They Live!/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Adaptation Displacement: The plot originally comes from a Science Fiction short story involving a man who can see the messages after being hypnotized. No aliens existed in this version, but the messages on the signs were identical.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: How truly evil are the aliens supposed to be? Despite the fact they are obviously manipulating humanity, they don't do anything overtly malevolent throughout the film, with most of those actions actually being done by humans themselves. Why do they bother telling humans about the conspiracy? It's clear they don't need to reveal themselves, else why bother with the hypnotic signal in the first place? Also much of what we are told about them is contradictory at best, such as the scientist's idea they're their xenoforming Earth's atmosphere to match their homeworld, which begs the question of why, given that they easily can survive Earth's own atmosphere anyway? And if humans are as equally disgusting to them as they are to us and they wish us to reproduce, why would the alien during The Stinger be screwing a human?
    • That last alien guy might just be the alien equivalent of a sheepfucker.
  • Anvilicious: In spades.
  • What an Idiot!: So you find a pair of glasses that show you the truth: that aliens have basically taken over the world and are controlling our minds as we speak. There is absolutely no way you can fight them gun to gun, since they control everything. You need to go about this the smart way, because it's the only way. So what do you do? You start yelling at everyone you see about aliens.

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