Wearing Your Fandom: A Pop Culture Reference History in Alien T-Shirts
From eerie to adorable, alien images have been a mainstay of popular culture for decades. But not only movies and TV shows benefited from our obsession with extraterrestrials. Often echoing past events in popular culture, T-shirt designs have evolved into a canvas for displaying our love of all things alien. Let us go through time to observe alien invasions in our wardrobes:
UFO Lights, Camera, Action!
Unquestionably, Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) the granddaddy of alien films changed sci-fi terror. Still, you’ll find lots of tees with the terrible Xenomorph face, usually along with a phrase like “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Another legendary cinematic monster, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), gets some love. Designs with E.T.’s lanky finger reaching for Elliot’s inspired a generation of fans to carry their affection for the mild alien on their sleeves.
They Came From Beyond the Music Industry.
Musicians have also joined in on the act. The legendary Ziggy Stardust character of David Bowie, an alien musician who crash-landed on Earth, still inspires glamorous, extraterrestrial design.
Conspiracy Theories Take Cotton
Another well-known source is the 1947 Roswell incident, in which conspiracy theorists hold the U.S. Air Force retrieved a wrecked alien spaceship and its passengers. Tees with the well-known FBI poster motto from the X-Files TV show, “I Want to Believe,” or feature flying saucers next to the enigmatic “The Truth is Out There.”
An Universe of Ideas
Alien T-shirts enable us openly display our pop culture passion whether it’s a salute to vintage movies, an homage to a favorite band, or a sign of support for the belief in extraterrestrial life. Therefore, the next time you see someone wearing an alien tee, you might simply be seeing a fellow history buff who enjoys the unusual and uncharted!