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The Big Picture
- John Carpenter’s 1988 film They Live tackles economic inequality and Reaganomics, highlighting the “he who has the gold makes the rules” mentality.
- The film has been misappropriated by both the far-right and far-left, with neo-Nazis using it to perpetuate anti-Semitic theories and some on the left claiming it as an anti-capitalist movie.
- Carpenter himself has clarified that the film is not about Jewish control or communism, but rather a critique of unchecked capitalism and the need for regulations in the economic system. The film reveals the gray areas in finding solutions to societal problems.
John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi thriller, They Live, which he deems a documentary, has a line among the film’s witty and sometimes odd dialogue that best encapsulates Carpenter’s aim for his movie pointing a finger, a middle one at that, at yuppies and Reaganomics in an ever-polarizing US economic make-up, where the poor become poorer; the rich become richer, which reminds viewers of the Golden Rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules.”
While not one of the more popular entries of Carpenter’s filmography, They Live was a predecessor for films delving into economic inequality such as Us, Parasite, and Snowpiercer. But despite the film’s message, warning people–voters–of the erosive nature of Reagan’s economic ideology, it, airing on November 4th, the weekend before the presidential election, went unheeded by US audiences as Reagan’s mini-me, George H.W. Bush, won the Presidential election in a landslide, earning 426 of the 538 electoral votes, signaling that ‘more for me, less for thee’ had become the new economic model of the country, turning away from the liberalism and community-oriented policies of the FDR era.
In its time, They Live’s warnings were ignored. In the following decades, its message has been manipulated by the far-right and even factions of the far-left to fit a mold that it was never intended for.
In 2017, Carpenter tweeted something that, to many, felt out of nowhere: “They Live is about yuppies and unrestrained capitalism. It has nothing to do with Jewish control of the world, which is slander and a lie.” In the years since it sounded the alarm about rising economic inequality, anti-semite sentiment has latched onto the film’s cult following to create a cult following more in line with the cult of the far-right that has been gaining traction and even managed to put someone into the Oval Office.
What Is ‘They Live’ About?
But first, what is They Live about? Based on the 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson, a drifter by the name of John Nada (Roddy Piper) wanders into Los Angeles in search of work. At first, he seems like the kind of fella that Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp would sing about: a hardworking, blue-collar man who’s just trying to get a little for himself in a world that knocks you down. Eventually, he manages to find work as a construction worker and befriends Frank Armitage (Keith David), who lives in an LA shanty town. There, a TV keeps receiving pirated messages warning people about masters who control the world. While living in the unhoused community, Nada discovers sunglasses that allow you to see the world and people for what it is and what they are.
Strolling through LA, the sunglasses illuminate truths that he had been blind to: the sunglasses reveal the hidden messages behind advertisements — “OBEY,” “NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT,” “CONSUME,” “CONFORM,” “SUBMIT,” “MARRY AND REPRODUCE,” “SURRENDER.” Nada looks at dollar bills that read “THIS IS YOUR GOD.” But the commands for economic subjugation are somehow not the most terrifying thing the sunglasses reveal. The lenses show people for whom, or what, they really are: aliens with bulging eyes and exoskeletons are living among humanity undetected. They’re police officers, news anchors, politicians, bankers, wealthy elite. To the naked eye, they appear to be everyday, albeit privileged, people; but when wearing the sunglasses, the aliens are seen for the extraterrestrial menaces they truly are. The aliens diffuse “bootstrap” platitudes, suggesting that, much like in current society, it’s not the economic system that’s broken, it’s your attitude, exemplified in a scene where a human, unbeknownst to him, is talking about his employment predicament to an alien who brushes off his valid concerns with “It’ll come around. Don’t worry about it.” Later on, another alien proclaims “We don’t need pessimism,” going on to profess “It’s a new morning in America,” referencing Reagan’s 1984 campaign commercial slogan, “It’s morning in America.” Essentially, they’re parasites, draining earth and the indigenous inhabitants of its resources and labor until there’s no more left to take, and afterward they go to another planet and so on.
Nada has to overthrow the alien overlords, but in his attempt to eliminate them, he becomes a fugitive. However, it turns out he isn’t the only one who knows the truth. There are others. He has to find them and convert others to the truth. Humanity’s future depends on him.
How Did the Far Right Take Over ‘They Live’?
In the age of rampant conspiracy theories, it’s not surprising that They Live has gained an unintended audience. In a time when many have viewed Covid mask mandates as a government overstep, They Live’s idea of “OBEY” has been contorted to reach a far different agenda than the anti-unfettered capitalism message that Carpenter was championing. Despite the film’s obvious allusions to Carpenter’s misgivings toward the new economic order, many have still misappropriated the film to meet whatever quixotic, often bigoted, conspiracy they have.
Neo-nazis have rallied around the film, using it as meme fodder to push the idea that Jews control the media, further contributing to the myth that Jews are all-powerful and bent on world domination. We’re in an age where a sitting congresswoman has blamed wildfires on “Jewish space lasers.” There were even YouTube videos posting a connection between the film’s actual meaning and supposed Jewish world domination.
