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Nope is Horror+<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jordan Peele’s newest film, Nope<\/em>, has fulfilled most of our summer blockbuster hopes. It\u2019s funny, scary, action packed, and has the best use of horses I\u2019ve seen in a contemporary film in the past decade. It’s definitely a spectacle worth a watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About 20 minutes into the film you could hear me muttering, \u201coh hell no, uh uh.\u201d This is the reaction Peele is looking for from audiences. He’s inciting the overwhelming feeling of \u201cnope, I\u2019m out.\u201d It’s the reason behind the name of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like I\u2019ve stated previously<\/a>, many directors struggle to wrap up their plot in the third act. Throughout the film there are a few plot points that have had me and my friends scratching our heads over them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As usual Peele\u2019s plot is expansive and therefore hard to navigate in only a single viewing. Overall, it\u2019s a bit shaky unless you take the time to dive into the layered subtext. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ended the film satisfied but curious about the meaning of many aspects of the story. This ending is much better than Peele\u2019s last film, Us, <\/em>which threw in a conspiracy at the end that didn\u2019t quite give me the satisfaction I wanted as a finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s article \u2018Nope\u2019: The Meaning Behind Jordan Peele\u2019s Most Terrifying Scene Yet<\/a> by Richard Newby explains the subtext of this film better than I ever could. Give it a read if you wanna know more about the function of Gordy, the balloons, and the erasure of the Haywood family by Hollywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be warned, Newby’s review is full of spoilers so maybe give the movie a watch first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this may be my new favorite Jordan Peele film, it certainly is not his strongest structurally. Get Out<\/em> continues to be his tightest script in terms of horror and plot. However, Nope<\/em> is just plain fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get Out<\/em> is truly frightening at times due to the unsettling nature of the situation. The surreal feeling of things not being quite right. The sinister nature of not belonging. Get Out<\/em> unnerves you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nope<\/em> might be easier on a rewatch because it’s a spectacle. It’s got action to keep you focused. It layers humor to keep you loose between the stress of what’s frightening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you take the meaning of the film at its surface level, the horror is an alien evil. Dig a little deeper and it’s rooted in the nature of humans to chase a spectacle to the point of doom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peele wrote this story during the pandemic. He wanted \u201cto represent Black joy, and to represent Black adventure, and Black aspiration, and Black excellence in it as well. And human nature overcoming its obstacles.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This idea is at the heart of this story as we follow two siblings who, despite being the descendants of “the first movie star,” are shut out of the running of Hollywood’s nepotism. They want to save their legacy and conspire to do it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I\u2019ve always loved about Jordan Peele is that his niche is self informed by his passion for creating the content he would like to see. His identity as a POC informs his artistry<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peele wants to see Black faces in the genre he loves so he features them himself. He\u2019s subverting the horror genre and helping to redefine its mold for modern audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peele\u2019s work with his cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema<\/a>, \u201ccapture(s) a scope of night and a depth of night that really feels like you\u2019re outside at night and your eyes have adjusted.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The result of this footage is real fear, evolutionary human fear of the dark. Your eyes scan the scene as OJ scans the scene. You\u2019re looking for what does not belong. You\u2019re trying to get a sense of the danger before it surprises you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, despite your best attempts to prepare yourself, you will see something move in the shadows and immediately be unnerved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s nothing quite as frightening as the potential of what could be lurking in the dark. Peele exploits this fear well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jordan Peele is a film nerd like many of the rest of us. People have been comparing Nope<\/em> to films such as Jaws<\/em> and Close Encounters of a Third Kind<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering I\u2019ve seen neither of those start to finish, I think it demands a watch in the next couple months leading up to Halloween. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brandon Perea\u2019s breakout role as Angel Torres was shaped by his audition<\/a>. Peele rewrote scenes to reflect the direction Perea took the character in his audition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It moved the character from the happy-go-lucky employee to a guy who lowkey hates working at an electronics store. Obviously one feels more real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This adaptability is what I love about the process of filmmaking. Peele wrote a character. This character gained substance through Perea\u2019s perception of them. Peele then reflected this change in his subsequent script rewrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what I\u2019ve always enjoyed about film, theater, and writing. Despite someone conceptualizing everything, the process becomes highly collaborative and grows organically with the input of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peele has said, \u201cAny time that we\u2019re going to make money off of the human need to see something crazy, that to me is what I call specticalization.