They Live, We Sleep (Part II)
[Continued from They Live, We Sleep: Part I]
Our truth-seeker, Nada, continues with his quest. He is in the process of awakening. He knows there’s a lot more going on than he is aware of, and he’s coming to understand that you can’t accept anything at face value.
You need to look to alternate sources, and then beyond them (his use of binoculars conveys this metaphor), and then beyond your comfort zone. Watch him as he goes around the church, he pays no attention to things that are out in the open. He is looking behind places, and under things. It’s symbolic of how you need to question everything, even what I and other alleged truth-tellers are advising you of.
Back outside the church, the sheep are having a conversation. They are speaking of how they’ve heard rumors of “bank robberies,” an “epidemic of violence,” “cults,” and “crazy end of the world stuff.” {*1} They are doing what we, who receive our news via the controlled media outlets, and even a bulk of the alternative outlets engage in: mindlessly repeating stories fed to us, and expressing them as either knowledge or opinion.
During the above speculations, one of the vagrants adds, a rather enlightening bit of dialogue: “A whole lot of people going crazy over some nutty dream they just had.” Does anyone remember the words of Bill Hicks? {*2} If you haven’t heard him discuss “life is a ride,” take the three minutes to google it, find it, and do so:
Our hero, still unsatisfied with his quest, keeps looking. He tries to tell his buddy that everything is not what it seems, but his friend doesn’t want to get involved:
Leave it alone, man. It’s none of our business. I’ve got a job now. I just keep walking the white line. I don’t bother nobody. Nobody bothers me. You should do the same.
How many of us truth-seekers encounter this same recycled problematic [programmed] response from our own friends and family when we confront them about anything that threatens their “I’m informed” trance?
- “It’s too distressing for me.”
“I’d rather not know.”
“That’s just coincidence.”
“You should focus on work instead.”
They are conditioned to be sedate. They focus on getting ahead, even though by doing so, they are falling behind, both economically and spiritually. [Ironically, the same person now denying Nada, had contemplated a similar thought earlier.]
Nada, or should I say “no man,” counters with wisdom: “That white line is the middle of the road. That’s the worst place to be.” Exactly!
Next, the police come and raid the tent city. They beat random people up and terrorize the residents. It shows how the police are yet another tool the state uses to oppress its citizenry. Was there a reason for the police raid on the poor and homeless? No. None. But, they need to keep the public afraid.
Fear, ultimately serves the state, as Comrade Stalin himself knew all too well. {*3} These are the real terrorists. The scene, for me, was reminiscent of the way the brutal Israeli state represses the Palestinians in the refugee camps, but I can’t say if that was the director’s intent.
After the raid, the survivors pick through the remnants of their belongings and their lives. The scene is reminiscent of how ants behave after one steps on their mound. I had to pause and reflect on a quote from the movie A Bug’s Life.
The words serve as wisdom, to address the issue of why our ruling elite are compelled to keep us in perpetual ignorance and fear:
You let one ant stand up to us – then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a 100 to one. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life.
The sole television set in the tent city, left unmolested by the police (yes, it’s safe to assume intentionally), paradoxically plays on:
Oman’s collection puts passion before fashion, but goes glitter and in comes divine excess. The warm collection revels in freedom of expression.
While the ants predictably scamper about, our protagonist takes an entirely different path. He goes back to the church: the “forbidden area,” or alternately, “hallowed ground.” {*4} The wall that said “THEY LIVE, WE SLEEP” has been symbolically WHITE-washed. {*5} Thus, he, growing more aware, looks behind the white-washed wall and retrieves the box of sunglasses.
Finally, our hero puts on the Sunglasses. And now, he can see!
“OBEY! OBEY!” command the subliminal advertisements. On the surface, just like this movie itself is some wacky Sci-Fi spoof featuring a former wrestler, the adverts show women in bikinis or a pack of cigarettes. But, under the surface, they are dictating orders and shaping our consciousness.
The choice of sunglasses as the means for enabling one to see the world as it really is creates some interesting parallels. Are they representative of a powerful sigil that can ward off/block out the lies (our reality) of the Solar Cult? Are they a symbolic refraction tool, to allow us to look directly at the propaganda of the Emissaries of Light (e,g., Freemasons), and see through the facade of Illuminism?
He proceeds to look at things with the sunglasses on, which starts causing him a sharp headache. The metaphor is likely indicative that when you finally wake up (e.g., when you get past something like 9/11), you realize that everything else you believed in at one time is now also suspect. Your perception of “reality” starts to change. It is akin to unplugging from the matrix. It brings on a shock to one’s consciousness and you will begin to fear/understand, as was said in The Matrix, “The rabbit-hole goes deep.”
Nada continues to observe his new reality. Every sign, every billboard, is not as it seemed. They read:
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He passes a magazine stand. Row upon row. No cover art. No faces. No images. Just a black and white world of subliminal messages. He looks within a magazine. Without the glasses: charts and graphs. With them: simply “Obey.” Across the street, even the stop sign reads/dictates “SLEEP.”
