They Live
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Movie Reviews of They Live
Movie Review: The most beautiful soul of the late 20th century United States....
Summary: 5 Stars
In my opinion , film director John Carpenter may perhaps be the most beautiful soul to emerge on the scene in the latter part of 20th century film production who has been born in the United States that I am aware of , of the many beautiful and not so beautiful souls that enjoyed the period of that recently emerged chapter in the history of lost civilizations.
Now that New America is approaxing , with the old New World Order dying , and the European Union collapsed , it is understandeable that the powers behind consumerism and mass production and capitalist greed , will find it rather difficult to accept the challengers that are coming now who will return numinously to the country , and create a more productive and creative period that will have more to give for people than the things that they have as of present lost. As a viewer of John Carpenter's films , I must say that he is a giver. While George W. Bush may be a decider , and myself a provider , he strikes me particularly as being a giver. It took the entire human race over 2000 years to produce the brilliant mind of creative genius John Carpenter. But it took only a few centuries to create Socrates. While we may have some doupts as to whether or not Socrates existed (he most probably did) , we are 100% certain that John Carpenter does. When I saw They Live for the first time , I loved it. I didn't have to talk much about it because I knew it was going to be talked about anyways and because I had recently as of them decided to construct a philosophy of not talking much with uninterested people about the films I had been watching. Now I can share my enthusiasm for this movie with others and especially those who have come to be known as the reptilian resistance.
The aliens of They Live strike me particularly as being some kind of parasite - carrying bipeds who have been infected by collectivism. It is possible that they could have been infected with something like toxoplasma gondii , explaining their behavior or that they could have been breeded to carry certain genetic memories of aggression , much like as of today's foxes. If you can tell a fox to be aggressive genetically , imagine if you stumbled across a being like this , and you knew they are aggressive , and you could exploit it. That you could turn their civilization it's head on and create two diverse populations - one aggressive , the other one being not so. As John Carpenter puts it; to end capitalism , you have to simply reverse it's unseen commands , and to end capitalist consumerism , you simply have to do the same. Once you know what those commands are , after you have introduced yourself to logic and the study of common sense realism and so on , you can simply reverse them and try to live your life that way - for example by staying awake. I did not violate John Carpenter's right as the author of this production since I decided to use original sentences for my mag which will be used to enhance peoples'senses (much like this film does. Likewise , it took 2000 years to produce Christianity , but one interview with Ernst Zundell for the whole world to hear him say that Jesus didn't have a degree in Christianity. I'd dare say that rather than attempting to remake this film , Hollywood should let John Carpenter produce a sequel - if he becomes interested in producing one. It could be one where one faction of the aliens decides to rebel and aid humanity in fighting back against the other aliens now that everybody is seeing what only a few people could see once........I have felt for some time now that a sequel for They Live is definately a possibility if John Carpenter would be interested in considering it.
For those who oppose the removal of glasses in the remake , I'd like to inform them that in the short story upon which this film is based , Eight O'Clock in the Morning , the aliens are called Fascinators , and are not seen by glasses , but rather detection comes as a result of one person waking up who manages to wake up another one........
Movie Review: They Live, we cheer
Summary: 5 Stars
After spending the last few months expanding my collection of John Carpenter DVDs to the best of my ability without plunging into bankruptcy, I've come to the inevitable conclusion that, despite his inactivity and supposed "downfall" over the last ten years, he is still one of our best (and unfortunately most underrated) directors. With a classic film like "Halloween" on his resume, it's easy to overlook the rest of his films like they could never possibly measure up. Truth be told, what could? "Halloween" was, is, and will forever be the alpha and omega of slasher film horror. That being said, "They Live" is probably one of the best corporate satires of the past twenty years. Made in the latter years of Reagan's eighties, John Carpenter's film, based off the short story titled "Eight in the Morning," is a fun action ride that moonlights as a biting satire of the stranglehold of greed in America.Roddy Piper (how perfect is that?) stars as the man with no name (credited as "Nada" at the end), a drifter who finds work and friendship among a small habitat of homeless dwellers. He's also the man who eventually begins a quest for the truth behind a pair of special sunglasses that reveal the existence of alien lifeforms. Keith David plays the construction worker with a heart of gold who befriends Piper and they have some very interesting conversations.
