The Real Villain of Nope
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- čas přidán 28. 09. 2022
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What is Jordan Peele's Nope Really About?
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// Sources:
[1] Entertainment Weekly Roundtable: ew.com/movies/nope-jordan-pee...
[2] "Where Have all the Black Cowboys Gone?" www.theguardian.com/film/2020...
[3] Uproxx Interview with Jordan Peele: uproxx.com/movies/jordan-peel...
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I’ve always considered myself to be a lover of film. A “movie buff” I guess.
But…You made me realize just how much I didn’t know 😅
I appreciate how you explain things without sounding pretentious. You don’t talk down to your audience, which is refreshing.
Just want to say thank you for making thought provoking, well made content about some of my favorites, & introducing me to some new ones 😊
Good that you picked up on this. Someone thought that Jupiter was meant to be the main protagonist. He serves his purpose in this film, in my opinion, he's no hero.
what real events was gorgys home inspired by
@@downd.stairs2874 search Travis the Chimp, I think the Gordy thing is in reference to that case
Thank you for ignoring and negating OUR experience while crtiquing how others do. Then comparing systematic and generational trauma to Ukrainians? What happened to this channel. This can not be the same person who essayed Atlanta. Who's videos were thoughtful and intelligent, I subscribed all my accounts to. Showed my family members in hospital beds. And strangers on the street. Took their devices told them to share (way back)with their friends and pushed their"subscribe" button for? So you didn't write those? You're an actor? Industry plant. Makes sense. You are always pushing some narrative or agenda. A insincere "backdoor"unregulated emotional take? Is that a Google suggestion? That desperate, huh? We understood what you meant with that pandering and patronizing tale. So then, you go on to explore, what you claimed to be uncomfortable with your gawking with friends? Because that makes yall "feel" real? Puts life in perspective? Projecting your perceived "trauma" on to us? We came here for another rundown on how tone deaf your "problems" are. They are Africans starving and selling their daughters to feed the family that's left because of this "conflict". Ukraine seemly matched WITH disgustingness. Hard pass on putting the World at risk so THEY can be happy, healthy and free? While my neighbors, those children, that homeless vet, them tight budgeting grandparents, the lost programs for disable and treatment for mental health or person in crisis, expense? Such a "good guy"? You really brought up this "farce" while analyzing A FILM WITH A BLACK DIRECTOR AND DIVERSE CAST OF COLOR? Unbelievable. Ultra-Repulsive. Thank you for another trip on the, "Black Lives "Only" Matter when it's convenient and monetary for me. And even then, any other country but those with Black Lives Matter more.
It’s crazy Peele makes a movie about the film industry and spectacle and then Netflix releases Dahmer
When they were talking about people only watching the fictionalised versions of horror, I immediately thought of Dahmer and how voyeuristic its presence has been
this
Oof...
I've never liked true crime for this
Ding ding ding.
Awesome that Nope did the whole “how the internet & fame causes us to do dumb, unlikable, fucked up and horrible things to achieve it” better then all the others did without ever showing social media at all.
Not only that, it goes out of its way to show how off-the-grid OJ is by depicting him with a flip phone after the Gordy's Home prologue. The only uses of electronics shown are those specifically required to run the ranch (lights, utility vehicle, sprinkler, horse walker). Such a brilliant way to characterize OJ as deeply tuned in to horse training - taming beasts - without saying a word. Em, on the other hand, is the one with the smartphone - constantly promoting her side hustles. At the end of the movie, she's abandoned it for a simple walkie-talkie and uses what's effectively a Polaroid camera for tourists to capture Jean Jacket. She stares at that picture as it starts to develop, and completely ignores the swarm of reporters coming to Jupiter's Claim. Why? She's relieved OJ survived staring down Jean Jacket after tricking it into going after a parachute, not looking at it in terror or awe. The final cut to the developed Polaroid is just an afterthought.
There's a hilarious irony in Logan Paul's oafish critique of the film. He represents the sort of spectacle - gone - wrong that the film critiques... just ask the guy in Japan who offed himself in that forest.
I don't feel the movie is anti-spectacle... but rather a critique of how people go about it. It's mainly a critique of exploitation in pursuit of spectacle (with commentary on the exploitation of minorities, child actors and wild animals tossed in the mix).
