Dear Friend and Reader:
In the classic 1980s science fictionВ black comedyВ film They LiveВ by John Carpenter,В the hero, a homeless laborer trying to survive in the streets of LAВ stumbles upon aВ crate of sunglasses in an alley. PuttingВ them on heВ sees that the earth has beenВ taken overВ by aliens whose faces resembleВ those of corpses. The aliens walkВ the streets, chair boardrooms ofВ large corporations, are bankers, police officers andВ stars of major news and television shows.В They are unnoticed and perceived as normal people by human passers by.
Looking up with the sunglasses the hero seesВ revealed the subliminal messagesВ of signs, billboards and television commercials bombarding him from every corner. A billboard selling shampooВ really says В “Consume,” another showing a bikini clad nymph in theВ Caribbean says “Marry and Reproduce,” while a dollar bill is imprinted with the words, “This is your God.” В Signs everywhere say “Conform,” “Watch TV,” “Submit” and “Stay Asleep.”
As the plot further reveals,В aliens were successful in colonizing the earth.В Through a hugeВ broadcast tower conveniently locatedВ atop a television station inВ downtown LA, the aliens continuallyВ bombarded the planet with signals that fooled the humanВ populationВ intoВ believing the aliensВ were one of us, and disguising the aliens’В true motives – to lull human beings into complacent conformity so thatВ their takeover of the world would be irrevocable and complete.
This film was produced by John Carpenter in 1988 as a way to throw a turd into the punchbowl ofВ the Reagan Administration’s deregulated American economy.В Carpenter had enough like most of us, of the ostentatious wealth that few could achieve, the fancy cars and extravagant lifestyles that became a media obsession, and the unapologetic opulence inВ the good old days of Reagan’s “morning in America.” В “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” premiered in 1984 at the height of Reagan’s reign and ran successfully for 11 years, promoting champagne wishes and caviar dreams.В We were sold and most Americans bought that myth of materialism and greed as good.