"It's all a big game. The name of it is 'Getting Through Life.' Everybody's trying to finish first and do you in at the same time. They put you at the starting line and now, here we are: You do what you can, but remember, I wanna do my best, too... blow your a$$ away..."
Piper's laugh in response to David's diatribe about life in economic America might be simple in its form, but shattering in its true meaning. People do try and laugh it off when someone says something they may or may not agree with. Or suppose we just have a different point of view, we would rather laugh and pass it off as understanding than comment with our own opinion; just let the conversation end. Such is the attitude of people at the time. Heck, it still might be.
Half the power of "They Live" lies in its complete, focused attention on inattention. Or our inability to accept reasons for our plight that go outside our views. The fistfight between Piper and David around the one-hour mark in the film is one of the best in cinema (and it's real, I might add, minus the blows to the head). And while it is silly and over the top, there's an honest message in there about how we will fight to be blind to a painful truth. If ignorance is bliss, I will fight Roddy Piper to remain that way.
The aliens in "They Live" serve as a device for the satirical undertones to function. They are also responsible for triggering sequences of shocking intensity, such as when an entire Hooverville of peaceful people is bulldozed to the ground, its inhabitants beaten senseless. Nonetheless, they are the corporate leaders that we all feel like are aliens, peering out at us with their skeletal faces safely behind their podiums. Carpenter sees them as they are meant to be seen, and with some truly awesome matte-designs accompanied with black and white photography, shows us the true messages behind the endless bombardment of advertising we are subjected to each day.
Stay asleep, no independent thought, marry, reproduce, consume, and don't question authority. To quote another Carpenter film, "Welcome to the human race."
Movie Review: Carpenter's Semiotic Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
With inventive storytelling and style, John Carpenter's They Live addresses the issue of media manipulation and semiotic deception. In his film, Carpenter allegorically depicts the power elite as a hostile alien race quartered among us. To these invaders, Earth is analogous to a developing country, another third-world. Humans are cattle, capital goods of flesh and blood. Through the subliminal seduction of electronic media, these aliens control the herd. In fact, their mind control apparatus is so effective that it veils their true appearance. They look just like you and I.
Donning a special pair of sunglasses called the "Hoffman Lens," the film's protagonist pierces the semiotic mirage and glimpses reality. Through the "Hoffman Lens," our hero discerns the brutally honest world of connotative meaning. The super models on billboards, the cigarette ads in magazines, the politicians spewing rhetoric on TV... all are but indexical signs referencing the paradigms of the elite. For instance, the restaurant advertisements, replete with their images of families enjoying high-cholesterol food, reference a single mandate of the ruling class ethos: "CONSUME." Likewise, when observed through the Hoffman Lens, the Great Seal of the dollar bill is replaced by the statement: "THIS IS YOUR GOD."
What is most elucidating, however, is the appearance of the elite when viewed through the Hoffman Lens. They are walking cadavers, the proverbial "whitewashed sepulchers" mentioned by Jesus in the Gospels. Beneath the cosmetically altered exterior is death.
That the chief means of deception is technological in nature is intentional. The word "technology" is derived from the Greek word techne, which means "craft." Moreover, the term "craft" is also associated with witchcraft or Wicca. From the term Wicca, one derives the word wicker. Examining this word a little closer, researcher Michael Hoffman (author of Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare) explains: "The word wicker has many denotations and connotations, one of which is `to bend,' as in the `bending' of reality." This is especially interesting when considering the words of Mark Pesce, co-inventor of Virtual Reality Modeling Language. Pesce writes: "The enduring archetype of techne within the pre-Modern era is magic, of an environment that conforms entirely to the will of being." Through technology, the media creates an environment that conforms entirely to the will of its masters.
The Druid magicians of antiquity used to carry wands, which were made out of "holly wood." Sound familiar? The famous Hollywood sign is but an enormous semiotic marker for an industry that specializes in illusion. Through the alchemical sorcery of electronic media, individual consciousness is immersed within a psychocognitive hive.
They Live exemplifies the underlying theme of broadcast criticism. In one scene, the main character discovers some graffiti that reads: "THEY LIVE, WE SLEEP." Indeed, those who do not engage active critical analysis while viewing electronic media are asleep. Meanwhile, a parasitic elite lives.
