Themes And Memes

On this episode, we return to the 'conspiracy classic' genre in looking at the 1989 Sci-Fi B-movie 'They Live' by John Carpenter.  The film introduces 'John Nada', a drifter working manual labour in LA, as he stumbles across a special pair of sunglasses which allow him to see a very different version of reality than the 'American Dream' he is accustomed to. As it is ultimately revealed that humanity's perceptions are being controlled by a camouflaged alien race; Nada tries to convince those around him of the truth, thus alerting the aliens to his existence.  Despite being pursued by the authorities on a vigilante rampage, Nada manages to recruit one of his co-workers, whereby the two work to expose the aliens and reveal their system of control to the world.  We talk about the film as it relates to both popular and conspiracy culture, looking at how the sentiments and motifs found in the film were used and referenced so frequently in the early days of the 'truth movement'. Despite being a deliberately silly fi