THEY LIVE: Control and Obey

November 4, 2022 will be the 34th anniversary of John Carpenter’s They Live. It will also be the six-year anniversary of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, where a previous television reality star was elected to the office of president. Though these facts may seem coincidental, Carpenter’s film would make us question any relation. Carpenter’s 1988 cult classic They Live is a political and social thriller posing as a sci-fi alien invasion flick. Within the film, aliens have invaded earth and employ coded television transmissions to assist them in their desire to control the human population. Accompanying these messages are what could only be considered the precursor to our contemporary drones which observe the human population. The true conflict, not only within the film, but also surrounding it, is the controlling influence of television and how this conflicts with ideas of free will in the West. 

A conflict taken on directly within They Live is that of film vs. television. As film historian Emilie Bickerton’s writings elucidate, beginning in the late 1970’s the competition for viewership supremacy actually brought about a change within filming methods, as most films would eventually be watched on a television. Television is better viewed with different aspect ratios and viewing qualities than film. According to Bickerton, in order to retain home viewership after the movie had been shown in theatres, movies and films were preemptively shot to accommodate a television viewing experience. This shift gave a priority to television. A further issue was that television had a greater susceptibility to advertising and the demands of television executives in a manner that film, especially independent film, did not. As television and advertising are major elements within They Live, we can see through Carpenter’s condemnation within the film that he sides against television and the controlling influence of advertising, and that he does this not solely as an element of the movie, but as a criticism of issues within the real world. Within this we see that Carpenter is making a statement about the real world within his film- that film can be a weapon which fights the social coercion of television.

In They Live, we are never explicitly shown that humans can read or are directly affected by the transmissions. What we do see is that the aliens have positioned themselves as the upper class elite, and humans emulate these hidden alien overlords. This is very similar to how advertising ideally works in the real world- individuals are exposed to product advertisements, as they themselves respond to the advertising other people are influenced by and make the same or similar decisions and purchases. What is genius about Carpenter’s film is that it shows the model of advertising as it trickles down from powerful aliens to humans, working as a representation of 1980’s yuppy culture in the United States. 

A surprisingly un-devise film with social narratives, They Live has been heralded by both Liberals and Conservatives as the exemplification of 20th century advertising and social control. This is similar to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis of 1927, which was embraced by the Nazis as well as allied countries for its portrayal of the dangers of modernity. The question of what it meant to be a human being in a time when you were expected to be a cog in the machine was and remains a relevant and important question. 

There are elements in both films which speak to an observable conflict underlying each epoch- conflicts which contribute to the idea of identity within these periods themselves. Within the 1980’s, the issue which endangered free will was external manipulation that came in the form of television transmissions, and their prescribing of lifestyles which were beneficial to the power structure. Giving these issues a platform is what good film does; it makes important issues prominent in an approachable manner. 

The engagement with relevant issues of the time allows for the response of numerous vantage points while at the same time proffers predictions of what is to come, and Carpenter captures these elements of the 1980’s in an unprecedented manner; the combination of wrestling theatrics in the form of protagonist “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s one liners and action scenes, combined with social commentary surrounding surveillance and brainwashing contribute to the argument that They Live exists in a field all its own as potentially one of the most important pop cult films sculpted within the later 20th century. 

Television has become an influence within cinematic history, and it also has its place within human and social history. As television transmissions enter our homes, they bring with them other elements besides image and sound. Advertisements which accompany, and are many times built into, our viewing experiences leave their own impression upon us. 

It is important that we heed Carpenter’s views on television and coercion as we make decisions in our daily lives in the later part of the 20th and early 21st century. To question whether the decisions we make are truly our own, or if television has coerced us, is an important and relevant question within our lives today. While it can be said that these questions were asked before, and during the 1980’s, it was Carpenter’s vision and ability which brought it to the big screen in an intelligible and approachable manner. 

Addendum added 06/25/2022

-We live in a place and time where our personal freedoms are being dictated by those who do not have our best interest at heart. They are capable of achieving this by controlling an easily influenceable population, who don’t vote in their own best self interest. Carpenter is challenging the viewer to think for themselves and fight the soapbox of those who would control and subjugate us. Carpenter’s film shows us that this is not the beginning of these struggles, and it’s up to us to make sure that it’s not the end. Fight however you can; vote, protest, create content that challenges what binds us, but also educate yourself and don’t forget that you can be a conduit to the education of others.