elite, parasitic subsociety exploits American working class?

[dumpster_baby]

Interesting movie review for the movie _They_Live_ on imdb ( http://indie.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/combined ). The movie is about how a construction worker finds some sunglasses that allow him to see that the elite of society (the rich, the yuppies, politicians, etc) are really aliens that exploit and control us.
Here is the review itself:


Elite, parasitic subsociety exploits American working class--reflects real American society?



This movie is not so much about aliens who are hiding among us, but instead it taps into the deeply submerged suspicions of most of us that we are being manipulated and taken advantage of by the elite of American society, by our leaders, by the rich, etc. Also, we sometimes feel that we are manipulated and programmed (in a subtle way) to respect hierarchical authority ( e.g., the "OBEY" subliminal command from the movie).

Some leftist thinkers might say that human societies are in a way being parasitized by the elite of their societies, and that the elite operate as a parasitic sub-society, living off of the lower classes. America might be said to be operated more in such a fashion (i.e., parasitized by the elite) than are the countries of western Europe. Obvious examples of this parasitic behavior are the "golden handshakes" and backscratching exchanged between corporate CEO's and the Boards of Directors of their companies. But it is far more pervasive than just that.

_They_Live_ uses the invisible alien elite as a proxy for our suspicions about how we are all being exploited by the elite of our real-life society, and how these elite are subtly programming us to accept this exploitation.

So, the major theme of the movie is not, as another poster correctly pointed out, about being manipulated to be good little consumers in a crassly commercial world. No, it is far more profound than that. Instead, it is more about how the working class Americans in _They Live_ are being exploited by the elite upper crust, who, in the movie, happen to be aliens.

Unfortunately, this movie only explores this exploitation theme in a somewhat superficial way, and the movie itself has an unintentionally comic air to it sometimes. Still, the exploration of that theme is so rare in pop culture, and that theme is so profound, and reaches so far into what American society is, was, and is becoming, that this movie is a Must-See for anyone with an interest in politics and sociology.

{/i]

[Nay]

1. When my husband and I accidentally stumbled upon this movie

years ago, we looked at each other and said, "holy shit!!" after it was done. We got the exact same theme out of it that is expressed in the review you cite, and we also agree that it is a RARE theme in pop culture.

We made a video tape of the movie long ago -- does anyone know if it is on DVD?

[northzax]

2. yup, on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AOX0F/qid=1088262163/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6572733-5024635?v=glance&s=dvd

[blindpig]

3. starring Rowdy Roddy Piper!

a entertaining if not deranged pro wrestler from the 80's. Saw it years ago, cheezy, but as you say the theme was spot on.
Back about the time I quit tv entirely there were 2 sci-fi series that had very short runs, both of which had anti-corporate themes. One was Earth1, in which the corporations were blamed for ruining the earth's environment and were involved in nastiness with the colonization program. In the other, whose name I cannot remember, corporations were the blame for starting interplanetary war. Both shows were fairly good, by tv standards, small wonder they were canned.

[Mnemosyne]

4. I've learned that if I find too much truth in a show

they yank it fairly soon, so I rarely watch tv anymore.

great movie, They Live, they do!