John Carpenter
Essi Vivono

Society has now become a slave to consumerism, the mass media have literally taken control of the population, we live in a world where only money matters, the rich feeding off the backs of the poor, a frenzied, corrupt, racist, greedy society enslaved by the powerful… These seem like the usual clichés, but in 1988 director John Carpenter knew what he was about; it's not the first time cinema has addressed political and social issues, but "They Live" was one of those film episodes that most represented this phenomenon; Ray Nelson and Carpenter himself, authors of the screenplay, had a clear understanding of the rotten system of this society, they fantasized about it and came up with this extraordinary story to say the least! A story of social criticism told through science fiction, with many themes touched by the two screenwriters, starting with the subliminal messages that bombard our minds every day through magazines, televisions, posters, and everything around us, a phenomenon, that of subliminal messages, is quite current, just think of the recent trials of Walt Disney accused of satanism (many Disney films are filled with subliminal messages, whether they are just a joke by the illustrators or a real satanic plot remains an unsettling fact), or the hammering advertisements where these sexual or religious messages are always hidden (there's even a more or less reliable site dealing with these messages), in Carpenter's film the subliminal messages are everywhere, but especially much more disturbing than those just described (actually making the viewer doubt)… we do not see them… but we are surrounded by these writings that tell us how to behave and act in society, we are piloted without knowing it, unconsciously! A rather realistic topic that makes one think a lot…

A group of people who formed a rebel movement without the knowledge of the "powers" that govern us discover this shocking truth... in this nothing short of chilling scenario, the protagonist of the film, John Nada, a young drifter looking for work in New York, comes into play, he manages to find a job as a construction worker and befriends a black worker (friendship between white and black, inevitable in U.S. cinema!), in the church next to the construction site the group of rebels gather every evening to organize how to alert people about the terrible secret of society (through illegal TV intrusions, street preaching, etc.), the church is stormed by law enforcement (we witness a dictatorial-type scene) young John realizes that it is not a normal church, the day after the assault John manages to sneak into the church unnoticed and comes into possession of a box full of seemingly ordinary sunglasses! But once worn, John finds himself face to face with the shocking and terrifying reality! Through the lenses of the glasses, he can read the subliminal messages on advertising boards and in magazines, writings like "obey!" "do what we tell you" "conform" "spend money" "buy", the scene is a punch to the stomach for the viewer, since the reality described by the director is not so sci-fi after all! And here in this disturbing imaginary, John discovers that people also hide a secret, the glasses are actually a filter that allows seeing through the optical illusion (long before Matrix!) people are actually aliens with zombie-like faces! Obviously not all, they blend with us to manipulate us and make us their slaves without us knowing… having made this discovery, John decides (quite coolly) to take immediate action, he arms himself and starts fighting against the alien race, that is, against the powerful (the social satire is at its peak!) after convincing his colleague with a series of punches, they head to the control center where they manipulate our brains and here they discover the most chilling side of the story... humans collaborate with aliens in exchange for money! Of the "screw the world and humanity, as long as you make me feel good" series, so as usual we don't know if we're worse or the aliens. John will obviously fight to the death to save humanity from these subliminal alien dictators, destroying the transmitter from which they send the hallucinogenic frequencies that prevent the public from seeing reality…. Once the transmitter is destroyed, all humanity can see the faces of the aliens living among us… the film ends with a woman seeing the alien face of her man during a sexual encounter…

In terms of content, we are faced with a real masterpiece! There are many messages to grasp and many social criticisms, every theme of society is touched on, from the millions of homeless in the world to people's irresponsibility and not least the enslaving power of mass media on the population!

Carpenter tells this political satire without renouncing his directorial style (from his early days when he still had a knack for it), using the power of entertainment and science fiction, excellent indeed are the special effects, considering that the film was shot on a low budget but with excellent shots; it must be said, however, that despite everything the film cannot be considered without flaws… the lead actors give a B-movie touch throughout the film, trash moments are not missing (such as the mega ten-minute brawl between the white and the black, worthy of the worst Tomas Milian films), the acting is rather cold and clumsy, the action scenes are set up like TV series of the time (it seems to be watching an episode of The A-Team) but the effort for a low-budget film is still appreciated, technically speaking the shots are well done (while maintaining a certain simplicity) the genius of this film lies in the intersection of Thriller and science fiction, two elements orchestrated by the director in an exemplary manner!

Noteworthy is the splendid apocalyptic-touched soundtrack played by Carpenter himself! (Let's remember he was a musician before dedicating himself to cinema and has composed and performed almost all his soundtracks).
What impressed me most about this film is that watching it today it seems more relevant than ever! Carpenter imagined this world 20 years ago… today things have significantly worsened! We actually live in a society governed by "Aliens" that brainwash us through television and the press, we are actually invaded by hundreds of subliminal messages and I wouldn't be surprised if I were to encounter a skeleton face after putting on a pair of sunglasses… in reality the glasses described in the film are nothing but our soul deciding to wake up and look beyond appearances…

The film's actor Keith David stated: "Men live with the conviction that what they are depends on what they possess. We are responsible for what we do every moment of our lives but we do not realize it, instead, this film invites us to reflect on what would happen if we really tried to take responsibility". Nothing truer!

Note:
Carpenter was inspired by a story by Ray Faraday Nelson and, in 1963, John Carpenter, under the pseudonym Frank Armitage ("The Dunwich Horror" by Lovecraft), took inspiration from those four pages to write a film hiding behind a sci-fi setting a heavy political-social critique of the United States of the Reagan era (and unfortunately it's still very relevant!)