‘They Live (1988)’ is a B-movie that sends out a lot of messages. Director John Carpenter successfully conveys anti-establishment and anti-capitalist ideas through the genres of science fiction and horror. The film’s poor quality and openly shoddy representation of extraterrestrial aliens do not detract from the enjoyment of watching it. In fact, it adds to the cult classic style and attraction of the movie.
The frightening component of ‘They Live’ is not so much the aliens as it is what it signifies and how it resonates now. The audience is taken aback by its current relevance. Find out why Carpenter made such bold assertions and decisions in this film by watching this video. Let us get started talking about this picture, which was based on Ray Nelson’s short tale “Eight Of the clock in the Morning.”
They Control What You See, They Decide What You Hear – They Live (1988)
The film’s protagonist played by Roddy Piper went by the name Nada. He was rarely called upon by his name in the film. Nada in Spanish means ‘nothing’ which is Carpenter’s way of telling the viewer how the society treats the economically weaker section of society. Moreover, casting Roddy Piper who was a professional wrestler at the time was a careful decision made by Carpenter. He wanted a leader who seemed rough around the edges and was a simpleton that becomes enlightened later on.
Nada has moved cities after losing his 10-year job, he comes to Los Angeles. Here too, there are no job openings for someone like him. He crosses a blind Preacher in a black robe who is lecturing people in a park about how ‘They’ have blinded the human race. Nada ignores him entirely. He sleeps on the street that night while through a window in a house, we can see an actress talk about her success and appeal on television.
This is one of many scenes through which Carpenter highlights the stark differences between the elite class and the poor class. Nada finally manages to get himself a job at a construction site and there he meets Frank, who is also a worker there. He takes him to a field that has become a campsite for the homeless.
He introduces Nada to Gilbert who handles odd jobs at the campsite. Frank is vocal about his discontentment with the government and is unhappy about his circumstances while Nada is an optimist who believes in the American dream. He decides to work hard and believes better times will come. But soon the tables turn.
There is one television set on the campsite where everyone gathers. However, a hacker intercepts the broadcast and begins to give the same lecture as the Preacher had done in the park. He states that mankind is blind-sighted and ‘they’ are controlling them for ulterior motives. Everyone on the site brushes this off as a conspiracy theory. Nada notices Gilbert entering the church nearby along with the Preacher just as the broadcast returns to normal.
Curiosity gets the better of him and Nada goes into the church. He walks in to discover a laboratory with a lot of equipment. A few men along with Gilbert can be heard conspiring in the room above him. They talk about interrupting the broadcast for a longer time. The room also had lots of cartons along with a tray full of sunglasses. Nada even sees a painted board that says ‘They Live, We Sleep’. He is caught by the blind Preacher who lets him go saying, ‘one day Nada will join them.’
The police raid the campsite that night and cranes arrive to destroy it entirely. They infiltrate the church as well. While on the run like everyone else, Nada sees the police surround and beat up the Preacher and the broadcast interceptor. He flees and stays away from the church that night.
The next morning, Nada sneaks into the church to find that the lab has been entirely removed. He breaks open a wood cabinet and finds one last carton. Scared to be discovered by the police patrolling outside, he sneaks outside and runs to an isolated area, full of garbage containers. He opens the carton to find it filled with sunglasses. He picks one up while burying the rest of the box in the garbage can.
Nada wears these sunglasses and begins to walk in the city. The sunglasses show him the city in black and white with messages inscribed on every surface possible. The hoardings for technology actually say ‘Obey’ in big black lettering and the advertisement for tourism with a bikini model states ‘Marry and Reproduce’.
The men’s apparel board states ‘No independent thought allowed. Other signs across the city, newspapers, books, and all media say things like – ‘Conform’, ‘Buy’, ‘Consume’, ‘Submit’, ‘Sleep’, and ‘Watch Tv’. Speakers too are transmitting commands. The books all-state ‘do not question authority and money is replaced with the words ‘This is your god’. All of this highlighted how consumerism had begun to govern all human choices.
This subliminal messaging only comes to light if you wear sunglasses. This is a metaphor for truly noticing what your surroundings and the media you consume unwittingly promote. Nada is approached by a man whose head is an ugly skull with bulging eyes. Without the sunglasses, he appears completely human.
As Nada continues to wear these glasses, he begins to see more skull-headed ugly freaks who are dressed as both men and women. Nada begins to realize how his optimistic take was wrong and how things had taken an ugly turn. He notices that TV broadcasters are also skull-headed that are preaching optimism and trust in authorities. A lady next to him in the store is also one such alien.
Nada calls her ‘ugly formaldehyde-faced’. She shrieks and then whispers ‘I’ve got one that can see’ into her watch. Soon all the skull-faced people in the store hear this broadcast and begin to corner Nada. Nada runs out of the store. He begins to get followed by the police. Nada gets his hands on a gun due to an encounter with an alien officer. Nada shoots at him and says ‘They die the same way as we do’. Throughout the film, the alien freaks are not referred to as extra-terrestrial but simply ‘they’.
Nada breaks into other stores to shoot at the aliens but is about to get cornered by the police. He forces a human lady to drive him to her house at gunpoint. Her house is beautifully set portraying the striking difference between residences of the poor and middle class as compared to the affluent.
Nada finds out her name is Holly and that she works at a TV station. He tries to explain the situation to her and he asks her to wear the sunglasses. Nada lets his guard down during this and Holly smashes her glass on his head. He falls out of the window and rolls down a hill. She proceeds to call the cops on him. She notices that his sunglasses are left behind, in her apartment floor.
