Just posted this in the new world thread but saw the k-pax thread and figured that giving each movie its own thread might be a better idea for clarity and consistency purposes! So deleted from there and reposting here:
"They Live" is a 1988 movie (that I have never even heard of until a few weeks ago) about an average American patriotic guy named Nada that is "down on his luck" financially. He stumbles onto some mysterious activity that leads to a sort of enlightenment on his part. He finds special sun glasses, and when he puts them on, he can see the "real world" so to speak, and that this world is controlled from behind the scenes by aliens who plant subliminal mind control messages in everything from magazines to television and bill boards. Putting on the glasses lets you see the "true" messages in all things, and you can see the aliens themselves disguised as humans walking around as well, who upon dedecting him, start to hunt down Nada and others like him who can also "see". Nobody believes Nada, and he goes through a huge struggle trying to get people to "see" throughout the movie, and joins an underground resistance movement that basically has a whole collection of these glasses.
It reminded me of an analogy for psychopaths more than actual "aliens". Some stuff about the movie was cheesy and a pretty unrealistic and shallow, but nevertheless it presented many truths about our reality that seem to be dead on. I was surprised that such a movie was even made at all, and most of all in 1980's!
Overall I liked the movie, but there were a few things about it that sort of worked against the supposed "message" of the movie.
First, it does not actually go in depth or explain philsophically how the control system actually works and why it works, so those people who don't understand how it could all work are not given any explanation or evidence or reasoning. It just basically says "this is how it is" because the glasses say so, period. Speaking of which, another problem with it is that the truth is not seen by any effort on anyone's part, it's just miraculously revealed by wearing those "magic glasses" - if you didn't have them, you have no hope of ever seeing it. Another issue is that you could just blow up some central control headquarters of the aliens and save the whole world instantly.
It also presents the aliens as entirely a physical phenomenon, and doesn't explain why they walk around with the rest of us David Icke style, as that seems pretty unnecessary and silly for beings of such high technology and intelligence. If you wanna run a zoo, why live in the cage with the monkeys?
Still, I think it's worth watching just for the stuff it does present, and it's probably not meant to be taken literally, but more allegorically anyway. It's more of an exaggeration of reality to make a point, I think, than anything else.
Here is the trailer. (doesn't work on Firefox, worked on Internet Explorer)
And here is a video of a part of the movie where Nada first tries to put on the glasses, and what things he begins to see as a result. This video is how I discovered the movie in the first place, and I highly recommend it!
Oh the above video requires flash, but here is a link directly to the .wmv (windows media player) for those who don't have flash.
"They Live" is a 1988 movie (that I have never even heard of until a few weeks ago) about an average American patriotic guy named Nada that is "down on his luck" financially. He stumbles onto some mysterious activity that leads to a sort of enlightenment on his part. He finds special sun glasses, and when he puts them on, he can see the "real world" so to speak, and that this world is controlled from behind the scenes by aliens who plant subliminal mind control messages in everything from magazines to television and bill boards. Putting on the glasses lets you see the "true" messages in all things, and you can see the aliens themselves disguised as humans walking around as well, who upon dedecting him, start to hunt down Nada and others like him who can also "see". Nobody believes Nada, and he goes through a huge struggle trying to get people to "see" throughout the movie, and joins an underground resistance movement that basically has a whole collection of these glasses.
It reminded me of an analogy for psychopaths more than actual "aliens". Some stuff about the movie was cheesy and a pretty unrealistic and shallow, but nevertheless it presented many truths about our reality that seem to be dead on. I was surprised that such a movie was even made at all, and most of all in 1980's!
Overall I liked the movie, but there were a few things about it that sort of worked against the supposed "message" of the movie.
First, it does not actually go in depth or explain philsophically how the control system actually works and why it works, so those people who don't understand how it could all work are not given any explanation or evidence or reasoning. It just basically says "this is how it is" because the glasses say so, period. Speaking of which, another problem with it is that the truth is not seen by any effort on anyone's part, it's just miraculously revealed by wearing those "magic glasses" - if you didn't have them, you have no hope of ever seeing it. Another issue is that you could just blow up some central control headquarters of the aliens and save the whole world instantly.
It also presents the aliens as entirely a physical phenomenon, and doesn't explain why they walk around with the rest of us David Icke style, as that seems pretty unnecessary and silly for beings of such high technology and intelligence. If you wanna run a zoo, why live in the cage with the monkeys?
Still, I think it's worth watching just for the stuff it does present, and it's probably not meant to be taken literally, but more allegorically anyway. It's more of an exaggeration of reality to make a point, I think, than anything else.
Here is the trailer. (doesn't work on Firefox, worked on Internet Explorer)
And here is a video of a part of the movie where Nada first tries to put on the glasses, and what things he begins to see as a result. This video is how I discovered the movie in the first place, and I highly recommend it!
Oh the above video requires flash, but here is a link directly to the .wmv (windows media player) for those who don't have flash.
