Tim Burton’s 1996 film Mars Attacks! gets a lot of mileage out of a running gag about the incredibly simple conquest strategy employed by a gaggle of green, bug-eyed Martians. Over and over, they pretend to come in peace, prompting government officials to assemble in front of them, ready for momentous contact between the species. Then the Martians whip out their ray guns and promptly disintegrate the holy hell out of everyone in sight. Even after their full attack has been underway for days and pandemonium reigns across Earth, as the aliens hunt screaming humans down in the street, their English translation devices continue to squawk disingenuously: “Don’t run! We are your friends!” Their persistence in this lie might be the biggest laugh of the movie.
I thought of the Martians while watching “Take the Lead,” the new music video from fake A.I. actress Tilly Norwood, wherein she sings, referring
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