The beauty of science fiction is how cleverly it can hide scathing criticisms of society’s ills and biting satire in plain view. Visionaries like Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling tackled racism, for example, in Star Trek: The Original Series and The Twilight Zone, respectively, through episodes that bypassed the censors of the day, with the message hidden beneath their sci-fi exterior. Others, like Minority Report, are almost chillingly prescient, featuring technologies and events that come to pass well after the movie has abandoned theater screens. And some do both, as is the case with John Carpenter‘s They Live, a film that throws a critical eye at social hierarchy and foreshadows a world where people are subliminally guided about where to go and what to do in the guise of a beloved cult classic, one that is frighteningly relevant today.
There’s a Growing Economic Inequality in ‘They Live’
The movie centers on Nada (WWE legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper), a homeless man who arrives in Los Angeles looking for work. He is befriended on a construction site by a coworker, Frank (Keith David), who invites him to live in a shantytown near a church. He inadvertently comes into contact with a pair of sunglasses that, upon wearing them, reveal a terrifying truth: aliens live among them, and are keeping humans compliant with a constant barrage of subliminal messaging. As a result, They Live is, for all intents and purposes, two different films: one that highlights the ever-expanding chasm between the haves and the have-nots (Carpenter himself called it a “documentary”), and the other a sci-fi theory of why it exists.
The former paints an ugly picture of the realities facing the homeless. Despite being a hard worker, Nada can’t escape homelessness, nor can Frank, who seemingly has been in the situation even longer. And the little that they do have is destroyed in police raids that raze the shantytown to the ground. The homeless have little choice but to try again, thus creating an inescapable vicious circle. Furthermore, the police have few reservations about brutalizing them, adding a physical toll to what is already a taxing life. They are literally nobodies, accentuated by Piper’s character being called “Nada,” Spanish for “nothing.”
Despite the middle class actually earning more than ever before, the cost of living has risen just as substantially, forcing situations normally attributable to the lower class upon them, i.e., an 1800% surge in food bank demand. Meanwhile, the rich are indeed getting richer, and those who play the game stand to benefit the most. It’s something that Carpenter references in the film as wealthy, human elites, those who “sold their soul” to work with the aliens for massive rewards.
‘They Live’ Is a Modern-Day Allegory
But why is it that such inequality exists, and why isn’t there a greater uproar about it? Ladies and gentlemen, here’s where Carpenter gets scary relevant. In the film, the bug-eyed aliens thrive under human facades thanks to a signal that hides the reality from humans. In that reality, every form of media is rife with subliminal messaging: Obey; Consume; Stay Asleep; Conform; Watch TV; and so on. People are kept compliant and uncombative, while the aliens gradually deplete Earth’s resources for their own gain, slowly transforming the atmosphere to be like their own through global warming. And again, those who know what is going on, but are okay with it, are rewarded greatly.
Subliminal messaging has long been a fear, despite questions surrounding its effectiveness, and the timing of the film fits in with the “Satanic panic” that was rampant throughout the United States, with conservatives blaming music, movies, and games for a speculative uptick in occult dabbling. Carpenter played on the idea, using it as the primary means of keeping humans docile, “like cattle.” Only Carpenter may have been well ahead of his time.
Why the Six-Minute Alley Fight from John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ Is Still One of Film’s Best Brawls
The scene could be shown to film classes as a mini-lesson in escalating action.
If we apply They Live to today, the aliens could be seen as an allegory for AI. Think about it. The most innocuous of Google searches will prompt a sudden onslaught of media and advertising related to the same. Adding a like to a social media post all but ensures posts of similar content pop up on one’s TikTok or Facebook feed. The AI algorithms that work behind the scenes offer up suggestions, like “if you watched this, you’ll love this,” designed to lure you in to content — film, music, etc. — that keeps you sated with content it knows you already like, as opposed to challenging or broadening your horizons. It’s arguably why there’s so much division today: those on either side of the political spectrum see content that supports their point of view, effectively radicalizing their position. Perhaps it’s not so crazy to think that the aliens are just sitting back, watching the fireworks as they bleed our planet dry.