The newsstand vendor interrupts his mental discombobulation, asking if he’s going to buy something (implying he should move along if not, i.e., societally reinforced consumerism). In the vendor’s hand, he is holding a series of Federal Reserve notes, and the sunglasses disclose that none reflect their denomination, but instead “THIS IS YOUR GOD.” It certainly is!
Alas, we see who the “They” in the film’s title are, as Nada sees his first “Alien.” Anyone familiar with David Icke’s work, will surely note the reptilian quality of the alien skin. Would John Carpenter have been aware of Icke’s theory ahead of time? I would speculate not. The choice could have also been a nod to William Bramley’s “Brotherhood of the Snake,” or even a gnosis of the theories of intervention and the inter-mingling of reptile DNA, as presented by Michael Tsarion.
The Aliens are all around him, mixing freely and walking among the people. They are everywhere. At one shop, some white-collar flunky (i.e., average Joe) is moping about how he “just can’t seem to get that promotion.” His Alien coworker, better-dressed, and likely, higher up in the corporate ranks, consoles, “Don’t worry. I’m sure it will come.” {*7} [many point to this scene as the strongest argument towards the metaphor of “aliens” being representative of “the tribe”]
The Aliens are shown to be part of the wealthier subset of society. They appear outwardly as ourselves, but are “our betters,” as would be labeled by those of us brainwashed by the unholy trinity of media, education and culture. Our hero glances up at the television screen, and to no surprise, the politician giving a speech, is also an alien.
Overcoming the initial shock, he snaps at an older blue-haired woman looking pomp in her diamonds and fur. He calls her out for the ugly alien he sees her as. In response, she calls in help, and we get one of the sound-bites from the movie, “I’ve got one that can see.”
Trying to stay ahead of the police, he runs inside a bank, which unsurprisingly, is full of Aliens. {*8} The police catch up with him, and sure enough, these tools of tyranny are also staffed mainly by Aliens. One policeman, who he chooses not to kill, is human. Is this an advisement that some of the cops, are just following orders, unaware of the beast they are serving?
In his effort to escape, he kidnaps a human woman and seeks temporary shelter at her house. Holly. Something about her, I can’t place. Disturbing/intoxicating eyes. A cold, yet alluring demeanor. Is there a significance to her living on “Circle View” Drive? We’ll come back to her later. For now, I’ll note that she does betray Nada, and that her early plea to him bears repeating.
I’ll do anything you want, whenever you want… as long as you don’t hurt me, please. [My friend Anesti views her words as a parallel to the pact we make with our rulers, offering submission and servitude in exchange for security.]
When we ourselves, “wake up,” our next natural step, is to try and awaken others. The first people we go to, tend to be our friends and family, and as would be expected, our protagonist goes to his “buddy.” His friend’s response is typical of the type we truth-seekers normally encounter:
You ain’t showing me nothing. I got a wife and kids. So leave me alone.
We’re then treated (some may argue “mistreated”) to what I think may be the longest fight scene I have ever seen in any movie. I first saw They Live several years ago, while I was still sleeping. Likely driven by ego, I assumed the reason for the scene’s extraordinary length was to please the brain-dead wrestling fans, who only came to see the movie because of Rowdy Roddy Piper. Sometime after I woke up, I recalled this film and realized the underlying story was far more significant than I had first assumed. I began recommending the movie to all, always adding, “But, you’ve gotta give it a chance. Don’t be dissuaded by the ridiculously long fight scene that just goes on and on and on.”
In preparation for this review, I sat down to watch the movie again, and it finally occurred to me. The fight represents the struggle we have, to convince those closest to us, that what we are telling them is real; that what they’ve believed over their entire life is a lie. Those closest to us, tend to be the most resistant.
Do you, recall the first time you tried to convince a friend that 9/11 was not done by some smarmy Arab supermen? Or, about how we are the property of the owners of our Federal Reserve System? Or, that the same person who created the American Cancer Society, is the same who discovered how to create cancer in humans? Sometimes, you just feel like you’re literally banging your head against the wall. To John Carpenter’s credit, he extended this fight scene to drive that point even into our own thick skulls.
