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  • Adaptation Displacement: The work is better known as a film instead of a novel.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Nicolas Roeg himself has pointed out that Newton could be seen as a purely human Eccentric Millionaire who's having hallucinations about being an alien, though that's not intended to be Word of God.
  • Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Newton as a Christ figure (plus Mary-Lou=Mary Magdalene and Bryce=Judas) is a popular interpretation, even though Newton doesn't die. There's also lots of talk about the story as a critique of American materialism.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • It Was His Sled: Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien. Despite it being revealed/confirmed about one hour, twenty-one minutes and sixteen point five seconds in, it's blaringly obvious to most who read the title. The novel is completely upfront about this.
  • Moe: David Bowie's character was this long before it was trendy. Newton also inspires copious amounts of "perverse asexual cuddlelust"; torture scenes and general bad luck aside, he emotes such an intense vulnerability—in every scene—that one is filled with the need to protect him...
  • Narm:
    • An emotional confrontation between Thomas and Mary-Lou climaxes with him angrily knocking a tray of cookies she is offering him into the air...and in slow-motion to boot.
    • Also, the random shots of Thomas and Mary-Lou looking into the camera with vacant expressions (Flight of the Conchords referenced these when their song "Bowie" was visualized for their TV show).
    • Thomas freaking out over the cacophony of the Ominous Multiple Screens: "GET OUT OF MY MIND! ALL OF YOU! LEAVE MY MIND ALONE! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG!"
    • Poor Mary-Lou wetting her pants (or lack thereof) when she learns that Thomas is an alien and sees his true form. It's supposed to be a very dramatic and heartbreaking reflection of just how badly shocked she is but it feels like out of place bathroom humor.
    • The last scene of the film features Thomas discussing an album he recorded as a message to his wife, hoping she'll be able to hear it over the radio. Considering the fact that Thomas is played by David Bowie, it ends up killing the immersion for a moment; you sorta have to wonder whether or not Thomas or Bowie is the one speaking. The fact that a Young Americans advertisement is visible in the background at one point certainly doesn't help.
  • Obvious Judas: Given his intelligence and general sleaziness, it's pretty clear once Nathan starts working for Thomas that he's eventually going to figure out his secret and use it against him, but the film keeps you guessing on how exactly it will happen.
  • Questionable Casting: The U.K. trailer warned in voice over "Nothing you have seen or heard about David Bowie can prepare you for the impact of his first dramatic role in The Man Who Fell to Earth." After all, to see an incredibly vibrant and theatrical personality playing an almost emotionless alien would be a surprise...but it worked out quite well for him. Film critics generally vote this or Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence as his best film work, at least as a lead.
  • Tear Jerker: One notable example: When Mary-Lou asks what Thomas's children are like, he replies with a mournful gaze across a lake: "They're like children. Exactly like children." And then there's the Downer Ending: After years of suffering he's stuck on Earth, an alcoholic with no confidante or lover who might help him through the guilt and grief he must be feeling. And We Are As Mayflies to him... Tears? This can induce rage.
  • Ugly Cute: Thomas's true form; when a picture of it appeared on a Bowie fan-blog, one commenter described it as "Voldemort with a nose", and in-film Mary-Lou finds him hideous. But commentators over at YouTube have likened him and his family (especially with their bodysuits) to teddy bears instead...awwww.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: The story supposedly takes place over several decades, but the fashions, technology and virtually everything else remain pure 1970s. This isn't helped by the fact that We Are as Mayflies to an Alien Among Us hero who isn't physically aging, meaning that only the appearances of the supporting characters clue us into the passage of time. On top of that, just the fact that David Bowie plays an alien clearly dates it as in the decade of his Ziggy Stardust sci-fi glam phase (by the time the film was shot in 1975, he had already moved on from that persona and sound).
  • Vindicated by History: While the film evokes wildly differing opinions and interpretations to this day and was not a box-office hit, it has enough admirers to not only be in The Criterion Collection, but to serve as one of its first four Blu-Ray releases.
    • It remains a hit and miss with audiences, but critical opinion of the movie is overwhelmingly positive today.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: A science fiction movie starring David Bowie no doubt attracted a lot of teenage moviegoers in 1976, which must have been pretty awkward once the sex scenes got going.

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