They Live (97 minutes)

I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.

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The first time I saw They Live, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) was hosting a John Carpenter retrospective and I was carried along by an ex. (I hate to give him credit but, credit is due where it’s due.) I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a single empty seat in the entire theater. Not one! It felt like walking into a clubhouse and the audience was buzzing! They became even more electric as the film rolled. They were in their element. It was like seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show without the costumes and rice. The crowd really cared about this silly but politically pointed sci-fi flick and I was swept right up into the wave. A wave I am still riding.

Written and directed by John Carpenter, They Live follows a drifter named Nada (Roddy Piper) as he arrives in a new city looking for construction work. After securing work thanks to Frank (Keith David), a fellow resident of a transient camp town, Nada’s natural curiosity leads him to the discovery of a secret resistance group and sunglasses that allow him to see reality. And reality is the fact that humans are under constant and persistent mind control by aliens who mask our world. Underneath all of the advertisements, newspapers, and even food at the grocery store are messages like “OBEY”, “CONSUME”, and “CONFORM”. In this world, our media-rich and consumer-heavy culture isn’t our doing, but the creation of powerful beings that want to enslave us. After recruiting Frank and discovering that the aliens have recruited elite upper-class humans to maintain the status quo, Nada aligns with the resistance group to bring freedom to the rest of the human race. 

They Live was first given a lukewarm reception by critics and did just “ok” at the box office. Still, like most films I write about here, it went on to become a cult favorite picking up better reviews over the years, and is now regarded as one of the greatest film criticisms of the Reagan era. It’s funny now to read some of the negative reviews that peg the movie as too light and silly to have any real social commentary. But at the end of the day, film is art for the masses and is more often interpreted than books, paintings, or theater. Forgetting that the art you’re critiquing is for the enjoyment of many, not the few, is one of the biggest mistakes a critic can make. 

And yes, I do agree They Live is simplistic in many ways and could have probably benefitted greatly from a MacGuffin, but the following key elements redeem it: Roddy Piper’s performance, the switching between color and black and white, and visual appearance of the alien overlords. Roddy Piper passed away about a decade ago, but I still wish he had the acting career he deserved. Like his contemporary Hulk Hogan and The Rock after him, Roddy started as a professional wrestler in the WWF (now WWE). Unlike Hogan and The Rock, Piper never quite became a household name beyond his wrestling fans and a few of us film weirdos out there. 

Piper plays Nada subtly. Nada is a working-class man after all. While Piper himself is in peak physical condition, he’s in a simple flannel and jeans for most of the movie. He is never flexed and oiled like a Schwarzenegger or Stallone. He is egoless and genuine but not without star power. Have you ever heard the line, “I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and I’m all out of bubblegum?” Piper adlibbed that on set. He’s an icon in his own right, and to watch him in They Live is to watch someone who truly enjoys what they do. Carpenter does allow Piper’s fans to get what they come for with a seven-minute fight between him and Keith David. This fight has been recreated in pop culture, most notably in South Park and Family Guy.

Actually… this movie has impacted culture more than you may know. If you’re familiar with the streetwear brand OBEY then I’ll make a connection for you: it was inspired by the mind control signs in They Live. Brand creator Shepard Fairey used the signs as inspiration for an art piece he did while at RISD which would ultimately inspire a new generation and launch the clothing brand that still exists today. They Live’s anti-capitalist message may have been “too early” for most people when the film was released, but it has only continued to resonate with more and more people as capitalism’s cracks only grow. 

Carpenter switches between shooting the film in color, to represent unreality, and black and white, to represent reality. The special sunglasses Nada finds allow him to see the truth, which is a black-and-white world of control. The commentary is not thinly veiled here. Our lives as consumers moving toward all that is bright and shiny are just a facade for a truly uninspired and bland existence. Also, the aliens just look super cool in black and white. It’s a nice touch as well when Nada accomplishes his goal and breaks down the signal between worlds, revealing to everyone the true identities of the aliens. In color, we see them even more clearly, as bright blue and all around us. 

They Live has become a staple film in my life and introduced me to what John Carpenter is all about. It led me to one of my top three movies of all time, The Thing, and an understanding of how film can be fun without losing meaning. And in fact, if it loses some meaning, who cares? We’re here to be entertained, aren’t we? 

They Live can be rented for streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.