Nada hides and goes to meet Frank the next morning. Frank by this now already knows Nada is a wanted man and he wants nothing to do with him. So, Nada walks back to the garbage bins to find the remaining sunglasses. It is here the movie makes fun of itself and subverts classic tropes. The garbage truck is on its way out and Nada has to climb on to scrounge through it to recover the sunglasses.
As the truck moves, he falls to the ground. Frank reaches that spot after work, only to give Nada his wages. Nada again attempts to explain the situation to Frank, who outrightly refuses to wear the sunglasses. They get into a brawl, which turns into a fight. This fight sequence goes on for an obnoxious amount of time.
It is nearly six minutes long. Carpenter makes use of Roddy’s wrestler background by making the fight look very realistic. Moreover, the fight appears to end at multiple points but the two get back to it again. It is this playing with the viewer that adds to the charm of this cult classic.
Post this fight, Frank is forced to wear the sunglasses and is convinced to join Nada to help stop this alien infiltration. They both run into Gilbert the next day who had managed to survive. He asks them to come to a meeting with others who are aware of the aliens, to plan the wake-up call, for the world.
They plan to stop the signal of the aliens which maintain their cover. He shows them the watches the aliens have been using to broadcast things to each other as well as teleport. Gilbert tells them how the policemen trying to kill them are predominantly humans, who have either been tricked to believe that they are terrorists or have been bought over by the aliens. Holly enters this meeting saying she might know where the broadcast is transmitted from. Holly had become aware, as she had worn the sunglasses that Nada had left behind.
Right then, a huge blast blows the place apart. The police arrive on the scene and the firing begins. Nada and Frank get cornered by the police and the aliens. Frank then pulls out the watch he had taken from the meeting. He manages to open up a portal for 10 seconds. They drop it into an empty corridor with tunnels. They both try to find the way out when they come upon an extravagant dinner party at the end of a tunnel. This party was attended by both humans and skull-headed aliens.
They enter it to find a human delivering a speech about how an alliance between the rich and the aliens will benefit both parties. Frank and Nada get an agitated hearing this but are approached by the Drifter from the campsite.
He is now dressed in a suit. He presumes they have joined forces with the aliens and gives them a tour. Frank and Nada quietly follow him until they reach behind the stage of the news broadcasting channel. They hold the Drifter at gunpoint and ask him where the signals are sent out from. He tells them it’s on the roof of the news agency.
They break in into the studio and Nada realizes this station is Holly’s workplace. They find Holly and rush towards the roof. Frank and Holly fall behind as Nada reaches the roof. When Holly is alone with Frank on the staircase she shoots him. This betrayal showcases Holly was governed by greed all along.
She had been the one to blow the cover of their meeting area as well. She reaches the roof where Nada is just about to shoot at the source of the signal transmission. The police chopper arrives above them at this moment. Holly asks Nada one last time to join them and come back inside. Nada pretends to agree only to deceive her and shoot her dead. He instantly turns around and shoots at the signal transmitter right before being shot himself by the choppers above.
As Nada dies, we see the veil of ignorance lift and everyone sees the aliens for who they are. They no longer are disguised as humans. The viewers too, see the blue aliens for the first time in color as the glasses showed everything in black and white. The last scene is a testament to Carpenter’s satirical and meta portrayal wherein an alien newscaster is condemning directors like Carpenter and George Romero for showcasing sex and violence on screen.
The scene cuts to this broadcast being played in a room wherein a lady realizes she is having sex with a blue alien. This is in fact the only scene in the film with nudity. This playful nature of Carpenter’s film is what keeps the viewer engaged throughout.
The Blue Aliens
Let’s discuss the antagonists of this film. As mentioned previously, the blue aliens were rarely referred to as aliens but instead were called ‘they’. This was done to establish an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ dynamic quite literally. Moreover, their botched-up appearances were not accidental. Carpenter wanted to avoid showing refined creatures to drive home the symbolism that since they were capturing and corrupting the human consciousness they too should look like corrupted human corpses.
It is also interesting to note how while they were the villains in the film, the betrayal of humans who banded together with them was considered worse. That highlighted the greed of mankind. The aliens were representative of those that misuse their power using forces like media. The viewers were therefore not given any information about their agenda and origin other than their only aim being to conquer human consciousness and make the economic divide larger.
They were after absolute political power and economic power. The blue aliens were simply the vehicle Carpenter chose to criticize consumerism and Reaganomics. He intentionally released the film close to election dates as well. Since it was a small-budget film as well, all blue aliens were majorly played by one stunt coordinator Jeff Imada. Only in scenes with multiple aliens were other people present.
Why should you watch They Live?
On the surface, ‘They Live’ might seem like an outdated movie due to its over-simplistic concept of using sunglasses- to truly see. However, the metaphors the movie presents are now more relevant than ever. To note how Carpenter acknowledges the important role media plays in informing people’s beliefs before the advent of social media is noteworthy. It is for this reason that his work is called transgressive today as well.
He forces people to come out of their complicities and to be aware of their surroundings. His portrayal of ignorance is also nuanced. This can be seen when Nada tells Frank how wearing the sunglasses for long can be painful. This indicated how being aware is not always an easy experience and brings discomfort.
‘The Matrix’ which was released almost a decade after this film is endlessly praised for similar metaphors of blissful ignorance. If you look past the graphics and quality of the footage, this film holds the same philosophical and satirical value.