"Peele’s new movie, Us, was announced on May 8th, 2018, and will soon be released on March 22nd. With the trailer of this movie came much speculation as to the underlying themes of the plot." -- Charlotte Porter
Writer and director Jordan Peele recently made a name for himself after writing and directing the popular 2017 horror film, Get Out, which touches on issues of racism. Peele’s new movie, Us, was announced on May 8th, 2018, and will soon be released on March 22nd. With the trailer of this movie came much speculation as to the underlying themes of the plot. Many symbols of question appeared in the trailer, such as the theme of doppelgangers and the common appearance of rabbits, and these things created a whirlwind of theories.
The trailer begins with a happy scene of a family of four in a car, dancing to “I Got Five On It” by Luniz. The scene changes to the family on the beach talking and having drinks with another family. The mood shifts suddenly when the youngest child in the family wanders off and finds himself facing the back of a scarecrow-like figure with blood on his fingers. A few shots later, the child notices a family in their driveway. The father goes out to threaten them, but the family ignores and walks towards the house, all while the background music becomes more and more twisted. It is revealed that this family looks exactly like the main family of our movie. Lupita Nyong’o’s character later says, “They won’t stop until they kill us, or we kill them,” which brings us to, most likely, the main plot of the movie.
Many theories have surfaced about this movie. One of the main ones that I have heard is that Us is a commentary on the issue of black-on-black crime, although Peele has stated that the movie does not have to do with race. There are theories that it is about an invasion of clones, as the image of rabbits are spread throughout the trailer and rabbits were one of the first animals to be successfully cloned. There is another theory that the town that they are living in is a simulation, as in the second trailer Nyong’o’s character speaks of strange coincidences that have happened on their trip to Santa Cruz (the setting in which the movie takes place). Those who believe this theory believe that the doppelgangers are some kind of virus that has entered into the virtual world. Peele has stated that the movie is about “something I feel has become an undeniable truth, and that is the simple fact that we are our own worst enemies.”
Entertainment Weekly interviewed Peele about the trailer of the movie and the meanings behind it. When asked about meaning behind the rabbits and scissors imagery, Jordan Peele responded, “I love subverting and bringing out the scariness in things you wouldn’t necessarily associate with that.” We saw this in Get Out, when the sound of tea being stirred becomes a horrifying omen throughout the film. With Get Out and the trailer for Us, Peele creates an air of unease that is not like any feeling I’ve been given by a horror movie so far.
Nyong’o has also spoken on what it was like playing the two vastly different characters of the mother and her other version. According to an article from Vanity Fair, she took dance classes and then made the elegance taught to her into something that looked monstrous. “With the red character, Jordan used two words: queen and cockroach,” Nyong’o said.
Peele spoke on the same subject, praising Nyong’o’s acting skills. He said, “When I was watching this, I was stricken. Lupita does Ripley [Alien], she does Clarice Starling [Silence of the Lambs], and she does Hannibal Lecter [Silence of the Lambs] in one movie. It’s crazy.”
Another big part of the hype around this movie is the appearance of black protagonists, both in Get Out and Us, which is not common in the horror genre. According to a New York Times article about Get Out, Peele stated that he wanted to make a movie that exposed “the lie” of a post-racial America. In the same article he said, “That’s the power of story and genre. You can ask a white person to see the world through the eyes of a black person for an hour and a half.” Get Out was a huge turning point for a recent documentary titled Horror Noire, which talks about the way black people are represented in the horror genre. The creator of the documentary, Phil Nobile, said, “We couldn’t get anyone to buy this. We couldn’t get anyone to believe this is a project anyone to watch. Two weeks after Jordan Peele won the oscar for Get Out, Shudder called me and said, ‘Let’s do this project and let’s do it now.’”
So, with all the fan theories, acting praise, unique representation, and excellent reviews (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), this movie is billed to become a likely masterpiece. Hopefully, Us will live up to Jordan Peele’s legacy.
The trailer begins with a happy scene of a family of four in a car, dancing to “I Got Five On It” by Luniz. The scene changes to the family on the beach talking and having drinks with another family. The mood shifts suddenly when the youngest child in the family wanders off and finds himself facing the back of a scarecrow-like figure with blood on his fingers. A few shots later, the child notices a family in their driveway. The father goes out to threaten them, but the family ignores and walks towards the house, all while the background music becomes more and more twisted. It is revealed that this family looks exactly like the main family of our movie. Lupita Nyong’o’s character later says, “They won’t stop until they kill us, or we kill them,” which brings us to, most likely, the main plot of the movie.
Many theories have surfaced about this movie. One of the main ones that I have heard is that Us is a commentary on the issue of black-on-black crime, although Peele has stated that the movie does not have to do with race. There are theories that it is about an invasion of clones, as the image of rabbits are spread throughout the trailer and rabbits were one of the first animals to be successfully cloned. There is another theory that the town that they are living in is a simulation, as in the second trailer Nyong’o’s character speaks of strange coincidences that have happened on their trip to Santa Cruz (the setting in which the movie takes place). Those who believe this theory believe that the doppelgangers are some kind of virus that has entered into the virtual world. Peele has stated that the movie is about “something I feel has become an undeniable truth, and that is the simple fact that we are our own worst enemies.”
Entertainment Weekly interviewed Peele about the trailer of the movie and the meanings behind it. When asked about meaning behind the rabbits and scissors imagery, Jordan Peele responded, “I love subverting and bringing out the scariness in things you wouldn’t necessarily associate with that.” We saw this in Get Out, when the sound of tea being stirred becomes a horrifying omen throughout the film. With Get Out and the trailer for Us, Peele creates an air of unease that is not like any feeling I’ve been given by a horror movie so far.
Nyong’o has also spoken on what it was like playing the two vastly different characters of the mother and her other version. According to an article from Vanity Fair, she took dance classes and then made the elegance taught to her into something that looked monstrous. “With the red character, Jordan used two words: queen and cockroach,” Nyong’o said.
Peele spoke on the same subject, praising Nyong’o’s acting skills. He said, “When I was watching this, I was stricken. Lupita does Ripley [Alien], she does Clarice Starling [Silence of the Lambs], and she does Hannibal Lecter [Silence of the Lambs] in one movie. It’s crazy.”
Another big part of the hype around this movie is the appearance of black protagonists, both in Get Out and Us, which is not common in the horror genre. According to a New York Times article about Get Out, Peele stated that he wanted to make a movie that exposed “the lie” of a post-racial America. In the same article he said, “That’s the power of story and genre. You can ask a white person to see the world through the eyes of a black person for an hour and a half.” Get Out was a huge turning point for a recent documentary titled Horror Noire, which talks about the way black people are represented in the horror genre. The creator of the documentary, Phil Nobile, said, “We couldn’t get anyone to buy this. We couldn’t get anyone to believe this is a project anyone to watch. Two weeks after Jordan Peele won the oscar for Get Out, Shudder called me and said, ‘Let’s do this project and let’s do it now.’”
So, with all the fan theories, acting praise, unique representation, and excellent reviews (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), this movie is billed to become a likely masterpiece. Hopefully, Us will live up to Jordan Peele’s legacy.