Movie director John Carpenter made a movie called, "They Live" back in 1988...

[MrScorpio]

The premise was simple; humanity had been conquered by a hidden race of capitalistic space aliens and were using mind control machines to hide the fact of their control of our society. They inserted subliminal messages into all media; billboards, magazines, TV and the like which impelled human beings to reproduce, work as wage slaves, consume and worship the very aliens who had enslaved us.

The aliens, in turn, took the best that society had to offer. They put humanity into a dreamlike state, convincing us that it was our fault that we were either poor or to blame for not being wealthy ourselves.

The Aliens also recruited some humans as partners. For their betrayal of humanity, they were also made rich and powerful. Yep, everyone has their price.

Mitt Romney reminds me of Carpenter's aliens. The way that Republicans persuade regular folks to vote for them and against the best interests of all Americans, in order to set up and support the super-rich few, is the same way that the Aliens persuaded the many to worship their leadership.

When I first saw it, I regarded that flick as just entertaining science fiction.

But I now believe that John Carpenter's movie, "They Live," was in fact a documentary. And one thing for sure, you can't convince me AT ALL that Mitt Romney himself doesn't act like some creature from another planet.

There's something really off about that guy.

[ZombieHorde]

1. While I don't believe in a literal interpration of the movie, I have loved that movie

since I was a kid.

[Zalatix]

23. If the GOP were aliens then Carpenter's story would be quite literally a documentary.

What's scarier is that they're not.

[nanabugg]

38. They are aliens and it is a documentary. nt

[KakistocracyHater]

46. yes, lots of people love this film & see something in it

that parallels today in many ways. who knew that parallel had only 1 l at the end?

[arcane1]

2. Love that movie... it also has cinema's greatest fist-fight :)

[TeamPooka]

10. best on screen fight ever

i can watch that all day long.

[SheilaT]

13. The fight lasts about twenty minutes longer than it should.

Seriously, I don't know what the actual running time of the fight is but it's much too long. I've fast-forwarded through it and it STILL takes forever.

Other than that, it's an extremely good movie, one more people should see. The original story it's based on is rather different, even creepier and more effective, for my money. But it's not as easy to find as the movie.

[arcane1]

21. Ah yes, "Eight O'Clock in the Morning"

I liked how the original story left it kind of open (as I recall) as to whether what he was seeing is real or hallucination.

[TalkingDog]

44. From what I've read the long fight was an intentional joke

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper was a professional wrestler back in the day. And fights were staged and clean and over sometimes in seconds.

From my recollection of his discussion on the subject, he asked John Carpenter if they could make the fight scene as realistic as possible. No fancy moves, no flash, just two guys trying to wear each other down.

Carpenter agreed. And hence the best fight scene in history of B movies was born.

[KakistocracyHater]

47. I thought it was 2 knuckle heads fighting wasting

valuable time-just put the damn glasses on already!

[derby378]

14. I consider it the most POINTLESS fist-fight ever, too

You're gonna beat up a guy because he wants you to put on a pair of sunglasses?

I like how South Park handled the fight a lot better.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. "Put!..The!..Glasses!... ON!"

[The Magistrate]

3. A Favorite Movie, Sir --- And Not Nearly Such Fun To Watch As It Used To Be....

"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble-gum, and I'm all out of bubble-gum!"

[Life Long Dem]

4. Someone has one of Bush with the glasses

[BlueJazz]

7. The first time I saw it, I thought "Geez, for a low-budget film it's damn interesting!"

[TalkingDog]

45. Carpenter is one of my favorite film makers. He can whip out a highbrow low budget

film like nobody's business

[villager]

5. Way ahead of its time, coming out in the somnabulent Reagan era.

Loved the scene where the protag puts on the specs that reveal all, and says "I always knew it was something like this!"

We always have, haven't we?

[freshwest]

26. Or at least it is a comforting thought. Terrifying to think they are part of us.

[villager]

27. Well, indeed. Because we allow the "programming" to happen

Not sure how comforting it is, though?

I think the metaphor holds though, when considering the current architects of society have interests antithetical to the rest of ours....

[Huey P. Long]

6. They Live trailer

=

Greatest Scenes In Film: They Live - Sunglasses

Greatest Scenes in Film presents:
John Carpenter's They Live - the scene where Roddy Piper first puts on the sunglasses and realizes there is more to the world than meets the eye. He's there to chew bubble-gum and kick some ass; and he's all out of bubble-gum. Enjoy!