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This idea of spectacle reminds me of Guillermo Del Toro<\/a>\u2019s Nightmare Alley<\/em> where I learned the horrors of the carnival geek.<\/a> The film asks how far is one willing to go in the pursuit of attention? How far will one go for the spectacle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A carnival geek is someone so low on the social ladder that their only job is to horrify an audience by biting off the head of a live animal. They were turned into \u201csavages\u201d for profit. They were humans exploited for the sake of the spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Peele\u2019s Nope<\/em>, we can see a parallel between the bloodshed of the creature and the bloodshed of Gordan. They were both living beings exploited for the purpose of spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In both the tv show and the side show, we are invited to the spectacle. We greedily consume for our entertainment and are in turn consumed by the entertainment itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Society cannot allow themselves to have the script flipped and be consumed by those who are supposed to entertain them. Since the creatures can no longer serve their purpose, they must be annihilated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you watch any of the round table discussions between Peele and his actors you can hear fully how they have connected through their characters to the themes of exploitation and erasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Steven Yeun says, \u201csometimes it\u2019s easier for you to be the projection everyone wants you to be than for you to resist and fight that everyday.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think this feeling not only connects him to his character Jupiter, who cannot detach from his childhood persona, but also any person whose life is seen through the view of a lens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jupiter experienced something incredibly traumatizing in his childhood. However, this experience was rebranded into comedy by an SNL sketch. Therefore, Jupiter continues through life performing for others while continuing the narrative of his trauma\u2019s rebranding as spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We see this in his interaction with Emerald and OJ in his secret room devoted to his old memorabilia. There\u2019s an unnerving juxtaposition between Jupiter\u2019s performance of his persona and the reality of the experience which we see in a flashback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of getting real with the Haywood siblings he continues the narrative of the spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This film also features a TMZ reporter performing the hard hitting reporter role willing to do anything to get his shot, even at the risk of death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If we follow the logic of the film, whatever content he was able to film would likely have been passed along the river of social media. People would be horrified, but ultimately the content would be highly successful in its view count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our entertainment, or more so our deep desire for spectacle, often comes at the expense of downplaying the experiences of real human beings. Take for example the phenomena of drivers slowing down as they pass a crash just to see what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I personally really enjoyed this film and the fact that it gave me lots of research to do. I’ve never been the kind of person who likes their subtext spoon fed to them so Peele’s style works well enough for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to look at a weirder take of humanity’s obsession with spectacle (especially the phenomena of drivers slowing for a crash) go watch David Cronenberg<\/a>‘s Crash (1996)<\/a>. Spilling my secrets here, but this movie made me say, “Am I weird or was that kind of hot?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nope is Horror+ Jordan Peele’s newest film, Nope, has fulfilled most of our summer blockbuster hopes. It\u2019s funny, scary, action packed, and has the best use of horses I\u2019ve seen in a contemporary film in the past decade. It’s definitely a spectacle worth a watch. About 20 minutes into the film you could hear me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[20,9,18,19],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-film-review","tag-cinematography","tag-film","tag-jordan-peele","tag-nope"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThird Act Problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Take a Deeper Dive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How It Rates on the Scale of Jordan Peele<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Subverting the Horror Genre<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hoyte van Hoytema & Darkness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Classics Inspire the New<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Actors Help Shape Their Character<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Exploitation & the Spectacle\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Violence of Attention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Violence of Attention, Pt II.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts on Peele’s Nope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n