Line #7 YMMV/TheyLive


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: The plot originally comes from a ScienceFiction short story involving a man who can see the messages after being hypnotized, which Carpenter encountered via a comic version. The aliens in there also [[ToServeMan eat humans]].
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3	** At what point did [[spoiler: Holly join the aliens' side? From the beginning? Or did they just make her a better offer during Nada's absence?]] Creator/MegFoster's performance as Holly might not simply be DullSurprise but subtle foreshadowing that [[spoiler: she is TheQuisling from the start, demonstrating that she's in on the conspiracy even before Nada kidnaps her. This is supported by the fact that she drives a BMW and lives in the hills of Los Angeles, clearly well-off]].
4	** Is the bearded drifter [[spoiler:someone who sold out in the aftermath of the shantytown raid, or was he a spy from the start, working to discourage the masses from listening to the bearded hacker, and perhaps spying on the church resistance group?]]
5	** Are the aliens really reaping the Earth, or do they actually think they are helping? Are they planning on harming the majority of the human race in the end, or simply removing the wheat from the chaff?
6	* {{Anvilicious}}: In spades, the movie really is not subtle it’s messages and can get a bit overbearing for some people.
7	* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[LesCollaborateurs Holly Thompson]] is an apparently innocent bystander-turned-rebel, but in truth is [[TheQuisling a traitor to the human race]] in service of the aliens oppressing the Earth. Playing the role of a friendly ally to the rebels, Holly helps lead the military to a rebel outfit and gets the entire group massacred. Personally overseeing the main transmitter enabling the aliens to hypnotize and brainwash humankind, Holly continues to feign helpfulness until she kills Frank, threatens to gun down Nada, and attempts to secure her position in the alien hierarchy and ensure humanity's continued horrid oppression for her own {{greed}}.]]
8	* CultClassic: Make no mistake, this movie isn't for everyone - it isn't the most fast-paced, the fight scene goes on a bit (maybe more than a bit), its social commentary isn't subtle - but it has a devoted following of both sci-fi fans and action fans. There's a reason you still see the OBEY signs everywhere.
9	* EnsembleDarkhorse: The blind street preacher working with the resistance is an immensely powerful, likable and memorable presence despite only appearing in the film's first half hour.
10	* HarsherInHindsight:
11	** Given the spree of mass shootings that America has had to deal with in the decades since this movie came out, it's just a ''little'' jarring that the most heroic and memorable scene in the movie is where the main character shoots up a bank, killing evil monsters which rule the world that he and he and alone is capable of seeing.
12	** In the original story the film adapts, Nada's character died from a [[YourDaysAreNumbered programmed]] heart attack, which really stings in retrospect after Wrestling/RoddyPiper's life was also ended at 61 by a cardiac arrest.
13	** This won't be the [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}} last time a character played by Keith David learns a harsh truth thanks to some incredibly specialized glasses after a long, bloody fight in downtown Los Angeles.]]]]
14	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
15	** Frank and his soft heart under the cynicism. He tries to help Nada from the moment he sees him and gets him his pay even when he thinks Nada has gone on a criminal rampage.
16	** Nada stops to rescue a teenager frozen by fear during the police raid and doesn't let go of him until they find safety.
17	** After Nada has gunned down a bunch of aliens masquerading as cops, a human cop cowers before him. Nada tells him, "Beat your feet", allowing him to run away unharmed.
18	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Wrestling/RoddyPiper as Nada is widely considered one of (if not ''the'') best acting performances in a movie by a pro wrestler.
19	* HesJustHiding: Some fans hope that a few of the more notable SpearCarrier attendees of the rebel meeting escaped the police raid/massacre.
20	* JustHereForGodzilla: Old school ProfessionalWrestling fans, of course, watch to see Roddy Piper be an action hero.
21	* MemeticMutation:
22	** The iconic line, "I have come here to ChewBubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum" has been stolen and parodied six ways from Sunday.
