As a fan who grew up watching classic 80’s films, I can confidently say that John Carpenter’s “They Live” is one of my all-time favorites. The movie’s iconic moment, when Roddy Piper‘s character, Nada, strides into the bank and delivers his unforgettable line about bubblegum, has left an indelible mark on pop culture.
In the exact scene from John Carpenter’s action-horror masterpiece They Live, when they overheard it, those eerie shape-shifting extraterrestrials were utterly shocked by the words. Thirty-five years have passed since Roddy Piper first donned his fighting gear, stormed a bank, and delivered his iconic battle cry about chewing gum. To this day, that chilling remark continues to be the film’s most recognized and frequently repeated line.
In the film “They Live” on Peacock (watch it here), Piper’s character, simply referred to as “Nada” in the credits, embarks on a traditional uprising of humanity. This decision comes after finding an enigmatic pair of sunglasses that grant him a unique vision: he can see the film’s hidden dystopian truth – a group of alien overlords disguised as humans. These aliens are subtly manipulating society by replacing Orwellian subliminal messages in advertisements and street signs with their own deceptive images.
In the film “They Live”, I’m the one who notices that Piper is the character who perceives the unsettling truth about reality, all thanks to those sunglasses. It appears as if everyone else in the movie is oblivious to the fact that they’ve been stumbling through life without realizing an alien race has been manipulating their world behind the scenes.
How They Live’s “bubblegum” line made it into the movie
By the time the troubled wanderer, Piper, enters the bank in “They Live”, he’s fully aware of the aliens’ plan and determined to take action, despite being a lone soldier. The clever technique used by Carpenter, where color and black-and-white shots are alternated to depict Nada’s perspective through his sunglasses, makes it relatively easy to empathize with his exasperation as he enters, assesses the situation, and delivers the movie’s iconic line.
In this gaming den, I’ve stepped in with a clear intent: to play hard and dominate, if you catch my drift. Guess what? The game’s not the only thing I’ve run out of today… it seems I left my stash of bubblicious back home!
Besides the extended battle scene in the movie, which was a fierce clash between Piper and co-star Keith David, the iconic bubblegum line stands out as one of the most impactful scenes in They Live. Notably, this scene is among the most memorable not just within Carpenter’s extensive body of work, but across his entire filmmaking career. Given that Carpenter had already directed numerous genre classics like the original Halloween, Escape from New York, Christine, The Thing, Starman, and many others, this is a significant statement.
It’s quite fascinating that the memorable one-liner from Piper is said to have not been part of Carpenter’s original script for They Live. According to reports made by Entertainment Weekly at the time of Piper’s death in 2015, Carpenter acknowledged that it was Piper who improvised the witty remark spontaneously – after the cameras had already begun rolling.
In a 2013 interview (as reported by /Film), Piper admitted that he didn’t have a clear understanding of what he was thinking when he improvised the line in the moment. He also mentioned that he, like many others, couldn’t decipher its true meaning. This is because Carpenter gave him vague instructions on how to play out the scene, leaving room for improvisation.
“It was a situation like this – ‘Roddy, you have bullets, a shotgun, sunglasses, and you enter a bank. You won’t rob it, say something… do something!’ ‘I don’t have any bubblegum left.’ ‘Lunchtime!’ That was all that was said. Nothing more, just that. I know, it sounds absurd.
Remarkably, Piper’s peculiar phrasing and flawless timing have left an indelible mark on popular culture. The Creative Culture Wiki Tropedia catalogues numerous tributes in various media that have been inspired by his improvised wit over time. Interestingly, the place often mistaken as the original source of this quote is a 1996 video game called Duke Nukem 3D. The game slightly alters the movie version, yet it captures, in essence, the entire action-packed persona that Piper portrayed.
Whether you’ve got bubblegum or not, “They Live” stays a chilling masterpiece by Carpenter, boasting a cleverly terrifying tale on the surface that subtly showcases the director’s knack for insightful social commentary. Grab some gum and keep those sunglasses close: “They Live” is just a click away on Peacock for your viewing pleasure!
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2024-09-19 18:17