They Live – FLNWO #18
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This month on Film, Literature and the New World Order, James talks to Guillermo Jimenez of TracesofReality.com about “They Live,” John Carpenter’s surprisingly prescient 1988 film about a society hypnotized and controlled by an alien species that cannot be seen directly. We discuss the film as a metaphor for the modern day “truth movement” viewpoint of a world controlled by a conspiratorial ruling elite, and what that metaphor can teach us about rebellion and resistance to the system as it exists.
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SHOW NOTES:
Eight O’Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”
Rowdy Piper Talks They Live, Illuminati & More!
Filed in: Film, Literature & The New World Order
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I remember watching “They Live” on VHS in 1989 or 1990. I recently rewatched it with my 17 years old son — and he IMMEDIATELY saw the creepiness of the whole movie.
Some points that came to mind while listening to the show:
“The sleeper has Awaken” is also an important part of Frank Herbert’s Dune — Paul Atreides (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ragXpWsAI). Herbert was apparently quoted as explaining it thus:
“A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing you to grow. Without them, it sleeps- seldom to awaken. The sleeper must awaken. â€
Herbert’s whole Dune series (in my opinion) are addressing a fundamental structure problem in human existence — which is expressed in its backstory as humans being conquered by their own technology. I’ve been wondering if Herbert was inspired at least at some point by Jocque Ellul’s ideas of “La Technique”.
(Note, Ellul was not a conspiracy denier so much but stated that he thought the people who thought they were in control weren’t actually in control. He predicted that their )
Additionally, during and after the time of Plato, the idea of powers at work in mysterious ways is a Hebrew idea. Reading something like the book of Enoch, you get introduced to Angels who have fallen from Heaven that are the source of all the evils of man.
In the more canonical books of the Bible, the Apostle Paul refers: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesian 6:12).
Sorry … didn’t finish my point on Ellul … He predicted that those who control would be undone (along with potentially the rest of humanity) by their techniques of control.
I watched it due to having seen Icke talk about it in one of his ‘shows’
Hi James,
Patrick from London here. In reference to V the tv series and its origins, they are claiming (from the bastion of truth wikKa-pedia):- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(1983_miniseries)#Origins
Inspired by Sinclair Lewis’ anti-fascist novel It Can’t Happen Here (1935), director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings, in 1982. The script was presented to NBC for production as a television mini-series, but the NBC executives rejected the initial version, claiming it was too “cerebral” for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, the American fascists were re-cast as man-eating extraterrestrials, taking the story into the realm of science fiction to capitalize on the popularity of science-fiction franchises such as Star Wars. V, which cost $13 million ($31,000,000 today) to make,[1] premiered on May 1, 1983.[2][3]
so i looked at the novel:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here – the novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a populist United States Senator who is elected to the Presidency after promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and traditional values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of Adolf Hitler and the SS. The novel’s plot centers around journalist Doremus Jessup’s opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it.
interesting…
I believe Icke was well trained via the BBC with all the correct ‘BUZZ’ words ….take care
I think the western esoteric tradition/occult really helps flesh out some of these NWO topics, and the symbolism associated with it shows up in many films, including “They Live”.
One of the fundamental ideas, I think, in the tradition is that the “world of man”, or in general terms, civilization, is really the world of lies–it’s a lie in the sense that it is unreal, lived totally in the mind. Plato’s got the allegory of the cave, but really the entire set of Socratic dialogs has the character Socrates trying to find his way out of the artificial world.
I think the modern practitioners of the esoteric tradition have basically rejected skepticism and philosophy and have embraced crass materialism and philosophical (and practical) nihilism–they’re just murderers and gangsters, but they do it in secret. Any ideology they espouse is just a costume.
I think the skull faces and purple flesh of the aliens in “They Live” is meant to symbolize that. (You’ll frequently find the Satan character in films wearing purple.)
It’s a great flick. I’ll have to watch it again tonight.
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
The skull MAY mean nihlism in the sense that an initiate might be shown a pair of skulls and asked “who is the king who is the beggar?” which MIGHT mean that you may as well grab and enjoy what you can in life since when you die you “sleep eternally” which was (allegedly by Nesta Webster) an Illuminati doctrine from the beginning.