On a related topic, I feel there should be an "Entertainer's Bill of Rights" to help curb the exploitation, heartache and sociopathy in the entertainment industry. People need to learn to work together without ruining each other. There should also be a "B.O.R" for child actors, too.
It’s almost like intelligent writers use subtlety and layered irony instead of just saying phone bad (black mirror)
@@dhdhejehuwbs843 you know the title of a thing isn’t “just” what it’s saying right? not that many episodes of black mirror have the theme of “phone bad” usually it’s more along the lines of “mass media bad” “groupthink bad” or “taking technology and innovation at face value bad.” it’s almost like intelligent critics should engage with the media they’re critiquing beyond “black mirror bad”
@@obscure.reference nah nah im just shitpostin man. A lot of black mirror is absolute heat and great scathing satire (Shut up and dance is genuinely one of my favorite short films of all time, San Junipero 🔥🔥🔥, USS Calister 🔥🔥🔥🔥, entire history of you + white Christmas they all are great) I’m more saying episodes in season 5 and ones like the bee one. An example of them doing the “phone bad” trope well is definitely nosedive because it delves more into the capitalistic and depraved culture of clout and narcissism that defines the digital age. I ain’t no MCU fan I put thought into what I watch and engage with
I remember seeing Nope and afterwards seeing people complain about the Gordy scenes, saying that they didn't add to the overall plot of the film. To me, it was clear as day that these segments were used to help relate the theme of spectacle and how some people will use even their own trauma to achieve that goal. Even Joseph Wincott's DP character was willing to sacrifice himself for spectacle, looking directly into the eye of the creature to get the "impossible shot." God do I love Nope.
He was also dying, so it wasn’t necessarily something he would’ve done otherwise.
@@PASTRAMIKick or maybe it was just not well made.
It was necessary to show us that the star thought he had some special connection with dangerous creatures. That's why he was providing the alien with horses for show.
Jordan Peele was as explicit about the films themes as much as he could be without holding the viewers hands. From the biblical quote about spectacle literally in the intro, to the TMZ guy, the obsessed filmmaker, and references to getting on Oprah, like he was pretty clear about its subtext. Some viewers just don't want to think. @@Suba932
Yeah and it was totally possible to express the same message without the whole monkey plot.
Peele gave us a hint of the movie’s theme right at the beginning, when we learn about the the main character’s name: OJ.
The OJ trial was perhaps the birth of the modern commodifcation of spectacle.
Whoa
@@__kiri I’m not surprised you look like that tbh
@@__kiri wait with what? I'm not a native speaker help lmao
@@sarasthoughts OJ is the same nickname as OJ Simpson, who was an American football star in the 90s. His ex wife Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered. He went trial for that murder, and the court room was televised. It was very popular TV. He ended up not getting charged with the murder. I think that he did it because there is documented evidence that he had been physically and emotionally abusing Nicole for years, but he had very good lawyers and it could not be proven. Many people disagree with me and think he is innocent though. I'm not looking to start a fight in the youtube comments about it -- but it's an example of a gory death that turned into a mass-media spectacle.
@@sarasthoughts adding onto what ruby walker said, not only was the trial aired on live tv, a lot of the evidence was public as well, such as the various tapes of Nicole calling 911, and pictures from the crime scene showing the brutal way she was murdered. The case also had a lot of connections to police brutality against black americans, and so a lot of footage of police brutality (particularly of Rodney King) was also aired on TV, as well as the riots that followed his attack. The FX mini series on it is a great watch and covers the majority of it, I think its on Hulu. The fact that the case was even made into a mini series is a great show of what a gory spectacle it became.
Have you heard about how Logan Paul called this one of the worst films ever? The fact that a guy like him doesn’t understand What this film is trying to say is pure irony at its finest.
actual perfect irony.
perfect irony when you remember logan himself, trying to gain fame by exploiting the trauma of others, went to the suicide forest and filmed the body of someone who had taken their own life to then post it to his millions of followers. logan is jupe.
@@tatwrianna24 i dont watch Logan Paul but did he actually did that? If so then did the video he filmed got deleted or not? And where did he post it on yt or any other social media sites?Im just curious ngl 🤨
@@mr.technicalisolate9188 yeah, he filmed someone who had hanged themself in the suicide forest and made a video off it. He later deleted it and posted an apology and there are hundreds of videos about the topic. Not that its particularly interesting, he did something reprehensible, got called out, made a shitty apology video and left it at that
@@realhumanbeing3599 knowing what fame can do to people (not sure if fame is what caused it but holy shit), that's messed up.. I wonder if he felt sympathy or not,and him making an apology video made me feel sick,either way,thats messed up.