[localroger]

19. I did not know until now that that line didn't orignate with Duke Nukem 3D

Must Netflix.

[HiPointDem]

8. great movie. first time i saw it it gave me a metaphor for what i was sensing about how the

world works.

[KurtNYC]

9. Required viewing

Makes me wish that films today had something to say. They don't.

Sci-fi is a great medium for social commentary.

[Drunken Irishman]

29. So is horror...

I know we like to think of horror as just blood and guts, but a great deal of horror also throws in some social commentary, as well - like Dawn of the Dead. Or hell, Night of the Living Dead. All great examples.

[KurtNYC]

53. a friend of mine wrote for Freddie's Nightmares

He also wrote "Trick or Treat" and some other horror films. He used to argue with us that horror films were basically morality tales or something like Greek tragedies were justice is supernatural.

[msanthrope]

11. I love that movie!!! nt

[murielm99]

12. I got that from Netflix recently.

My husband had never seen it. Great movie!

[Taverner]

15. Love that flick

[young_at_heart]

16. I don't think he's an alien, but his constant "Stepford Smile" is creepy

You hardly ever see him without that stupid-looking smile on his face. It seems forced and unnatural.

[freshwest]

17. If this clip isn't an example of the soul of a Republican, nothing is:

The guy with the bow tie is the epitome of every one of these GOP money grubbing bastards.

It seems the entertainment industry is a product of the PTB giving us tantalizing hints, but no clear information to work on. So much of what they put out, like the Terminator bogey, Skynet, with armed drones, is coming to pass.

Zappa talked about how we don't know what's driving our lives in this world, ending with: 'The planet is open for business.'

Always reminds me of They Live. I think there have been others who said we are living in a dream that we can never wake up from. But we can change the way it goes. Okay, enough.

[Huey P. Long]

22. There you go again, limiting it to the GOP. -eom

[ThoughtCriminal]

18. I am SO out of bubble gum!

Who needs sunglasses when there's DU.

[sendero]

20. I have a .

... don't laugh, VHS tape of that movie. It's really pretty good, and for it's time pretty prescient.

Whether the present crop of exploiters is actually from another planet is moot, the end result is the same.

[freshwest]

25. Agreed. Unless 'we are they' and 'they are we,' LOL.

[rox63]

24. Always liked that movie

And I can definitely see Mittens as one of the aliens.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Cinemax is airing this movie

the week after this-coming week (on 7/1 and 7/3)

[Catch2.2]

30. One of the best quotes evah!

"I'm just here to chew some bubble gum & kick some ass. Looks like I'm all out of bubble gum!"

[Broken_Hero]

32. Great movie,

picked it up about a month ago on DVD.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

33. You don't need to remove the glasses to see this bug-eyed monster.

[Blue Owl]

41. IT LIVES!

The horror, the horror....

[Laelth]

34. Awful soundtrack. Good movie. Cult classic. n/t

-Laelth

[craigmatic]

35. I love that movie and the fact that all the aliens in the movie were republicans.

[felix_numinous]

36. This is the Zombie Age

for Republicans--never before have they had such brain dead policies, and members.

[Bucky]

37. my favorite still from They Live

[HarveyDarkey]

39. The whole movie is on You Tube

[Johonny]

50. Pipper's finest moment as an actor!

[raccoon]

40. Great movie, that I don't think got/gets the attention it deserves. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. lol. I saw that movie a few years ago.

[cascadiance]

43. That movie inspired me to make a photoshop some years back earlier...

[KakistocracyHater]

48. there's another film "Looker" showing how ads can

brainwash people, & in it they use a light "gun" to pacify the viewers. talked about the cgi replacement of actors, the power of propaganda. Susan Day is in it

[scarletwoman]

49. It's a pretty prescient movie. I was really quite amazed when I first saw it.

I'd never heard of it - just totally missed noticing it when it was released. The first I ever saw it was about 8 or 9 years ago, when one of the local TV stations ran it for their weekend afternoon movie. Blew my mind!

[TransitJohn]

51. Favorite Line: "It figures it'd be something like this."

Also, yeah, best fight ever.

[Zorra]

52. My favorite cult classic. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

54. Full tag line, oh so important- "We Sleep. They Live."

Another promotional tag line for the film was "
You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong."