THEY LIVE: A Visual & Cultural Awakening
A visual celebration of one of the 80s most revered cult films, designed as a perfect replica from the film’s iconic magazine stand. Politics, art, music, comics, literature, philosophy, and of course film, They Live touches on topics that are as relevant now as they were then. Leading cultural figures explore and examine the film’s influence and impact.
The book offers commentary through original contributions on the film’s core themes – including street artist, Shepard Fairey; celebrated musician and soundtrack aficionado, John Grant; radical philosopher and thinker, Slavoj Zizek; critical essay by Bill Posters on international subvertising group Brandalism and contemporary propagandas; international horror and science-fiction critic and author, Roger Luckhurst; as well as featuring the original short story Eight O’Clock in the Morning, on which the film is based and its comic adaptation, written by Ray Nelson, and inked by Bill Wray of Ren and Stimpy fame. It also features the work of artists Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Guerrilla Girls and more.
Subliminal messages play with your mind throughout, as well as the smell of bubblegum, and even an essay written in the language of the film’s aliens and the means to decode it. This distinct and meticulous book is a must for any film lover, and is an artefact to behold in both its object and conceptual sense.
A special edition release (750 copies worldwide) is also available that features a limited edition, hand-numbered This Is Your God money certificate signed by author Craig Oldham and comes enclosed in a slipcase.
Foreword from director, John Carpenter and published by Rough Trade Books.
Author: Various
Editor: Craig Oldham
Release Date: January, 2019
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-912722-18-1
