This is an essay on 'They Live' and explains how elements of Marxism and Post-Modernism are used within the film.

1. 10/12/2015 ANNA-MAY CAREY Y13 MEDIA STUDIES //MR COLE
They Live – Essay
1. Write a synopsis for John Carpenter’s 1980s film ‘They Live’.
‘They Live’ is about a young man named John Nada. Ironically Nada in Spanish means nothing and that
is what John Nada is, he is a pure subject with no meaning to him, deprived of all material contents and
aspects of life. He is a homeless worker who drifts from different places, and then lands in LA. One day
while he was staying in LA he comes across an abandoned church and finds a box full of sunglasses.
These sunglasses are capable of showing the world the way it truly is, as Nada walks down the LA
streets he notices that both media and the government are trying to control society through
subconscious messages, which are meant to keep the population submissive to the capitalist way.
Throughout the film we see that most of the people are skull – faced when Nada has the sunglasses on,
this shows the people that are submissive to the capitalist society and are under control of the
government. After Nada’s eyes were opened he decides to try and free humanity from our society that
mind controls us into their way of living.
2. How have communist and socialist movement’s interpreted Marxist ideologyin different
ways?
Socialist’s movement is a social and economic system. It is categorised by social ownership and
democratic control as well as a political theory that helped to establish the social and economic
systems. It refers to public ownership, cooperative ownership and citizen ownership. There are many
different definitions of the socialist’s movement, but overall it’s a common element shared by various
forms. Whereas communism includes social, political and economic systems and movements.
Communism ultimate goal is to establish the socioeconomic order and the absence of social classes,
money, and the state.
3. How does Marxist critique relate to postmodernism?
Marxist critique relates to post-modernism as they both evaluate and analyse the previous era of
modernism. Modernism is about what was the peak of the cultural production, which was the sky
scrapers, technology and all stuff that was made in the society that was advanced in technology but
with them advances came drawbacks. As well both Marxism and post-modernism disconnects us from
our own reality that we live in. We see the society we want which is that everything is perfect and that
it is
4. What Marxist and post-modern critiques can be applied to ‘They Live’?
Marxism is applied to the film ‘They Live’ as it is about capitalism and how it affects the poor people.
Marxism believes that the rich exploit the poor and therefore the film ‘They Live’ communicates this
through the posters and all aspects of media. For example a poster says ‘Obey’ communicating that the
poor should obey the upper class. It also communicates that our society is about making the rich, richer
and the poor, poorer and because it is so reinforced to us we somewhat agree or conform to it.
Post modernism is applied to ‘They Live’ as it uses deconstruction of what society is try to communicate
through mass media. This is shown when John Nada puts on the glasses and sees the real message. It is
also post-modern as it uses the study of symbols also known as semiotics throughout the sunglasses
scene. This is post-modern because it challenges society’s views and does not conform to what is
expected.
5. Textual analysis of Sunglasses scene in ‘They Live’ with a Marxist interpretation
In the sunglasses scene in ‘They Live’ we see a medium shot of Nada putting on the sunglasses and
looking at a media poster to see the meaning behind it. We see the large white poster with grey writing

2. 10/12/2015 ANNA-MAY CAREY Y13 MEDIA STUDIES //MR COLE
saying ‘Obey’, communicating a major ideological point. The inscription on the poster is both post -
modern and uses Marxism, because it analyses the social conflict between the bourgeoisie and
proletariat by saying how the proletariat should obey the upper class and the capitalist society. This
affects us as our society as now they see that we are being controlled by capitalism. The glasses portray
to the audience the somewhat ‘real’ world and how putting on these glasses give us a clear view of our
society.
Another part of the sunglasses scene in ‘They Live’ that shows the use of post-modernism and Marxism
is when Nada is at the news stand. There is an over-the-shoulder midshot of Nada looking at the man’s
money in his hand. The money has an inscription on it that says ‘This is your God’. Through this we see
that our society has become money dominated and how materialism has become the focus of society,
usually encouraged through mass media. This clip is a critique of the ideology that we are aware of and
are comfortable with and communicates what Marxism is all about.
In this clip we see Frank Armitage and John Nada having a fight. This is because John wants Frank to
put on the glasses to make him see the truth of his ideal society. This is the weirdest scene because a
man reacts so violently to putting on the glasses, which shows that he is aware of his life being a lie and
he is scared to be aware of the truth. This communicates to us that you must force yourself to be free
and that if you constantly trust your spontaneous sense of well-being you will never get free. This is key
to Marxism as he says that we should all be free and rebel against this capitalist society and making it
equal, in a number of forms.