23	** The subliminal OBEY/CONSUME/etc signs have been remixed all over the place, notably into Shepard Fairey's OBEY GIANT campaign (which uses the likeness of Piper's fellow WWE wrestler Wrestling/AndreTheGiant).
24	** A popular meme format consists of two panels, one showing Nada without the glasses looking at a sign of the memer's choosing, and another where he's put the glasses on and the sign has changed into what the memer thinks it really means.
25	** "Eating from the trashcan of ideology" is popular among Slavoj Žižek fans, due to his documentary ''The Pervert's Guide to Ideology'' where he references the alley fight scene. More broadly, a lot of different people use the scene as an analogy for how hard it is to change someone's worldview.
26	** During election seasons it's common to see every politician depicted as one of the evil aliens from the film, implicitly accusing them of pursuing an ulterior agenda (of evil). Pop culture celebrities, especially ones that market to a mass audience, get the brunt of this too.
27	* MisaimedFandom:
28	** Naturally, given that it's a film about shadowy elites ruling the world from behind the scenes, {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s have taken a significant liking to it. Carpenter insists that it's a satire of '80s yuppie capitalism run amok, and has told [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-Nazi]] fans of the film (who read a specifically anti-Semitic meaning into it, about the alleged international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world) to go [[http://www.avclub.com/article/john-carpenter-thinks-internet-nazis-need-put-sung-247940 piss right the hell off.]]
29	** A lot of conservatives and libertarians read this movie as anti-socialist, mostly as an offshoot of a line of thinking that sees liberals and socialists as the real elite within society. Never mind the fact that the whole film is [[CapitalismIsBad an overt criticism of the excesses of capitalism]] (and, by WordOfGod, satire of the Reagan administration specifically), and that the heroes are portrayed as [[ChummyCommies socialists]]. A ''lot'' of Creator/JohnCarpenter's films have been read as libertarian, even though Carpenter himself is a staunch progressive. In an interview with fellow horror director Mick Garris, Carpenter questioned why he has so many libertarian fans and joked that he might have to rethink his political beliefs.
30	*** This is especially odd, as it's stated outright that one of the things the aliens have hypnotized the humans to do is to be individualistic and not engage in solidarity in their thinking, which is possibly one of the most blatant call-outs of libertarianism put to film.
31	%% ZCE ** [puts on sunglasses]: this film is unmistakably anti-globalist.
32	* {{Narm}}:
33	** Holly's wide-eyed nervous stare becomes this after a while, thanks to an infamously flat performance from Meg Foster.
34	** "Life's a bitch, and she's back in heat."
35	* OneSceneWonder:
36	** The couple who are having sex in the final seconds of the film when the man (an alien) experiences a GlamourFailure.
37	** The brave, shotgun-wielding BadassBiker sentry at the resistance meeting, who has less than a minute of screen time but has a pretty impressive presence.
38	* {{Padding}}: The fist fight, infamously so.
39	* ParanoiaFuel: The whole point, in a way. That commercial you just saw on television... just a commercial, or a subliminal message telling you to "OBEY" and "CONFORM"?
40	* SignatureLine: "I have come here to chew bubblegum, and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."
41	* SignatureScene:
42	** The alley fight. For better and for worse.
43	** The scene where Nada puts on the glasses for the first time, especially once the memes came out.
44	* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:Nada and Frank]].
45	* ValuesResonance: Nada's struggles with unemployment and job seeking during harsh economical times and the condemnation of rampant commercialization, the corruption and KillThePoor tendencies of capitalists and the PoliceBrutality during the raid of the shanty town are topics that maintained their relevance.
46	* TheWoobie: It can be easy to pity Frank and Nada with how difficult their lives are in an unsympathetic society (with Frank not even having seen his wife and kids in months and both men working homeless) even before they get mixed up with the aliens.

Context YMMV / TheyLive