Carpenter’s low-budget thriller follows the vagrant Nada (Roddy Piper), who discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, glasses on, Nada is horrified at the blunt subliminal messages being transmitted through media, advertising and government at every turn. Hilariously outrageous, shlocky and wearing its B-movie aesthetic on its sleeve, They Live heaps lively political and social commentary into its capitalist critique. If you’ve wondered if your phone is listening to you, grab your sunglasses for this film. 

Past Futures curatorial notes —
What futures were past filmmakers imagining for our present world? And did those sci fi prophesies come true? All dreamers and designers start from a place of deep imagining.

In Past Futures we look at imagined dystopias and utopias that made their way into the collective conscious – into the design of now – and consider what might be in the making to come.

Presented by The Capitol as part of Melbourne Design Week 2021, an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with the NGV.