An Artist Just Invented Legit Pairs of ‘They Live’ Sunglasses, Which Literally Filter Out Digital Advertisements

By John Squires

They Live was a documentary, the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper always insisted.

In John Carpenter’s They Live, a slice of sci-fi social commentary that’s as relevant today as ever, Piper’s character comes across a special pair of black sunglasses that allow him to see what’s really going on in the world around him. When he puts them on, he realizes alien overlords have taken over, and media & advertisements hide hidden messages of control.

Obey. Consume. Reproduce. Conform.

Thirty years after the release of They Live, artist Ivan Cash has invented an actual, real-life pair of the fictional sunglasses seen in the film, dubbed IRL Glasses. How do they work? Well, the glasses allow you to live IRL (in real life) by blocking LCD/LED screens through horizontal polarized optics. By flattening and rotating the polarized lens 90 degrees, light emitted by LCD/LED screens is blocked, making it look like the TV or computer in front of you is off.

The They Live-inspired sunglasses are currently in BETA, and will eventually be designed to filter out TVs (LCD/LED), computers (LCD/LED), smartphones and digital billboards (OLED). For now, however, they’re only compatible with most TVs and some computers.

Cash’s “IRL Glasses” are currently being funded through Kickstarter, with the $25,000 goal amount nearly met at the time of writing this article. Pairs start at just $49 each.

Disconnect. Reconnect.