:/
The sheer scalpel sharp genius of Peele, with the dialog describing the SNL skit as a stand in for a first hand account is still mindboggling to me. How Jupe describes Kattan's performance... "he's just crushing it... he is a force of nature... he is... killlling it on that stage." Not "he's hilarious" or "he's outrageous". No, Jupe is using the very same terminology one might use to describe the actual chimpanzee attack, and it fits a comedy routine. It's just such good writing.
And the way Jupe isn't actually providing any real information about the skit itself is a detail that I think says a lot. First, he's isolated himself from his own experience to the point where not only does he describe a moment from his own life by talking about an SNL skit, he doesn't even describe the skit at all. Second, the idea that that there was a comedy skit about an incident where at least two people died violently is pretty gross. So he *can't* actually talk about the content of the skit & instead talks about the skill of the actors cause to talk about the content would be to acknowledge that it was making light of the deaths of real people.
Damn, didn't even make that connection - great observation
@@jaynestrange Mary Jo (the girl in the attack scene) actually lives through the attack, she is (although heavily disfigured and unrecognizable) present at the Star Lasso Experience scene and pointed out by Jupe as “my first crush” if you look closely you can see she is actually wearing her own merch, eventhough she was the victim of that horrific attack, she is also exploiting “spectacle” for money/fame, which ties in to the narrative nicely
@@jaynestrange it probably draws direct comparison to the SNL skits from the Nicole Brown + Ron Goldman double murder. I wasn't alive at the time but I was quite sickened to learn that there were "OJ" skits at around the time of the trial. I cant imagine how awful it was for the families to turn on tv and see it being made into a joke. the worst thing is is that the victims were pretty much side lined in the whole media circus of it all. almost like they were props or catalysts to some huge event and that their lives or suffering were secondary to the entertainment or suspense it provided the public. it was made prime time viewing ffs.
@@madsquirrelz276 Wow, I didn't even know that, that's so gross! I know SNL has had some questionable skits about serious topics but that's just beyond reasonable.
Did you notice the fight happening in the parking lot through the burger bar window while the main cast was both figuratively and literally digesting their recent trauma? I think it was a genius summary of the obsession of spectacle from Peele. I found myself watching them through the window, eager for the next spectacle.
Yes! Finally I understand it. That scene got me so thrown off And I get why now. it’s pretty crazy
Yup and notice the "11" on one of the soccer players jersey??? This goes into the " US" movie where the tethers started their assault on the above ground humans at 11:11 pm. Eleven can represent duality, or a balance between opposing forces. The soccer players here saw a rival and a fight broke out.
Yes, and that's not a burger joint. It's a seafood place - Angel specifically jokes about having a fish sandwich to diffuse the tension. Peele probably had them eat fish after Jean Jacket attacked the ranch house because fish are caught by baiting and luring, and they can be eaten raw. It's a dark coping mechanism for their experience to pick a food that people catch and consume the same way Jean Jacket catches and eats people.
@@brianfoss571 good explanation . the sign on the window says "Shrimp and Fish" Po-Boys". It took me a few times watching this scene to notice that
@@brianfoss571 nah, peele just love fish sandwiches. If you seen US, remember there’s a scene early in the movie the family is having similar fish sandwiches for lunch before going to beach.
The idea that this movie is a very pointed commentary at the film industry can I think also be seen in how jean jacket processes what it eats. It literally eats you alive and anything that isn't easily digestible will be spit back out. Hollywood will take anything that can be monetized and throw away all the rough edges of you, your life, your traumas, and what you have to say.
That's such a great obseravtion.
Woah
Not to mention the box of it's mouth and the way it moves is reminiscent of a camera shutter. Great point!
@@smellylorenny damn y’all r good at this
That's a really great point. I also can't stop thinking of the shot of a pig after the attack at Jupiter's Claim. The man had livestock wandering around unscathed while he was actively taking trained horses that OJ spent his entire life working on/caring for, and feeding them to jean jacket like they're nothing. Literally buying up a struggling black creator's work and turning it into a prop for his own, more profitable show.
