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" I ain't daddies little boy no more " Rowdy And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. In a previous message I wrote about the
duality of this world. A movie that portrays the
duality very dramatically, is the movie; The movie conveys a number of messages. I
will briefly outline the messages without
going into the details of the story. Those of you
who can resist the temptation, can continue to read
this message, after you have seen the movie.(the
movie link is at the end of this message.) Some believers, are extremely naive, although deep inside they know the truth, they keep on pretending that this world is not "all that bad" . They make all kinds of excuses to shy away from the world as it is. Some believers, have a great resistance for change, they will fight as if their lives depend on it, in order to avoid change. They are always willing to submit themselves to the comforting words of a 'friend', but when a real friend tries to help them, they resist. Some believers, tend to opt for the use of
force, when they feel threatened. They
are afraid of being persecuted, They forget that the
message according to the gospel makes it clear that
believers cannot escape persecution. There are those
of us who believe that we should defend ourselves by
means of firearms, instead of using the Word.
Some believers, are often involved with non-believers. They do not fully realize how deceptive non-believers are. In the end of the movie, there is a scene in which a believer is intimately involved with a non-believer. When the revelation takes place, the believer is shocked by the realization. Non-believers that see the movie will
think that the movie portrays a world that is
invaded by 'aliens' from another planet. It
is not possible for non-believers to know that what
they are seeing, is a portrayal of our world as
it is. Only when the 'machine' is destroyed,
will they come to face reality:
"THEY
LIVE" Review By Geoffrey Attwood. It is often claimed that "life imitates art", but in the case of John Carpenter's vivid classic film, They Live, the opposite is true. This is definitely a film where the art of the finished product is taken from the realities of modern western society.
On a simplistic level, the basic tenor of the screenplay is one where our hero, Rowdy (played by the wrestler Roddy Piper), stumbles across a box of dark glasses which, when worn, expose an alien life form existing within the indigenous population. Very soon, they realize that their plan to dominate and completely take over the planet and its resources has been exposed by Rowdy. His mission now becomes an attempt to spread the realities of life among other members of society whilst evading capture by the aliens who want to silence him.
If this was all there was to the film, then the most one could say was that here is a moderately passable movie of the sort that was churned out in the 40's and 50's. However, this film is much more than a simple earthlings vs aliens potboiler! Indeed, it is a complete exposure of the realities of western capitalist society. The aliens are not from some far flung Galaxy, and neither is the film set in a futuristic America. They exist at this moment, here and now. Your next-door neighbor could be one, or that charming couple across the road. People in authority who have become the servants of the economics of capitalism - these are the aliens exposed by the dark glasses of political awareness.
This is the
message in Carpenter's film. Adverts become commands
to buy, dollar bills have the logo "profit"
imprinted and people are subliminally extolled to
conform and obey. If you saw the film when it was
released in 1988 (or if you have never seen the film
before), then please give They Live a whirl.
Remember, of course, to wear your dark glasses on
the way home! Summary of the movie " They Live " (66mb zip) |