No items found.
screenings
22.4.26 14:00
Salthouse
Genre:
50 Shades of Alien Punchbags
Country, Year:
USA, 1988
Duration:
94 mins
Director:
John Carpenter
Writer:
Ray Nelson, John Carpenter
Language/Subtitles:
English/German
Cast:
Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
DoP:
Gary B. Kibbe
Editor:
Give Jaffe, Frank E. Jimenez
Music:
John Carpenter, Alan Howarth
Submitted by:
Studio Canal

Fighting Social Media with Sunglasses

They Live

Season Special: We Are Not Doomed. Yet!

John Nada is homeless and looking for work. Instead of the American Dream, he finds sunglasses somewhere on the outskirts of Los Angeles. When he puts them on, he suddenly sees the truth. Humanity is influenced and controlled by radical advertising messages, while the elite work with alien invaders. John Nada has zero tolerants for that. On to the fight against the authorities!

When John Carpenter looked through his sunglasses in 1988, there was no Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, nor unofficial news broadcasters such as Twitter or Truth Social. News was prepared by free and critically thinking journalists, and was consumed in newspapers, on radio and in news programs on TV. Even though most major news channels had already listened to a handful of media moguls back then, at least not every fool could sell their opinion as the truth online. What Carpenter predicted is a bitter reality today. Social media and news platforms provide us with polarizing news, tailored to our preferences and views. In this way, one-sided opinions are formed, false information is disseminated and anger in our bellies is specifically promoted. Let's not put up with that! Let's look through the symbolic sunglasses and question the algorithms. Let's take back the power of independent, free thinking — the Tech-Bros won't like that at all.

“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.” This movie quote summarizes well what to expect in THEY LIVE. 80s wrestling star Roddy Piper tries to act, the alien invaders are more cute than threatening and the social criticism is somewhat even striking. If you look past the B-movie trash factor, however, you find quite frightening parallels with today. I don't believe in aliens and lizardmen though. But we certainly receive our daily dose of brainwashing online. So listen to the horror Messiah: Switch your brain to critical thinking and don't let the algorithms steer you!

Michel Frutig | Festival Director