There was a war photographer in the 90s who went to Sudan. He took a lot of pictures. One of the dilemmas of this sort of career is whether you help or not. The general consensus is you do not intervene or interfere, you merely snap photos, and leave.
Well, this photographer, his name was Kevin Carter, he took one particular photo in Sudan. It was an emaciated baby girl in the road, with a vulture behind her, literally in the process of dying. She died shortly after he took the photos. He didn't help. He didn't touch her.
He won a Pulitzer for that photo in 1994. And then he killed himself. He couldn't live with it. He was responsible for the commodification and celebration of sick and depraved spectacle, the painful death of a baby, and the world rewarded him for it. He couldn't handle benefiting off the death of a baby (whether he could've helped or not, he didn't try, that's the problem).
He's not the only one. John Gaunt won the 1955 Pulitzer for photographing the moment a couple on the beach realized a wave had dragged their baby out to sea. Just utter horror and grief and shock. He couldn't handle it either. He said getting the Pulitzer made him "ill in his interior" and he was ashamed of it for the rest of his life. He had his own baby at the time.
So I really think this is an important conversation and thank you for explaining the actual meaning behind the film, because it's not being understood very well by many people, they aren't tapping into the deeper truths.
Like the spectacle of horror and how our society deals with it. We give prizes to people who end up suicidal for getting them, when it was their lifelong dream to get that prize, they can't cope with what their inaction meant outside the context of the photograph itself. It says too much about them as people.
What's right? When is inaction acceptable for documentary purposes? Is it wrong when there's profit or spectacle? How do you avoid exploitation? Can you? These aren't easy questions to answer.
I think we need documentation of horror in the world, but it should never extend into profit and spectacle, and therein lies the problem. How else do you accomplish that without profit? What's the right way? Like I said. No easy answers.
Edit I'm mistaken about the Vulture and the Little Girl, generally people think what I said is true but the baby was a boy, and while I tried to find where or how, I can only find that the baby made it to a centre for refugees. How I have no idea but that's the reported story. It was a boy and he survived. I can't find proof of that though. There's a comment I made below about this being a very relevant issue to the subject.
Great insight into how far reaching this issue is! I did some research into photojournalists attitudes on this working on this video but ended up not including it. It's becoming a question that more of us will have to grapple with individually as we all increasingly have to choice between documenting or doing something when we're confronted with horrific situation.
If I'm not mistaken the girl was in fact a boy (unknown to him at the time though) and managed to walk to a UN food point after he left, he actually outlived Carter and died in 2007. But the point still stands that he felt guilty for gaining notoriety from observing and not helping a suffering child. Also it's worth noting that in his suicide note he mainly refers to financial pressures (no money for rent, food, child support) as to why he ended his life.
Not trying to take away from your point - it definitely still stands, but I've just seen that story told a lot in an exaggerated form. It still ties into what your point is very well, I just think it's quite important to get the facts right because it's such a serious and sad tale.
@@J0no7 True, he mentions money, hating it. But he definitely mentions the death and horror as well,
Portions of Carter's suicide note read:
"I'm really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist. …depressed … without phone … money for rent … money for child support … money for debts … money!!! … I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners … I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."
I highly doubt he'd have killed himself over just money itself. He couldn't make money because he wasn't doing his job anymore, because of PTSD, and so he also couldn't go back and make more.
As someone with severe, complex PTSD, I can say suicidal ideation starts like a kernel and then as your brain adjusts, it swells. I've nearly died (like literally accepted my imminent death) a few times in some bad accidents and stuff, and that also has an impact on your view of death. Death starts to look like your friend. Your best friend. At least you can rely on death. Death will come.
I am aware of this and have a good support system and thus am not at risk of killing myself, but I know what it's like, and it's almost always way more complicated than it looks.
The photo itself is called "The Struggling Girl" also know as "The Vulture and the Little Girl" so I hadn't seen that it was confirmed to be a boy. Emaciated bodies are often very hard to identify sex with. You'd need an autopsy or for someone to have washed and buried the body to see. It's understandable. I didn't realize that because of the name of the photo and the fact that it was after Carter's death that it was confirmed to be a boy.
Unfortunately, that whole not even knowing the gender of the baby, and naming the photo wrong, but not changing the name because of notoriety perfectly ties in with the conversation on spectacle of horror. Name recognition. For a dead baby. It's really hard to swallow.