[To be continued in, They Live, We Sleep: Part III]
| They Live, We Sleep (Part I) | They Live, We Sleep (Part II) |
| They Live, We Sleep (Part III) | They Live [Video Companion] |
*1: One vagrant precedes his rumor-mongering with, “I was talking to one old boy from San Anselmo.” San Anselmo is the home of George Lucas, the director who’s movies are so steeped in occultism, we’re forced to surmise he is a member of some secret society. Not sure, but do feel the reference may have been intentional to reflect that disinfo comes from that source. [LB]
*2: RIP Bill Hicks. A voice of truth in the wilderness of falsehood. Personally, I believe they killed him. Killing his career wasn’t enough, so they had to end his life. If you’re unfamiliar with his story or his philosophy, research him. [LB]
*3: Joseph Stalin, while a despicable human being, was good enough to let us know how the system works: “The easiest way to gain control of the population is to carry out acts of terror.” [LB]
*4: Michael Tsarion made some interesting observations of the etymological origins/relation between the words “hollow” and “holy.” He speculates that some churches were built on hallowed, i.e., hollow, ground to cover entrances to Hollow Earth, a topic we’ll revisit later in this same movie. [LB]
*5: Whitewash: there are some debates on the origin of the word, one Biblical, the other a millennium newer, used to describe the process of whitewashing the walls of a town after a massacre, to “cover up” traces of the barbarity. The phrase also gained some notoriety in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, as the pig Napoleon, used it to delete the memory of characters from the minds of other animals, ala the previously mentioned Stalin. Of more recent usage, I would label Michael Moore’s films as definitive of the term (blog upcoming). Lately, I’ve begun to suspect the Loose Change series, may be a more subvert example. [LB]
*6: Some believe that the 24 hour time-clock, Daylight Savings Time, and even the Julian Calendar, are “unnatural,” and yet another means used to prevent us from being in synch with the universe, and further removed from true consciousness. [LB]
*7: I’m sure whichever “reptile” theory one subscribes to, would be the one each respective viewer will choose to look at this film through. The scene with the two workers, could also lend weight to the Zionist Control Theory, as the Zionist’s current proponents (the Jewish people) do intermingle in society, yet in general, are higher up on the social ladder. While the topic bears further exploration, it is outside the scope of this review. However, I would like to point out that the ADL accuses David Icke of using the term “6 Foot Reptiles” as code for “Jews.” While I doubt that was Icke’s intent, I think whoever is making those accusations of Icke, should pause and reflect on how many Jewish people they know that are actually 6 feet tall. [LB]
*8: A nod to the competing International Banker Control Theory? Whereas, in relation to this movie, the Aliens would be the Banking Cabal, and the American Neocons and Zionist Jews are the human “power elite” front-men (i.e, the ones that would be sacrificed to the public, should anything go wrong). [LB]
The Celtic Rebel 
“One policeman, who he chooses not to kill, is human. Is this an advisement that some of the cops, are just following orders, unaware of the beast they are serving?”
Yes. That is part of their craftiness. Whether you attend a church retreat, a job interview in corporate U.S.A., or attempt to play golf at the club, you will encounter sociometric tests that intermingle actors amongst the innocents. It helps obfuscate them, as they “hide in plain sight”. These “wolves in sheeps clothing” rely upon the air of authenticity that innocents lend to the psychodrama. It’s to confuse those who’s third eye is nearly squeegied clean.
In regards to Bill Hicks: I have listened to everything he’s said and recorded, and during a couple of club dates, he mentioned a book called Final Exit. I think Bill may have visualized his own exit, seeing as how frustrating it was becoming trying to get everyone else to wake up sans psychedelic experiences. my .02
In the short story by Ray Nelson, which as you said was the catalyst for the film, there are no sunglasses (must be Carpenter’s idea) – he sees things as they are because he was at a hypnotist theatre show and took the directive ‘Awake’ further than expected. The short story definitely is about reptilians, so it’s not Carpenter’s theory. For instance, in “Eight O’Clock in the Morning”:
‘…carefully avoiding giving indication that he saw the green, reptilian flesh or the multiple yellow eyes of the rulers of Earth.”
Even references to shapeshifting, “For a moment the reptilian head dissolved into the face of a lovable old drunk.” All references are to “reptilian”, “alien”, “lizard”, “Fascinator[s]” and “the masters.”
oobi, I like your perspective. And yes, Bill Hicks was definitely connected to the universal mind, and may have picked up on something subconsciously there.
Evelyn, I’ve since learned that Hoffman Lenses were likely Carpenter’s source of inspiration. Rewatching part of the film, they even used that specific term.
Again, thanks for the insight into Ray Nelson’s story. Wonder if it was Icke’s inspiration too. I may have to read that myself sometime.
I think the most interesting question is: why did Carpenter make the changes he did from Nelson’s short story? Reptilian origins to dead/skeletal look; multiple yellow eyes to white or empty orbits; shapeshifting ability to being hidden from us by hypnotic means; and a few more. Because I think anyone who reads the short story AFTER they see and understand what They Live is maybe hinting at would agree that the short story is more compelling and scary at some deeper level. Agreed? So, if Carpenter is trying to “open eyes”, then why the changes? Who is closer to the truth, Nelson or Carpenter? Carpenter certainly takes the “agenda” further, especially in regards to broadcasting mind-control frequencies from TV stations (or cell phone towers in more recent times), but his portrayal of the enemy seems to me to be of a very Jewish / Zionist flavor, which maybe shouldn’t be surprising given Carpenter’s Hollywood connections. That is also why the female character was named “Holly”, most likely.