scene, and it’s perfection. This is Carpenter’s middle finger to the society that feigns morality. In the end, perhaps even aliens wouldn’t care so much about world domination but about having sex. But sex and violence are often intertwined, and this is the contradiction of the human condition.