But despite Carpenter’s persistent insistence on the anti-Reagan ethos of the film, watching it, it’s easy to see how one could misinterpret it as being friendly toward the tinfoil hat-wearing ilk. The pirated television warning can come across as an ‘80s version of a QAnon post. While Carpenter clearly means yuppies and Reaganites in his warnings about “they,” “they” to many others can mean Dr. Fauci giving Covid precautions, the “woke” who are advocating for social justice, gun control advocates who dare try to disarm you, and, of course, the Jews, because is it really a proper conspiracy theory unless the Jews are somehow roped into it?
The film also pushes the idea of distrust for the media. And while the media isn’t always blameless for how it approaches stories, in a time when a former president refers to anything unflattering as “fake news,” journalists have been having to work against the current to report the facts in the face of a former president and right-wing culture that has fomented a distrust for the truth, all the while blaming it in part on supposed manipulation from the media.
Carpenter also managed to make a film about the United States more American in the worst way possible: the overuse of firearms. The protagonist, Nada, played by the late former WWE wrestler, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, was the ideal male hero of his time — big, muscular, willful, and armed. His character cracked off lines that would be worthy of a WWE wrestling ring such as “I’ve come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum,” “Life’s a bitch, and she’s in heat,” and “There’s going to be hell to pay because I ain’t daddy’s little boy no more.” He was in similar leading-man company of the era with men like Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo and the men of The A-Team. The film sees solutions to societal mass injustices through a stereotypical hypermasculine lens. There’s a six-minute fight scene, after all.
Nada, who lacks calculation and acts before he thinks, assumes the role of a terrorist after he guns down aliens disguised as police officers and then proceeds to a bank, where he goes on a shooting rampage, killing every alien he can. In his critique of the US, Carpenter still manages to pay homage to one of the most gruesome aspects of United States culture: the adulation of guns. It’s a popular idea within the American right that freedom isn’t obtained through the sharing of ideas and knowledge but through shots fired. The right has long heralded guns as a bulwark against tyranny, even as they’re used for tyrannical designs. For a socially conscious filmmaker, Carpenter’s reliance on guns in his films has perhaps been the Achille’s heel in his objective of making films that make us think.
Not only can the character of Nada be viewed as a right-wing ideal savior, but the actor who portrayed him had even steeped himself within conspiracy theorists circles before his death. In 2013, Piper appeared on InfoWars, hosted by the infamous Alex Jones, who went on to describe They Live as one of his “favorite all-time movies.” While on his show, Piper expressed his mutual admiration for Jones, proclaiming “I’m a big booster for you!” When the likes of a notorious Sandy Hook Massacre denier claims They Live as one of his favorite films, it’s clear that its intent has fallen into the wrong hands. Though Piper acknowledged that Carpenter’s aim for the film was anti-Reaganism, the interview devolves into rants about anti-globalism and many other absurd talking points that someone like Jones would think are intellectual.
The Far Left Also Claims ‘They Live,’ However
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But it isn’t just the Alex Joneses of the world that have reimagined They Live into something that fits their own political agenda. Factions of the political left have also falsely claimed the movie for their own cause. Socialist magazine, Jacobin, claimed the film was anti-capitalist with its article “They Live Is a Timeless Anti-Capitalist Horror Classic.” Yes, the movie is opposed to the political right wing of the US, but some have come to think of it as a socialist, anti-capitalist primal yell that it just isn’t.
Carpenter has disputed any purely anti-capitalist agenda with They Live. In regard to his relationship with capitalism, Carpenter has said “I’m a happy capitalist. I love my country. I love the system that we’re in, but not without some restraints on it.” Among the political left nowadays it’s easy and common to blame capitalism, save nuance, for all of society’s woes. You have to work? Blame capitalism; You suffered a minor inconvenience? Capitalism has struck again! And in a time when politicians like Bernie Sanders are claiming the socialist label (even though he’s not actually a socialist), anti-capitalist sentiment has struck a chord with voters, many Millennials and Gen Z. But despite their good intentions for a more equitable country, many have embraced inaccurate ideas of socialism and capitalism, instead falling into the popular misconception that capitalism is the end-all-be-all corrupter of society. In addition to it being a lethargic approach to actually delving into society’s problems, it’s no substitute for truly doing the difficult, nuanced work of solving the country’s shortcomings. What Carpenter was warning against with his over-consuming aliens was unchecked capitalism and greed. He, like many on the left, including progressive stars Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Katie Porter, is a proponent of capitalism with the caveat that it has regulations, accountability, and isn’t given free rein to be unleashed without checks and balances.
John Carpenter Has the Final Word on What ‘They Live’ Means
Carpenter himself, most likely privy to how the film could and has been easily misinterpreted, added lines disparaging a connection to communism: “We’ve been told that we’re commies trying to bring down the government.” says the community leader of the unhoused community, attempting to buck the idea that the film is calling for Marxism. And in an attempt to distance the film against the notion of resorting to firearms and violence, though unsuccessful given how much of the film still manages to glorify hulking men with guns, has a character say, “We don’t stand a chance with a few guns and grenades.”
The special sunglasses are supposed to make everything black and white, but they, like life and finding solutions to societal problems, reveal many gray areas.
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