They Live (class resentment) (Belinkie)
Times are tough for the nameless hero of John’s Carpenter’s twisted classic. We first see the man (played by Rowdy Roddy Piper, keeping his rowdiness largely in check) walking into town with all his worldly possessions on his back. The first place he goes is an employment office. He explains he worked in Denver for 10 years, “then things just seemed to dry up. They lost 14 banks in a week.”
His new friend Frank has a similar sob story. “Steel mills were laying people off left and right. They finally went under.” But Frank knows who to blame–the rich. “They close one more factory,” he growls, “we should take a sledge to one of their fancy foreign cars.” Piper’s character, however, just tells him to be patient. Sure, he’s no fan of the rich, but it’s ridiculous to think about violence. After all, rich people aren’t monsters. Right?
Right?
In They Live, the rich are not merely profiting from the poor; they are malevolent aliens. And their crimes go way beyond economic exploitation. As one of the human resistence fighters explains, they’ve actually perverted human nature with some kind of mind control: “Racial justice and human rights are nonexistent. They have created a repressive society. They have made us indifferent to ourselves, to others. We are focused only on our own gain.” And here’s the kicker: “They are turning our atmosphere into their atmosphere.”
That is correct: the aliens are responsible for global warming.
It seems that every problem in the world, from poverty to racism to the hole in the ozone layer, is entirely the fault of the aliens, who are disguised as the rich and powerful. And so Piper’s character does what any real American would do in that situation: he walks into a bank and begins killing rich people.
They Live is a jaw-dropping populist fantasy. Society’s problems can’t be solved by economic stimulus, a higher minimum wage, or affordable health insurance. Society’s problems can only be solved by armed revolution. Piper gets to save the world by blowing away the assholes who cost him his job, and he doesn’t even have to feel bad about it. “How many people have you killed?” Frank demands. Piper merely replies, “Not people.”
The movie was made in 1988, but watching it again reminded me uncomfortably of last fall. The economy was melting down, and there was this outpouring of blue collar rage against the fat cats on Wall Street who were destroying America for personal gain. People were so angry that Congress actually had to pass a law nullifying some of these executives’ contracts. Joe Sixpack was out for blood.
And as I was writing the previous paragraph, a thought suddenly popped into my head: “I bet Hollywood is remaking this movie.” And yup, Google confirms it. The announcement was made back in December, when investment bankers might as well have been monsters. Well played, Hollywood.
By the way, for those of you who haven’t seen it, please enjoy the PUT ON THE GLASSES!! fight.
“were Alf alive today”
Did I miss something? Like a heartbreaking series finale perhaps?
Awesome post.
“Overthinking it” is right.
I hope this is a put-on, but i’m terribly afraid it isn’t.
Of all of these exigeses, the most ludicrous is the one of “Alien”.
Ripley was originally male in the script.
Sigourney Weaver was just so good that they cast her as Ripley, with no real changes in script. (Likelou Gossett in “An Officer and a Gentleman”, a part written assuming the actor would be white.)
A small mistake: Ripley does have sex with the prison’s doctor in Alien 3…
Star Trek: First Contact
The Borg as AIDS (or any virus, for that matter).
Do not forget about Enemy Mine. It may have taken place 100 or so years in the future, but the movie was clearly about racism. Jerry may have been a Drak, but come on, he was really black. Not only are the Draks used as slaves, but Jerry is portrayed by Lou Gossett Jr.
Great movie.
@Chris — speaking of AIDS, have you seen our article on Ghostbusters 2 and the HIV Virus?
http://www.overthinkingit.com/2009/06/12/and-the-ghosts-busted-on-ghostbusters-and-the-aids-crisis/
Predator as an ANTI-hunting film. Think about it–many of the animals we hunt for sport lack sufficient color definition, so that we can wear day-glo overalls and yet somehow melt into the background. Its weaponry is vastly superior to our own, yet it pursues those with the biggest ‘guns’, because they might just pose a threat. It even records the sounds the prey makes, and repeats them when it wants to attract other prey (a duck call). Predator 2 reinforces this view, with the alien allowing the pregnant cop to go free–wouldn’t want to screw up future gaming stock. In short, it’s about how fundamentally unfair the current state of game hunting is. At the same time, though–an animal can get in one lucky shot every now and then, and turn the tables.