@@jademoon7938 Yeah agreed. Like I said, not disagreeing with your point just adding more context really!
Thank you as well for the insight into how this kind of thing can effect someone personally
this comment should get a pulitzer prize
I’ve been thinking about spectacle more recently as it relates to the recent Netflix biopics for Dahmer and Marilyn Monroe. Both films are being called out right now for exploiting real life trauma. The families of Dahmer’s victims are speaking out about how they were not consulted. They are being re-traumatized by the show (it portrays exact replicas/recreations of real life events). The Marilyn Monroe story is being called out for oversexulizeing Marilyn in the exact way that Hollywood did when she was alive. It portrays her in a fictional way that doesn’t attempt to show the real her at all.
I think they are cheap efforts on Netflix’s part to maintain subscribers. We all know from Nope that trauma sells.
I think the most egregious examples of this are serial killer biopics.
They did these horrendous acts to be famous and Hollywood makes them famous. They cast Zac Efron as Ted Bundy.
The zodiac killer probably saw his own film before he died.
These shows like Dahmer are extensions of the fascination, rubber-necking that allowed him to prey on people. For fuck's sake, one of the officers that returned a boy to Dahmer was elected as President of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Union until 2009. These killers legitimize people, they make spectacles of a community. People see that and say, "let's get that man in office". Deep down, we don't want the buzz and the focus to go away. We keep these killers alive because we want their fame and their power.
I also started seeing the movie’s themes everywhere after catching it in theaters. Such as a month or two ago when Jennette McCurdy released her memoir about her traumatic experiences as a child actor, exploited and abused by the industry and her own mother. Coincidentally this came out just around the same time as the movie
I have yet to see Blonde, but by watching cinefix talk about it it would seem that portraying her as hollywood did is part of the movie. Portraying the "myth" of the character, while also doing more, I'm sure. Just like with the directors previous films.
My friend and I were debating this film yesterday - I loved it, he didn't. He said "that scene with Gordy at the start? Give me that all day, I'd watch a full movie of that!", which I think highlights the point of the film.
That's pretty fucked up lmao
Basically he wants a splatter film out of a film that's about the morality of splatter films
Well that sucks. Wonder how many people who watched Nope missed the point, or worse, just don't care.
@@kamomile_teaif you’re wondering who he is, he’s a former teen B list internet celebrity
Pretty sure he was just complimenting how well it was shot and directed
jupe hurting people and getting himself killed due to a negative response to a trauma in a stressful situation, which he reacts with in a way he fully doesn't understand until it's too late?
guess jupe and gordy weren't so different after all
Hot damn that's an awesome detail
I really like this analysis!
This comment is like peele's first 2 movies, you can read different meanings if you go through it again
as good of an analysis as this is... chimpanzees know what they're doing. studies have shown they commits atrocities against other chimps and know _exactly what they're doing is wrong_ and that they _do it anyways._ of course that doesn't mean gordy wasn't exploited or traumatized... just throwing that horrifying tidbit of knowledge out there
To be fair jupe didn't know that the ufo was actually a creature and didn't know it would eat everyone else instead of the horse.
The connection of Gordy and Jean Jacket was well done, the quiet/brutal attack from Gordy is something I’m not gunna forget any time soon. So visceral, like when we get the inside digestion shot of Jean.
The shot of those people getting digested inside Jean Jacket was so disturbing. Haunts me to this day. Never had a horror movie achieve that before
@@odin_191 The audio gets to me more so than the visual. So horrid. But if I'm not mistaken, the visuals really weren't all that bad? Like a smooth rubbery tube. Maybe folks are numb to hack n'slash gore but gory stuff haunts me more than the Jean Jacket's digestion imagery.
@@odin_191 there was a time gap between it sucking them up, and it spewing blood over the house, I was wondering if it had people left over inside, or if it was mimicking the sounds somehow.
@@OjilEye the visuals were more effective to those with claustrophobia
@@horizon92lee I’m pretty sure the idea is that the screams coming from Jean were the screams of people still stored in its digestive tract. Which is what that gruesome scene was trying to demonstrate
The cherry on top of this whole movie is how in the end, a reporter tells her camera-man to get Emerald in the camera shot for their news-report, instead of actually running over to see if she's all right. To the very end, Peele comments on how the authenticity and memorializing of a traumatic moment is more important than caring for victims.
