History YMMV / TheyLive

** COULD be justified by the notion that the glasses are said to mess with your psyche a bit and that Nada was having a serious case of GoMadFromTheRevelation.

* WhatAnIdiot: So you find a pair of glasses that show you the truth: that aliens have basically taken over the world and are controlling our minds as we speak. There is absolutely no way you can fight them gun to gun, since they control ''everything''. You need to go about this the smart way, because it's the only way. So what do you do? You start yelling at everyone you see about aliens.

** The saying "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum,]]" existed before this film, but virtually every subsequent use finds its ancestry to this film.

* WhatAnIdiot: So you find a pair of glasses that show you the truth: that aliens have basically taken over the world and are controlling our minds as we speak. There is absolutely no way you can fight them gun to gun, since they control ''everything''. You need to go about this the smart way, because its the only way. So what do you do? You start yelling at everyone you see about aliens.

* MemeticMutation: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. [[OhCrap And I'm all out of bubblegum."]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped[=/=]ValuesResonance: The only things outdated in this film are the hairstyles.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done by humans themselves. Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy? It's clear they ''don't'' need to reveal themselves, or else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea that they're xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, [[FridgeLogic which raises the question]] of ''why'', given that they easily can survive in Earth's own atmosphere anyway?
** The aliens are exactly as evil as the rich of the United States in the 1980s--which, in John Carpenter's view, was pretty damn evil.
** Considering the MARRY and REPRODUCE apparently included ''with the aliens'' one might well consider it to be a species-wide subliminal date-rape. Fantastic timing, MDMA/Ecstacy had just been placed on the Schedule 1 narcotic list three years before this movie came out...
** Another AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The story depicts [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_schizophrenia paranoid schizophrenia]], ThroughTheEyesOfMadness as an UnreliableNarrator. Nada's behavior ''entirely'' parallels that of someone undergoing a violent psychotic episode. In ''this'' interpretation, all of the events of the film are in Nada's mind, and Holly (along with the others who tried to get in the way) is/are TheHero trying to stop an InsaneEqualsViolent SerialKiller/spree killer.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The fight over Frank not wanting to wear Nada's sunglasses.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped[=/=]ValuesResonance: The only things outdated in this film are the hairstyles.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done by humans themselves. Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy? It's clear they ''don't'' need to reveal themselves, or else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea that they're xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, [[FridgeLogic which asks the question]] of ''why'', given that they easily can survive in Earth's own atmosphere anyway?

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done by humans themselves. Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy? It's clear they ''don't'' need to reveal themselves, or else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea that they're xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, [[FridgeLogic which begs the question]] of ''why'', given that they easily can survive in Earth's own atmosphere anyway?

* MemeticMutation: "I have come hear to chew bubblegum and kick ass. [[OhCrap And I'm all out of bubblegum."]]

* MemeicMutation: "I'm hear to kick ass and chew bubblegum, [[OhCrap and I'm all out of bubblegum."]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The only things outdated in this film are the hairstyles.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done [[HumansAreBastards by humans themselves.]] Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy? It's clear they ''don't'' need to reveal themselves, or else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea that they're xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, [[FridgeLogic which begs the question]] of ''why'', given that they easily can survive in Earth's own atmosphere anyway? And if humans are as equally disgusting to them as they are to us and they wish us to reproduce, why would the alien during TheStinger be screwing a human?
** That last alien guy might just be the alien equivalent of a sexual deviant?
** Except we see ''multiple'' married couples throughout the film, who are both alien and human. They can't all be deviants and it can't be against the rules, since their leaders control ''everything'' and would easily find out?! This raises the question, was the cops who made the disgusting comment, just simply a ''racist?''

* 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"?

** Except we see ''multiple'' married couples throughout the film, who are both alien and human. They can't all be deviants and it can't be against the rules, since their leaders control ''everything'' and would easily find out?! This raises the question, was the cops who made the disgusting comment, just simply be ''racist?''

** That last alien guy might just be the alien equivalent of a sheepfucker.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The plot originally comes from a ScienceFiction short story involving a man who can see the messages after being hypnotized. No aliens existed in this version, but the messages on the signs were identical.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done [[HumansAreBastards by humans themselves.]] Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy, its clear they ''don't'' need to reveal themselves, else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea they're their xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, [[FridgeLogic which begs the question]] of ''why'', given that they easily can survive Earth's own atmosphere anyway? And if humans are as equally disgusting to them as they are to us and they wish us to reproduce, why would the alien during TheStinger be screwing a human?

* {{Anvilicious}}: In spades.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The transition shot of Nada and Co walking out of the warehouse between the police driving into pursuit. The extreme close-up of Nada is one of the best transition shots in this troper's opinion.
** The famous fight scene.