DZ
DefZone.Net

Kien thuc cong nghe & giai tri

Wiki Article

Men in black

Nguồn dữ liệu từ Wikipedia, hiển thị bởi DefZone.Net

Xem trên WikipediaBài ngẫu nhiên khác
This article is about the UFO conspiracy theories. For the film franchise, see Men in Black (franchise). For the first film in said franchise, see Men in Black (1997 film). For other uses, see Men in Black (disambiguation).
Gray Barker, posing with promotional materials for his book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. Several MIB appear in silhouette on the cover.
An artistic depiction of a man in black.

In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have seen. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government allegedly tasked with protecting government UFO secrets or performing other strange activities. They are typically described as tall men with expressionless faces, slightly pale skin, and usually wearing black suits with black sunglasses. “Men In Black” encounters are very common tales told in American UFO conspiracy theories.

The term is generic, as it is used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting.[1]

Stories about men in black inspired the science fiction comedy franchise Men in Black and an album by the Stranglers.

Folklore

[edit]

Folklorist James R. Lewis compares accounts of men in black with tales of people encountering Lucifer, and speculates that they can be considered a kind of "psychological trauma".[2]

Ufologists

[edit]

Men in black feature prominently in ufology, UFO folklore, and fan fiction. In the 1950s and 1960s, ufologists adopted a conspiratorial mindset and began fearing they would be subject to organized intimidation in retaliation for discovering "the truth of the UFOs".[3]

In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed a man in a dark suit warned him not to discuss his alleged UFO sighting on Maury Island. In the mid-1950s, ufologist Albert K. Bender claimed he was visited by men in dark suits who threatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. He maintained that the men were secret government agents tasked with suppressing evidence of UFOs. Ufologist John Keel claimed to have had encounters with MIB and referred to them as "demonic supernaturals" with "dark skin and/or 'exotic' facial features". According to ufologist Jerome Clark, reports of men in black represent "experiences" that "don't seem to have occurred in the world of consensus reality".[4]

Historian Aaron Gulyas wrote: "During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, UFO conspiracy theorists would incorporate the MIB into their increasingly complex and paranoid visions."[3]

Keel has argued that some MIB encounters could be explained as entirely mundane events perpetuated through folklore. In his book The Mothman Prophecies (1975), he describes a late-night outing in 1967, where he was mistaken for an MIB while searching for a phone to call a tow truck.[5]

In his article "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker", John C. Sherwood claims that, in the late 1960s, at age 18, he cooperated when Gray Barker urged him to develop a hoax—which Barker subsequently published—about what Barker called "blackmen", three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt".[6]

[edit]

Music

[edit]

Songs that reference the urban legend include "E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" by the Blue Öyster Cult (1976),[7] "Meninblack" by The Stranglers (1979),[8] and"Men in Black" by Running Wild (1995).[9] In 1981, The Stranglers also released a concept album, The Gospel According to the Meninblack.[10]

Film and television

[edit]

The Alien Encounters (1979) features Men in Black who harass a UFO investigator.[11] In The Brother from Another Planet (1984), two Men in Black try to capture the alien protagonist.[12]

The 1997 science-fiction film Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, was loosely based on The Men in Black comic book series created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers.[13] Also that year, television movie The Shadow Men presented a more serious take on the concept.[14]

Men in Black also appear in television series, The X-Files.[15]

Video games

[edit]

The video game franchise Half-Life features a character known as the G-Man, widely regarded as a pastiche of the concept.[16][17] The Men in Black also feature in Deus Ex as agents of Majestic 12.[18]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Clark, Jerome (1996). The UFO Encyclopedia, volume 3: High Strangeness, UFO's from 1960 through 1979. Omnigraphis. 317–18.
  2. ^ James R. Lewis (9 March 1995). The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds. SUNY Press. pp. 218–. ISBN 978-0-7914-2330-1. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b Gulyas, Aaron John (2016-01-25). Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives. McFarland & Company. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4766-2349-8.
  4. ^ Harris, Aisha (2012-05-23). "Do UFO Hunters Still Report "Men in Black" Sightings?". Slate. Slate.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
  5. ^ John Alva Keel, The Mothman Prophecies, Tor, 2002. Chapter 1: "Beelzebub Visits West Virginia".
  6. ^ Sherwood, John C. "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker". Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
  7. ^ Murphy, Kelly (2023-08-08). "Did Blue Öyster Cult popularise the 'Men in Black' concept?". faroutmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  8. ^ "The Raven in retrospect – The Stranglers (Official Site)". thestranglers.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  9. ^ Chorianopoulos, Costas (2025-12-29). "Running Wild: Masquerade | Imperishable By Τime". Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  10. ^ Twomey, Chris (1992). The Stranglers - The Men They Love To Hate. EMI Records Ltd. pp. 102–104.
  11. ^ Godzilla, Glitter. "The Alien Encounters". Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  12. ^ Vincent Canby (September 14, 1984). "Sayles's Brother". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  13. ^ David Hughes (2003). Comic Book Movies. London: Virgin Books. pp. 123–129. ISBN 0-7535-0767-6.
  14. ^ "Media : Shadow Men, The : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia". www.sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  15. ^ Tung, Angela (2015-03-31). "12 'X-Files' Terms and the Truth Behind Them". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  16. ^ Sagers, Aaron (2012-05-24). "The legacy of 'men' in black". CNN. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  17. ^ Lucas, James (2023-01-04). "Half-Life's G-Man Mystery Should Never Be Answered". TheGamer. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  18. ^ Porter, Will (2010-06-13). "Retrospective: Deus Ex". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2025-12-29.

Further reading

[edit]