Excellent analysis as always, though IMO, the 'spectacle' aspect is only half the story here. The other piece of the puzzle seemed to be exploitation, and how in a world that puts a price on spectacle, many will try to exploit others, nature, or even themselves & their own trauma, to turn a profit.
Think about OJ and Ricky. Both are attempting to exploit nature to sell a spectacle. OJ with his horses, and Ricky with the alien. The difference is, OJ knows that the spectacle can never truly be controlled. Only worked with. He respects the unpredictable nature of the animals he works with, and this is what ultimately saves him.
This is further illustrated by the fact that OJ is smart enough to separate himself from the spectacle he sells, whereas Ricky has deeply intertwined himself & his identity with both Jean Jacket & Jupiter’s Claim. He exploits himself in the process, and this puts him in danger.
Remember, neither Gordy nor Jean Jacket were evil. Both were just wild creatures, recklessly exploited by the people around them. And that recklessness eventually cost lives. Its also worth noting that Gordy's rampage was triggered by a popping balloon, and Jean Jacket is ultimately killed by a balloon.
Great perspective.
Those are excellent points. It makes me think also about the exploitation of CGI artists in film industry.
Lucky is uncooperative so gets replaced with a more cooperative exploitable commodity, a CGI horse for the spectacle with CGI artists to do behind the scenes.
The film people had no interest in "working with" Lucky, not even trying to treat him with respect as something alive. They turn to the next easy option, the artists that don't need to be treated like something alive.
OJ sells Lucky to Ricky, with the intention of buying him back, along with the other horses he's sold in the past.
He doesn't realise they are being consumed by the same spectacle he hopes to capture on film. There's no getting those horses back.
Spectacle consumes many human and animal lives, many aren't known about.
During the film there's a long spiel about the term UFO becoming UAP, unidentified aerial phenomena. Not objects, but phenomena. Objects are hard to respect, but phenomenons demand respect.
There's always a way to "break" a strong will.
With Jean it's both the bunting and the little parachute ballooning out that cause a hard NOPE. Did Jean know balloons are dangerous?
Ricky left out that Gordy _almost_ tried to work with him by reaching out for an "exploding fist bump" before he was shot.
Perhaps he thought that somehow everything would be fine and that Gordy would never turn on him. But in my mind another balloon pops immediately afterwards (not sure if that happened in the film.)
@@Skittenmeow Jean Jacket definitely knew that ballon was dangerous, it made sense why it avoided OJ and lucky, because like OJ said it definitely didn’t like those objects in its system.
Absolutely. I think the emphasis on animals in show business really drives this home, and how people want to profit from them without understanding them. And that goes back to appropriation of black culture, and generally the exploitation of pain for profit.
@@Skittenmeow pretty sure the only reason that gordy-note that the chimpanzee actor is never referred to by its name, just _the name of the character, gordy_-didn't kill ricky because the tablecloth was hindering its vision. ricky thought the bond he had with a wild animal was special, that he was somehow able to bond with the untameable, that he had a _connection,_ but invariably he would have died if gordy hadn't been shot. if that bump connected he would have been mauled. and that reflects his fate with jj as well. he thought he had something special with jj, but it ate him and innocent bystanders just like how gordy would have killed him. because a wild animal is a wild animal.
The standing shoe is the creepiest part for me, idk why. It felt so out of place, but I also knew Jordan included it for a reason, but it was so creepy in its ambiguity nonetheless
Yeah, not sure why, but my jaw almost dropped when I saw that.
It ties in with the concept of a “bad miracle.” It highlights the fact that something completely improbable can still happen in the context of negativity. The shoe standing up on its own was just a fluke of how it must’ve landed when it flew off that actress. Also, it provides a reason as to why Jupe wasn’t targeted by Gordy, as his eyes were focused on the shoe (and obscured by the tablecloth).
@@rae-everything yea there was something weird about it
It was to show that ricky wasn’t ‘chosen’ or ‘special’. The shoe standing up was just a spectacle in the middle of a terrible event. It was perfectly balanced. He didn’t have a mystery connection to the chimp. He was just lucky. The shoe represents it, Once in a lifetime something like that can happen. It was never going to happen again, like him not dying to the chimp.
@@iHATEcaravans i also took it as the scene being him in a flashback, staring at the shoe in its glass case. though, maybe it's displayed like that in the glass case because of the "bad miracle"... i love seeing discussions and learning more than what i thought i already could see from the film itself!
