They Live. The film that makes The Matrix. And no pendoflops are needed.

You see them on the street.
You watch them on TV.
You might even vote for one this fall.
You think they're people just like you.
You're wrong ...... Dead wrong.

Recently there was a post about the fact that soon computers will be able to create a picture almost indistinguishable from reality. In the comments, they expressed a sound idea: you do not need to draw a picture, it is enough to transmit images to the brain. They also remembered the Matrix.

Remember when you used to play Doom and Duke Nukem? A few years later, Far Cry appeared, but he did not bring such sensations as from the very first level of Doom.

There is a film that makes the Matrix in the story, like Doom and Duke Nukem do in Far Cry gameplay.

This is a great John Carpenter film They Live. By the way, Duke and this film have a lot in common. But more on that later.

The film is based on the story of Ray Nelson's "At eight in the morning" (Eight O'Clock in the Morning), written already in 1963.

The action takes place against the backdrop of urban and industrial landscapes of Los Angeles around the 70s of the XX century. Everyday everyday reality: lumpen, digging in trash bins and ordinary people, buried in a TV box, and consuming, consuming, consuming. Consirate, in a word.

But there are things that seem not quite ordinary. For example, a television program is sometimes interrupted by underground broadcasts, to which, however, people almost do not respond. The cops, who were already very actively handling a strange street preacher.

And so the main character, John Ned, a simple hard worker, witnesses the defeat of an underground organization. Motivated by curiosity, he enters their room, where he finds only a box with sunglasses. John's disappointment gives way to shock when he accidentally puts on these glasses.

Without any rendering and cables in the turtles (hello, Wachowski brothers), people's consciousness is controlled, and glasses show what people cannot see. Among people live strange creatures with ugly faces, at the traffic lights - some strange repeaters, and on advertising posters - inscriptions like "obey", "consume", "do not doubt the authority", "sleep", "do not think", " watch TV".

Unlike the “cult” one, as it has become fashionable to say through the efforts of PR specialists, “The Matrix”, They Live is a film in which the viewer is literally immersed and empathizes with the main character. Still, the operator’s work and acting are cooler than fancy special effects:

This is your god

A dumb engine couldn’t insert the video from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-_SSO_hhI

By the way, Roddy Piper, who played the main role (his invitation was a surprise to everyone), is a person with a rather complicated and interesting fate. Like John Carpenter, whom I consider to be one of the most talented people in Hollywood. The director, actor, producer, screenwriter and composer are all one person, and he has made great films such as Halloween, Something, Escape from New York.

I've got one that can see!

The rendered crowd of Smith’s agents doesn’t make such an impression on me as a small episode in which an alien, looking directly into the eyes of the viewer, says: “I've got one that can see!” And after a few seconds (here, evaluate the operator’s work) from all Strangers are approaching the parties, transmitting information about the signs of the one who could see them.


A dumb engine couldn’t insert the video from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBY6pF42I-c

But this scene, where one of the heroes refuses to wear glasses to see reality, is not just a fight. Behind it is the completely ordinary reluctance of people to “wake up” (a simple analogue is the fear of going to the doctor so as not to find out about your illness):



By the way, in modern cinema they don’t fight like that, some special effects remained. The scene, however, breaks off at the most interesting, when John still puts on Frank's glasses and makes him look at the world.

From other Western fiction, the film They Live distinguishes by the fact that it is a social , not a political picture. There is no image of an external enemy or “evil empire”, but the relationship between the “elite” and society is shown. And many more important things are shown, in the "Matrix" this is not even close.

The film was not a commercial success, and John Carpenter himself was even called a communist.

Duke Nukem forever!

One of the best computer games, Duke Nukem 3D, was released in 1996. 8 years after the John Carpenter movie. The game has many moments that have something in common with the film:

• The action of the film and the game begins in Los Angeles.
• One of the levels is called They Live.
• Balloons flying over the streets with cameras, a few years later similar devices will appear in Half-Life 2.
• Remember how sometimes these monsters teleported to the Duke?
  
  
  Remember what they did before disappearing? They clicked on the watch, just like the aliens from the movie.
• And, of course, this:
  
  Dumb engine couldn’t insert movie from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso

Welcome to the real world

Back to our reality. PR technologies and the media have already unrecognizably distorted the picture of the world. No real-time rendering, no telepathic broadcast of aliens.



When from all screens, from the pages of magazines and newspapers, through the Internet, on the radio, a thousand times they say “vote for this” or “buy this”, then most will do so. Most do. Votes, buys, consumes. Moreover, stating that it was they who were not subject to "stupid advertising."

Education and the Internet are glasses that allow you to see. It is no coincidence that in recent years, activities are underway to establish control over the Internet, in particular, over the blogosphere. From “trial balls”, bills for registering blogs as media, to show trials designed to inspire people with the thought: you write what you think, you get in trouble.

No aliens are needed to control society. Actually, Carpenter says about this: "The creatures are corrupting us, so they themselves are corruptions of human beings." Media control is what works right now.

In conclusion: