In John Carpenter‘s 1988 cult classic They Live, WWE Hall-of-Famer Rowdy Roddy Piper plays a man who finds a pair of sunglasses that block all forms of media. Putting them on, he learns a terrifying hidden truth: all advertising contains subliminal messaging from secret aliens living on the planet designed to make all humans obey and conform. With the way we are inundated with advertising everywhere we go now, it’s a movie that in 2018 feels less like an allegory about corporate greed and more like a literal prophecy we should have taken seriously. Fortunately, one company is finally doing just that, because they have invented a pair of sunglasses that blocks the images of most screens, and they designed them to look just like the ones from They Live.
In an effort to help you “have uninterrupted experiences and genuine human connections,” IRL Glasses (IRL = In Real Life, as in “stop looking at the TV and experience real life”) work just like a typical pair of UV-blocking sunglasses. Only these also block the light emitted from LCD/LED screens “by flattening and rotating the polarized lens 90 degrees.” So you can walk around without having to see that flashing ad on the side of a building, or a commercial on the bar TV.
With nearly a month to go until its October 31st end date, the IRL Glasses Kickstarter is already fully funded, and you can still order a pair for $49, which is well below the expected retail price of $79. While we’re all in on the all-black They Live look, they do have some much more expensive designer options available too.
The only downside is that while these glasses will block most TVs and some computers, they don’t work on smartphones. And that’s the screen we need to stop looking at the most, because with the amount of time we spend staring at ours we’re pretty sure, even without magical sunglasses, they are telling us to “obey.”
Where would be the best place to wear these sunglasses? Tell us what you want to block out in our comments sections below.
Images:Universal Pictures, Kickstarter/Ivan Cash