Movie Review: A movie so hilariously bad you gotta see it to believe it!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's unbelievable that John Carpenter would come up with excellent films like Halloween or Starman, and he would come up with something so hilariously bad as They Live. And I'm not giving this a one star rating, it deserves a full five stars! This is the kind of film you'd wish was on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (I only wished MST3K had rights to even more films, or wasn't cancelled when it did).
The film was obviously a satire on the yuppie movement of Reagan-era America, this movie having been released in 1988, just as the Reagan-era was coming to an end. Of course, what makes a cheesy movie is to have a WWF wrestler as your main actor. In this case, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who, in the previous year was also in another really hilariously bad film called Hell Comes to Frogtown. Are you disturbed by the widening gap between the rich and the poor? Do you think the yuppies are self-centered, materialistic and status-obsessed? Do you think there's little future for the poor and working class? Wonder why there's so little regard for the environment, or why there seems to be a mass of mindless consumers? Well, in this film, you find out, just by wearing a pair of special sunglasses, which reveals them to be alien zombie yuppies! (I could only imagine if this film was done a decade later, and one puts on those sunglasses while at a Wal-Mart). And when you wear these glasses, you get to see the true meanings behind those billboard signs and advertising ("Obey", "Consume", "No independant thought", etc.). The violence in this movie is the most unbelievable I ever seen in my life, including an extended fistfight (many of them including professional wrestling moves like bodyslams, which is no surprise, given Piper's background in the WWF), and tons of machine guns. You know life couldn't be as easy as this film in knowing who your enemies are. Carpenter wanted a scene where Ronald Reagan was one of them, but he backed on that idea, knowing that would be too controversial. But there was a scene in the health food store where Nada (Piper) was watching the television and there was a politician (that was an alien), who way saying, "It's a New Morning in America" that had Reagan's hairdo, said the same kind of things Reagan would say, but sounded absolutely nothing like him.
Unfortunately the DVD really don't feature anything new if you already own the VHS. There's no outtakes features, no interview with John Carpenter in regards to the film. The only reason you might need this DVD is the convenience of DVD (no having to wait an endless period of time to get it rewound, none of that wear and tear that VHS would have through the years of play, and the scene selection feature making it easy to get to your favorite part).
This is a truly unbelievable film, it really deserves to be seen.
Movie Review: You look like your face fell in the cheese dip back in 1956.
Summary: 5 Stars
Wondering what you world would be like if it were run by aliens that were trying to control your minds through subliminal messaging? Well, look no further than John Carpenter's cult classic They Live. Wresting superstar Roddy Piper stars as Nada, a drifter that stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses that show him the truth about his society and the world he inhabits. He discovers that humans are not the only beings to be living on the planet Earth. Nada also knows what he must do to save the human race from complete invasion of these creatures. Does he have enough time and manpower to stop these culprits of communication or will Nada only help them enslave the human race? It will all teeter on the amount of "bubblegum" that he carries with him!
Visionary director John Carpenter creates this world that is not unlike today's society. Glued to the television and void of independent thought, he shows us a human race that resembles cattle in the fields waiting for the farmer's next decision. Created well before The Matrix, Carpenter uses aliens to demonstrate the power of the media and the superpowers behind the scenes. In a world where we gather our truth from others and in the comfort of our own home, this film carries themes that are still relevant today. Carpenter shows us that we can live in a world, even a city, and not realize what is happening around us. How hidden are those subliminal messages in our culture? He also prods at the notion that only the wealthy can create the supposed truth, and that eventually the lines between wealthy and homeless with be much defined. There will be an elimination of the middle-class and humans would be at the bottom of the social order.
This was a beautiful film that carries with it a heavy burden of showing us the truth of our world. While we may giggle and laugh at this "created" society, there are some truths to what Carpenter is showing. He gives us warnings and answers if we choose to listen. I was not expecting such a high caliber of emotion to go into a film like this, and was utterly surprised by the experience. Perhaps it is the packaging, perhaps it is because our culture has not adapted well to the horror/sci-fi genre yet, but everyone should experience this film once. I recommend it for anyone that enjoyed The Matrix and want to see more about the structure of our society.
Grade: **** out of ****