They Live (1988)

[TGLS]

No, no. The twisted version is "I'm here to kick bubblegum and chew ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum!"

[Antiboyscout]

"Mary and Reproduce"

oh my, it seems like John Carpenter didn't really understand the forces behind consumerism and the system.

[JL_Stinger]

I find it interesting that some of the signs are obviously consumerism while others are things like "work 8 hours, play 8 hours, sleep 8 hours." Like that one is essentially what the economic contract is supposed to be.

Likewise, the movie obviously throws shade on the idea of "Obey" (including that one word command among the subliminal messages) but lots of problems we have in the world are specifically because people don't obey.

Frank's reluctance to rock the boat is understandable, and really he shouldn't have to because he can't afford to lose. It's the responsibility of the people above him who can afford to lose to fight the battles people like Frank want to fight but can't afford to fight.

[Rocketboy1313]

"Mary and Reproduce"

oh my, it seems like John Carpenter didn't really understand the forces behind consumerism and the system.

Can you elaborate on this sentence?
I really don't know what you mean by this.

[Kendrakirai]

I find it interesting that some of the signs are obviously consumerism while others are things like "work 8 hours, play 8 hours, sleep 8 hours." Like that one is essentially what the economic contract is supposed to be.

Likewise, the movie obviously throws shade on the idea of "Obey" (including that one word command among the subliminal messages) but lots of problems we have in the world are specifically because people don't obey.

Frank's reluctance to rock the boat is understandable, and really he shouldn't have to because he can't afford to lose. It's the responsibility of the people above him who can afford to lose to fight the battles people like Frank want to fight but can't afford to fight.

The thing is, these conflicting orders could be exactly what’s meant to be. And OBEY suggests that they obey what they’re reading, which could be anything. That’s the thing with subliminals, if you put them in things that people are predisposed to do anyway, they’ll be even more susceptible to it.

Make people who want the work/play/sleep thing will have that reinforced, feeding their disenfranchisement at that not being how things are.

A command to OBEY would have different meanings if it’s on a left wing thing or a right wing.

A species that is in conflict with itself is one that is more easily fooled and controlled. Their efforts are spent distrusting each other rather than some conspiracy theory or other.

[CharlesPhipps]

"Mary and Reproduce"

oh my, it seems like John Carpenter didn't really understand the forces behind consumerism and the system.

It makes more sense in the context of the time where Reaganomics was built around:

* Be outwardly Christian Protestant
* Be very rich
* Be very likely to cheat on your wife.

Gordon Gecko, Donald Trump (whatever happened to that guy?), American Psycho, and Biff being the kind of exemplars that was being satired.

If only there was a word for these people. Some word that combined being uppity with Yes men.

Yesppie?

I find it interesting that some of the signs are obviously consumerism while others are things like "work 8 hours, play 8 hours, sleep 8 hours." Like that one is essentially what the economic contract is supposed to be.

Mind you, the thing is that the system depends on people like Roddy Piper believing in it. The short version of the movie's ethos is basically, "The American Dream is a scam." Specifically, one run by rich (undead alien) assholes to get poor people to spend all their time working for pay in the belief they will eventually get rich doing it and have financial security when they will probably live from paycheck to paycheck then die in debt. Part of the vacation advertisement is that it is designed to get people to spend all their money on expensive vacations that also line their pockets and few people actually enjoy.

What society would look like without the rich parasite aliens is never disclosed but the issue is questioning what they're there for at all--except to drain the life from the poor. The movie does not describe what the better way of doing this is but says, essentially, "Surely there has to be one."

[Antiboyscout]

"Mary and Reproduce"

oh my, it seems like John Carpenter didn't really understand the forces behind consumerism and the system.

It makes more sense in the context of the time where Reaganomics was built around:

* Be outwardly Christian Protestant
* Be very rich
* Be very likely to cheat on your wife.

Gordon Gecko, Donald Trump (whatever happened to that guy?), American Psycho, and Biff being the kind of exemplars that was being satired.

Ah yes, Donald Trump. The man who was a democrat most of his life. Very Protestant

So his beef is with Reagan not with consumerism and the system in general. That's fine, but don't go mixing the two.
You noted the point of a vacation advert is to have people spend money on an ephemeral temporary experience that they may not enjoy. You know how to have more free time and extra money to have more vacations? Not having kids. This is why the demography of most of the western world has collapsed. It was encouraged. This also started in the 60's so even before Reagan was president.

[BBally81]

I love this movie, They Live is a perfect example of how to use whatever resources you have no matter how limited in order to create a quality project.

Roddy Piper's Nada is the follows the reluctant action hero archetype that was popularized by Bruce Willis' John McClane in the Die Hard films, except Nada feels more like the downtrodden every-man than John McClane is. It's a shame that Piper never got a reign as World Champion even when it made sense like his feud with Hogan in WCW when the roles revered with Piper being the heroic face and Hogan being the evil heel (yes I know people use the whole Piper didn't need it or that it's a fake sport argument but still it would have been nice)

But a bigger shame than that was that Piper started to live the part for real near the end of his life to the point that he was a fan and supporter of conspiracy theorist nutjob InfoWar's Alex Jones.

[Rocketboy1313]

You noted the point of a vacation advert is to have people spend money on an ephemeral temporary experience that they may not enjoy. You know how to have more free time and extra money to have more vacations? Not having kids. This is why the demography of most of the western world has collapsed. It was encouraged. This also started in the 60's so even before Reagan was president.

Citation needed.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ah yes, Donald Trump. The man who was a democrat most of his life. Very Protestant

So his beef is with Reagan not with consumerism and the system in general. That's fine, but don't go mixing the two.
You noted the point of a vacation advert is to have people spend money on an ephemeral temporary experience that they may not enjoy. You know how to have more free time and extra money to have more vacations? Not having kids. This is why the demography of most of the western world has collapsed. It was encouraged. This also started in the 60's so even before Reagan was president.

1. Donald Trump claims to be very Protestant. The Democrats of the time were also very much in the WASP mold too. It was not a time of great polarization--when it probably should have been. The Joe Bidens and Ted Kennedys of the time were very much reaching across the floor and vice versa.

and yes, I know the Kennedys were Catholic.

2. And yet vacations are sold as family experiences because they spend more money that way, even when sold as sex. This is actually true.