The purple likely means “royalty” or ruler in the flesh (if it has a specific meaning) because purple was a very expensive dye color only royals were allowed to wear in the ancient world, Roman senators would have a purple stripe to mark their rank but only the Roman Emperor could wear a purple robe
One other point about sleeping/waking. This is another one of those concepts in the esoteric tradition, and also in literature and film. Think of all the rituals of pseudo burial and pseudo resurrection in secret societies.
For me, I think “sleep”/”awake” represent states of consciousness or lack of intention/focus.
Once again, a great podcast!
Here is a short film from the (in my view) always interesting Rob Ager about this film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkNmi9v8qUA
which could be seen as a continuation of his thoughts on conspiracy theories in this longer film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8xAjS1Hfrw
Thanks
This was wonderful James! A week ago I’m talking with a friend in Latin America about “They Live” and the “shifting consciousness” that is working to expose the Reptilians and next thing I know you do an interview on it. I loved how you reflected the idea that “something in the ether” was working behind the scenes to expose this whole thing. How very right you were. Fantastic!
David Icke is not the only person talking about Reptilians, actually a number of people have had direct contact. Here’s a brief and amusing little account that parallels “They Live” surprisingly well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZmBAH_5Nt4
I want to run an idea past you James and everyone here that has been developing over the past several years. After that I’ll include some links and a brief summary to hopefully make the case that the idea is both relevant to our political situation and timely with respect to current events.
In brief I am in contact with an international community of people who have direct contact with a spectrum of exotic beings. This contact is very focused, ongoing and surprisingly oriented towards our contemporary political issues.
Some of these individuals are not only able to see and communicate with Reptilians (and other beings) but have actually helped shift individual Reptilians from a manipulative regressive position into a more energetically constructive stance complete with a conscience and desire to be of service. This is quite a transformation and involves a significant learning curve. I’m spoken to one such being (a female Reptilian) and the exchange was remarkable. Very perceptive and able to see me at a distance quite clearly.
Just to make it more interesting, we’ve recently connected with a group that is working behind to scenes to “combat” the entire negative reptilian influence within human consciousness on a global level. While operating primarily within a different frequency range they have maintained an infrastructure among us and had a hand in producing the following video in German.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKk8E4EMTmU
I’ve spoken with them as well. They have a great sense of humor and background information about the period from WWII to the present that not surprisingly stands our understanding of history on it’s head.
So my question to you James and to this community of awakening minds is this. Would you like to speak with them? Would you like to develop a format in which their information and story can be heard? It will undoubtedly take some creativity to set this up but the synchronicity involved in your doing that interview about “They Live” is pretty impressive. They will probably be willing to answer question as well.
Let me know, this would undoubtedly be ground breaking and VERY interesting.
[Snip for length. Posts are limited to 500 words. You might want to post your links and investigation in the open comment thread taking place in the Articles section this weekend. – James]
Thanks for the message, JM, and sorry for any confusion in what I said in this podcast. Just to be clear, I absolutely do not subscribe to the idea that there is a literal reptilian elite and I am absolutely uninterested in having proponents of this theory on the podcast.
D.H.Lawrence -“Never trust the teller, trust the tale.”
Possibly irrelevant, but I am now getting a shiver when seeing young people with these OBEY (R) shirts:
http://www.obeyclothing.com/men/sweatshirts.html
Will be the same with Google glasses, which I am not so sure they will let you see (as the sun glasses in They Live). I also liked the watches which allow the communication
ðŸ™
In total a real astonishing view on the world we are getting into.
Thanks James, for digging it up!
“I got a wife and kids and dont want to know the truth…”
The way I have heard it is “I’m too busy working to wonder why I am poor or my savings and pensions are evaporating…”
This movie reminds me of ‘wag the dog’ in that it talked about serious topics that 95% of people at the time they came out could really not relate to or understand due to the control of information and news , the interruption of which we have been privileged to live thru.
I definitely missed this podcast. Very good work James. I first watched this movie when I was child and was afraid to look at the aliens lol. I definitely did not understand the meaning behind it.
I then watched this again in my early 20’s and although the acting was terrible, the movie is good and the message hit me and I’m not even sure if it hit me the way Carpenter intended it. But most of the metaphors and symbology apply to our everyday life.