They Live is a 1988 film directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym “Frank Armitage”. The movie is based on the short story Eight O’Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson. Part science fiction and part black comedy, the plot deals satirically with the perceived notion of a declining economy, within a culture of greed and conspicuous consumption commonly associated with the 1980s. It posits a world in which some of the monied elite (i.e., the "yuppies") are actually aliens oppressing the poverty-stricken lower classes through subliminal media advertising.
As I was watching the film I kept returning to the idea of evil hiding in plain sight. Aside from the obvious procession of sci-fi and horror films of the late 20th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne, among others has dealt with this theme notably, and I think as well of Fransisco Goya's final paintings of witches covens and dark cabalistic rituals. Alas,if only it were so simple...if only one could plumb the depths of another's moral fiber with such precision and unwavering clarity. On one side...soulless yuppie zombies-the corporate elite...and on the other....all the rest of us poor humans left holding the paper bag full of dog shit. The reductive nature of this plot device is of course the satirical engine that drives this absurdist plot forward. The scary thing is how much it makes sense, how deadly serious this idea is taken by many-and now more than ever. I think the world is of course more subtle and complex than John Carpenter's vision of Multi-National Corporate Evil...but in this joke of a movie there is a half-truth.
No man is by nature evil or good. But at a certain point, in a defining moment, or within a consistently applied ideology, we chose to act in ways that articulate our moral selves. Although it often seems to be the case (and prolly 95% of the arty bohemian milieu would protest)-I don't truly believe that all Republicans are evil, and all Democrats are good, but it seems to me more and more that the planet...nay the whole of this human experiment, is at a moment of truth. It sounds cliched, but we are truly standing at a crossroads-two paths diverge before us in this snowy woods, and one of these paths leads to some deep dark demonic shit. It seems to me that very soon a threshold may be crossed from which there will be no real coming back ...our species will have made this choice collectively..and we will live and die by this decision.
The problem is that we are all both evil and good. Everyone of us..despite our pleas to the contrary. And we rationalize our way into the white with a glib nonchalance that would make a con-man blush. What's needed is some honesty...this is a time to put our careers and ego-driven narcissistic projects aside and start thinking in terms of survival. If we don't get our shit together..there is no future. Many of you may not care..you won't be around for it...you may not have kids...but it's about goddamn time that someone starts giving a shit again. If not, I'm afraid this truly is the END.
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