You mentioned you haven’t seen Alien: Resurrection. Too bad, your breakdown of the sexuality of the aliens would’ve benefitted a lot from that movie, since it’s the most obvious deconstruction of sex and femininity in the series.
Actually, Ripley had a child on earth who was awaiting her return from the voyage of the Nostromo in the first film. In the second movie, she finds out that her daughter has died of complications from old age while she was in hibernation, which is what makes her adoption of Newt at the colony in Aliens so touching, and is what makes her plight in Alien 3 and 4 take on deeper weight.
Seriously, I get the joke you’re trying to make about woman parts, but your research is severely lacking. If you’re going to really be “overthinking it”, you really need to be “minimally researching it” at the same time.
The Jaffa in Stargate as a metaphor for slavery and oppression. While it would be easy to say they represent black slaves only, simply because Teal’c was black, a deeper examination reveals that they work on many different levels: The American Revolution, the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt, the European resistance against the Nazi regime, and most of all the modern struggles of Iraqis against Saddam Hussein/Afghanis against the Taliban. This last possibility is even more intriguing if you consider that the goa’uld are recognizable as middle eastern to a Western audience (deserts, pyramid ships) and that the Jaffa receive aid from the modern US Air Force in their fight against their ancient oppressors.
Hah, the alien one was funny :P Comparing abortion of a sub-sentient alien killing machine that will murder you in the birthing to abortion of a sentient being with rights of its own is a bit iffy, but the rest of the article was pretty funny and yes, I think everyone’s noticed the facehugger’s rather suggestive mouth parts :D
Oh and to Timothy Toner; that could very well be seen as the purpose of predator. If so, however, it (and your own comments) are pretty heavily flawed. First and foremost because we kill animals to survive, and it is undeniably more humane to hunt than to raise livestock. Livestock are seen as a necessity for modern society, but the lives of the animals themselves are horrible and unnatural, and no doubt confusing and distressing for them as well, to whatever degree they experience such emotions. Being hunted down and killed, however, is the fate that practically every herbivore can expect in its old age, if it manages to make it that far first. It is natural; even hunting by humans with weaponry has been going on long enough to easily be called natural. Every deer or pig or whatever you hunt and kill is one less animal that has to be subjected to the highly unpleasant situation of being held as livestock. Hunting and fishing for your own protein is about the most nature friendly thing a person could do. Not to mention the fact that hunters, hunting organizations, and fees upon hunters do more than every single eco-organization on the face of the Earth to protect wildlife and improve or re-habilitate habitats. The day PETA (those dog murdering hypocrites) and their pals manage to ban hunting is the day American wildlife and wildlife habitats start the march for their graves. About the only space your folks haven’t turned into shopping malls and salons is the space my folks have bought and turned into preserves and conservation land.
So please, calm down the whole anti-hunting thing. It is one of the most brazenly uneducated and hypocritical arguments in history. There’s only one humane way to procure meat and it sure isn’t from the grocery store :P
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Predator films are pretty pro-Predator. The Predator’s chief trait is that he’s totally awesome. His secondary trait is that he’s an alien. Killing people is a distant third, and most of the people who die in Predator movies are pretty annoying and kind of ask for it.
AVP supports this thesis.
As for AVP:R, if you saw it, tell me what it’s like, because I am amazed at your courage and initiative.
I think Predator comments more on colonialism rather than anti-hunting. You’ve got a technologically superior force invading and reaping trophies from a third-world, tropical landscape while massacring the natives, who in spite of their noble efforts to fight back with their primitive weapons just don’t stand a chance. Various nations have appeared as colonial forces throughout history such as the English, French and, oh, Dutch.
Pete- While I know that AVP and and Predator technically share a franchise, don’t you think it’s rather cruel to relate them like that? It’s like garnishing a Christmas ham with Spam and Baco-bits.
I agree with Timothy Toner.
Bob: In this day and age of technology, hunting is an act of cowardice – using advanced weaponry to kill defenseless nonhumans. If you hunters are such heroes, try “hunting” with no weaponry. Yeah, I thought not.