They Live

 

I recently watched the cult classic film from 1988 They Live. It is a deep movie that is still entertaining more than 30 years later. It is similar to Fight Club and The Matrix and is a criticism of the western world that is consumed by greed and materialism. After watching it again I started wondering about what the movie was really trying to say. 

If They Live movie is an indictment of capitalism and consumerism then what is the solution? The main characters use guns to kill the aliens so is the movie advocating killing the rich capitalists. Is it a movie that supports communism? As history shows us, killing the elite only works in the short term. Soon enough the new elite will just become as corrupt and as cruel as the old elite. It happened after the Russian revolution and it happened in post colonial Africa. The book Animal Farm comes to mind. The problem of western society is not capitalism, consumerism or which ever political and economic system is in place. Perhaps the problem of western civilisation is a spiritual one.

Which brings me to the second point. They Live makes it a point to start with a man preaching from the Bible. The shades that show the real world are found in a church. Is the movie trying to say that religion and Christianity will save the west from decadence. Is the belief in God the shades that illuminate and show the reality of the world. Are the aliens really the demons that control the world? The problems is that even Christianity has been commercialised. In fact Christianity has been materialistic for millennia. Even though Jesus taught his followers to give up their possessions the Catholic church was concerned with hording wealth. Even though Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and taught the body is the Temple, early Christians built magnificent cathedrals because of their vanity. Historically, the Bible and religion have been used as tools to justify slavery, conquest and colonialism. Religion is part of the matrix. So no, religious belief is not the solution to the consumerism in the world.

In conclusion, there is no solution to the problem of greed and elitism. But like Tupac's song Changes states, that is just the way it is, some things will never change. Like the Bible said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 there is nothing new under the sun. They Live is a polemic work that is critical of President Reagan and Reagonomics but America had already been ultra capitalist in the days of the Robber Barons, Rockefeller, Carnegie and company. In USA the 80s were a communist paradise compared to the hyper-capitalist 1870s. The upper class exploiting the lower classes is a tale as old as the hills. In fact, sometimes I wonder why some people in the west bemoan and complain about consumerism. At least they have prosperity and more than the rest of the world. Movies like Fight Club and They Live remind me of spoilt rich kids crying about not being loved by their parents. They believe their lives are unbearably difficult when in reality they live in the lap of luxury. If you think living in a capitalist country is so hard trying staying alive in a Third World shit hole. It is funny how Americans complained about their country in the 80s and 90s but today in 2025 America is in a far worse situation. Americans now look at the 80s with nostalgia. 

 The elite in the western civilisation use bread and circus to control their people. Whilst other rulers in the world use the gun to keep their people in line, the upper class in the First World gives people sports, fast food, gambling, porn, video games, TV shows, movies, drugs etc to distract them whilst they horde the wealth. Similar to the Roman emperors giving chariot races and bread to the masses, the upper class in USA and Europe give their people entertainment as a means to control. And by and large it works well. To control the blacks in America the establishment gave them drugs, hip hop, sports and other distractions to keep them away from the black power movement. Thus the only solution to consumerism and capitalism is to head off into the mountains and live like the Amish. But the reality is most people dont want to live in a rural small town without the big city lights.

The fact of life is that there will always be poor people in the world. Even Jesus said in Matthew 26: 11 that the poor will always be with you. There can never be equality. Social Darwinism is the reality. Only the strong survive life isnt fair. Some people are just too stupid, unlucky or lazy to ever be rich.  There will never be a utopia. The communists and fascists tried to create a utopia and failed. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and sometimes the devil you know (capitalism) is better than the devil you don't know. The grass looks greener on the other side and half a loaf is better than nothing. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I could go on and on with aphorisms and proverbs about being gratitude but you get my point. The best thing you can do is to be grateful for what you have. Like the Bible says, eat and drink for tomorrow we are to die. And western civilisation has a lot to be grateful for when compared to the rest of the world. Instead of complaining about materialism they should be thanking their lucky stars they get to live in USA, a and of opportunity and a world of abundance. A world that may not be perfect but is pretty damn close.