They Live (1988)

[MerelyAFan]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/films/theylive.php

A lot to love about this movie, as I always thought the low key soundtrack never got enough credit for really supplementing the film's mood a lot of the time.

[Mecha82]

Ah yes, this classic staring legendary pro-wrestler Roddy"Rowdy"Piper who's fan MMA fighter Ronda Rousey is.

[FaxModem1]

It is kind of sad that the film is a critique of Reaganism and it has been warped by racists as a warning about some sort of Jewish conspiracy, to the point that Carpenter himself had to tweet that, no, it's about yuppies and unrestrained capitalism.

[SFDebris]

I forgot to upload the background video for They Live, it's up now. If you're not seeing it, try ctrl-F5 to refresh the page.

[TGLS]

I forgot to upload the background video for They Live, it's up now. If you're not seeing it, try ctrl-F5 to refresh the page.

Ah, that explains it. I thought I missed it some how.

[Simplicius]

I'm first and foremost a Roddy Piper fan, so I love "They Live". I'll have to give this a look-see.

[bronnt]

I'd call myself a John Carpenter fan, but there are actually John Carpenter fans who are much more in love with his work than I am. For me it's like 4 really great movies, and then some "lesser Carpenter," and then a few bits of trash.

"They Live" is what I think of as a lesser Carpenter film. There's some great dialogue, and memorable moments, and Rowdy Roddy Piper is fantastic in this role, but the story doesn't really capture me. Maybe it's because I'm very much pro-capitalism and the anti-capitalism message just doesn't connect.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I've always just hit f5 in Google Chrome.

[MsSusan21122]

I wonder if this movie inspired the present paranoia where everything anybody doesn't like is an evil master plan of someone's intricate design. And that anyone who isn't paranoid is "in on it".

[King Green]

I think that was the one problem Carpenter tried to put in the film, Socialist control ÷ Role Support + Economic Counter-Development × ? = They Live.

For me and many others who knew well of the 40s and 90s political-socio marinal(personal US Senator term for media-extract) that our current economy like this is mainly due to the massacre of the middle class that was innocently slaughtered by the rich and blamed on the poor for needing too much work. Chuck has a good eye for this issue in the film and an almost right answer, but we still need that middle class to properly distribute the work/socio-pay problem.
Me, I'm a small working class civvie in ny that tries to maintain a 1982 arcade that was close to shutdown by one of Manhattan's most hated councilwoman that wanted to create a minor clinic for exotic pets that required 3-8 years approval because these "pets" were in fact smuggled from Mexico and NKorea to sabotage nyc's heath-economy. Being paid 40$ every hour to walk people's dogs and cats and other petsitting wants. Maintaining that arcade almost literally took my life when that councilwoman tried to shut it down by force the moment she had a fucking warrent, even though I could have paid 900$ to stave off the demolition, she tried to rip apart a breaker switch I was almost repairing by buying 80's old equipment at a local storage-auction.(I was fortunate that I came at the last moment before nyc raised the auction-age bar). Now, the middle class solution/neglection, the "filter" of this would be incredibly valued due the chaotic change to not society but media-economy.

Look at china 450 years ago when they were commanded by local lords to expedition to newer land and conquered "lesser" civilizations for the demand value of exotic and common materials, no one knew what the lord demanded common materials for but the exotics were easy to understand. If you would have to increase the exotic value of let's say platinum you would have to make more common value of lesser valued exotics like gold. Hell, your fat-box tv has 4-onces of gold in the circuitry but selling that would get you to buy small fries at White Castle.

That's the reason why American isn't dying but in fact evolving, but with rushed treatment and blind reading from multiple country trade. If the country what's to grow they have to build their own values by not extorting but in fact re-valuing products to the same country(i.e. Buying iron for 4million dollars and reselling leftover iron for 6million dollars).

Middle class will not be revived in this country's predicament but can if fact use the rich class to filter the poor class of work periods while in fact rotating media-currency to help support socio-economic filtration, in the words of tribal chief Walking-Hourse "Walk, talk, time, all require work, all boys speak. No work for racing a death-line." I know this fact due to a inhuman studies of human nature and oral-tradition. Plus we're drinking buddies, not always with alcohol though?