Philosophical Vegan Forum

This is what I'm talking about! This film exposes the capitalist's control over the world, how they want you to buy, consume, obey and reproduce for their benefit.

Slavoj Zizek writes: "They Live is definitely one of the forgotten masterpieces of the Hollywood Left. …The sunglasses function like a critique of ideology. They allow you to see the real message beneath all the propaganda, glitz, posters and so on. …When you put the sunglasses on you see the dictatorship in democracy, the invisible order which sustains your apparent freedom."

You can watch the film here: http://mymovie-dl.com/item/5024/they-live-1988

It sounds like a cool movie. It's on my list of movies to watch.

brimstoneSalad wrote:It sounds like a cool movie

Carpenter is a cool guy, and the film has some redeeming qualities. However, it is also a strange mix of anti-Reagan satire and right-wing rhetoric. You've got the oppressed people fighting for their freedom, but their revolution is just another xenophobic, all-American battle against a number of evil, faceless enemies.
I wonder if Zizek has ever touched upon this.

Slavoj Žižek on "They Live" (The Pervert's Guide to Ideology) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVwKjGbz60k

Freedom hurts, freedom is scary, back to existentialism again. I don't think Zizek would see it as xenophobia but about revealing hierarchies, what he's talked about elsewhere as forcing your boss to treat you as an employee, against the casualization of work and all subsumption of leisure:

toleratedindividuality.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/the-emergent-working-society-of-leisure.pdf

I see your 'They Live' and raise you 'Hell or High Water', a fantastically modern take on the spaghetti western that flips the script between outlaws and sheriffs:

Hell or High Water Clip - Capitalists are the new colonizers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDoCPxxi7To&index=3&list=PLqRNOagVZDVeIdfPUyqFtOIUNaS9nQf3i

NonZeroSum wrote:I don't think Zizek would see it as xenophobia but about revealing hierarchies, what he's talked about elsewhere as forcing your boss to treat you as an employee, against the casualization of work and all subsumption of leisure:

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing. Zizek is right about the message of the film, which is not really difficult to get – a critique of capitalism and the Reagan administration. What I was referring to is Carpenter's own ideological confusion when dealing with the subject of his film. The whole message of They Live, that is, is at odds with both its hero, a Rambo-esque macho man who is straight out of a John Ford's film, and the way his enemies are represented, whose dehumanization reminds one of early American anti-Asian propaganda.

DarlBundren wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2017 2:56 pm

NonZeroSum wrote:I don't think Zizek would see it as xenophobia but about revealing hierarchies, what he's talked about elsewhere as forcing your boss to treat you as an employee, against the casualization of work and all subsumption of leisure:

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing. Zizek is right about the message of the film, which is not really difficult to get – a critique of capitalism and the Reagan administration. What I was referring to is Carpenter's own ideological confusion when dealing with the subject of his film. The whole message of They Live, that is, is at odds with both its hero, a Rambo-esque macho man who is straight out of a John Ford's film, and the way his enemies are represented, whose dehumanization reminds one of early American anti-Asian propaganda.

You can't dehumanize what is already not human. The capitalist parasites are sucking and draining the life-blood out of our planet and the working classes. Now, I may be an ostrovegan, so I can not eat bacon. However, I will make an exception for the bacon taken from capitalist pigs. They have shown no mercy for the weak. We will show no mercy for them. And if any are reading these, they are warned: Eat your pheasant, drink your wine. Your days are numbered, bourgeoisie swine!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:We will show no mercy for them.

Don't you mind being saved by a bubble-gum-chewing professional wrestler?

DarlBundren wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2017 3:17 pm

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:We will show no mercy for them.

Don't you mind being saved by a bubble-gum-chewing professional wrestler?

He's all outta bubblegum. The bourgies better run!