It was entertaining, but lacked the incisive social insight of, say, CHUD. :) Seriously I think of They Live as more sci-fi, a sort of pop version of Phillip Dick.
I know Romero thinks of his zombie flicks as political (and left) now, but I'm not sure if he did when he started making them. (?)
I tend to agree with Stephen King and think of the horror genre as being intrinsically conservative. It's mostly based on xenophobia and preservation of the status quo from outside forces. They Live is kind of an exception because its nasty beasties are part of the status quo -- which is maybe why it's more funny than it is scary. IMO.
--- On Thu, 2/19/09, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: B. <docile_body at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] great movies -- was: "great" "conservative" movies
> To: "LBO Talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 6:36 PM
> As far as left-wing horror movies, what do you all think
> about John Carpenter's "They Live"?
>
> Starring Rowdy Roddy Piper as the working class he-man who
> leads a revolt against bourgeois parasites who, it turns
> out, are actually an alien race in disguise, feeding off
> humans?
>
> There are some preposterous moments, like a 15 minute
> wrestling fight scene in an alley (and which is on YouTube)
> over the "put on the sun sun glasses!" debacle,
> but overall, the theme is pretty brilliant. It's like
> Twilight Zone meets Das Kapital.
>
> -B.
>
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