For me Nope is a scathing commentary on the viral culture\panopticon society where everyone is looking but no one is seeing. We see something and we see how we can profit from it and not how we can communicate with it. OJ and his sister (played by the lovely Keke Palmer who’s characters name I can’t remember) don’t even try to talk to it. They try to record it and make money. It’s fitting that the way you get screwed by the alien is by looking at its mouth which looks eerily similar to that of a camera’s lens.
even the underside of the thing appears to be a giant eye @ 6:03
the fact that a lot of people i talked to didn’t get this made me sad. you have such an introspective amazing insight i agree with everything you said
her name is emerald
When the TMZ guy came by I got flashbacks to Antoine Dodson
@I'm A Black Milk In America I think you should shut the fuck up and let people do what they want.
The Gordy scenes, and how they relate to jupe and the plot of the film are some of my favorites! To me, it's also a critique of how we see animals. As people, capable of the same emotions and rationalizations as we are. When Gordy doesn't kill him, and fist bumps him, imo Jupe ends up sort of thinking that that's because Gordy liked him. They were friends, and that's why he didn't get hurt. Because of that, he believes he'll end up unharmed against Jean Jacket, too. That thy share a connection, that both Gordy and Jean Jacket are good guys, that he can be friends with it. Then, you gotta compare that to OJ. OJ believes animals deserve our respect and our care, but they're still animals. They can kill you. But he grew up on the horse ranch, and he also knows that animals can be tamed and worked with as long as you know what you're doing. I'd even say it relates to the title of the movie. "Nope". When OJ is given time to react, he's pretty calmed down, he refuses to panic. He goes "Nope" and thinks about what to do next.
Gordy and Jupe are kinda the same. Maybe that's also why Gordy didn't immediately jump on the boy. People who aren't white just like animals are getting used to provide some kind of exoticism to a movie while white leads remain the stars of the show.
@@manonpavllptdr I've seen that interpretation!! While i like it on a narrative sense, and the racial dynamics/what the story tells us abt how people of color are exploited in Hollywood, I don't think it's my personal interpretation. In my opinion, the reason Gordy didn't attack Jupe is because the tablecloth was covering Gordy's eyes, what didn't allow him to look into Jupe's eyes ( following the "animals wont attack u if you don't disturbed them that's shown throughout the film) and because Jupe stood quiet and still, only moving his fist when Gordy did the fist bump. In my opinion the reason that Jupe doesn't get attacked has no deeper meaning. you could even call it a miracle. Gordy is an animal just like Jean Jacket is an animal, and imo their reasoning for doing or not doing things just isn't the same as ours. However, Jupe rationalizes then incident by believing he was special (you can even hear him whisper "you were chosen" moments before Jean Jacket appears to encourage himself), which imo is also because of the way stories progress. Jupe is exploiting his own trauma, triggering and retraumatizing himself. The only way we ever see him talk about it is telling it through an SNL sketch. He imagines it as a story, something like an episode of tv. He lived because he was special, because he and Gordy shared a bond, because he was chosen. That makes sense to him. But how do you deal with just facing that you survived just because you were lucky? Just because? You just survived with no deeper meaning past that. There is nothing to learn from it. But Jupe refuses to see that, because not only is it the harder to deal with option, bit it also makes for a story harder to sell. What museum would you rather go to if you're a Hollywood fanatic (aka the demographic that's going to see Jupe's private museum), one that just documents a tragedy, a massacre that occured because of mistreatment of how animals should be treated at stage, or one about a boy and a monkey and their bond and how even when the monkey attacks or kills everyone he comes across, he spares the boy, because they were friends, because they shared a bond.
However, i do think that one of the reasons Jupe might've rationalized this is bc of racism. You're completely right that Jupe's and Gordy's treatment is similar because the white people in charge just don't see people of color as human. But Jupe grows up in that environment, internalizes it, and grows up to believe that he and Gordy shared a bond bc of it. They both were in a similar situation, they both understood each other. But the trick is, they aren't the same. No matter how they were treated, Jupe is a human being and Gordy isn't. So i personally don't think that the reason he's "spared" is because Gordy can see that they were mistreated in similar ways, but I do think that Jupe internalizes that they were the same, and that's why he was spared. But when he tries to recreate that, recreate his trauma, it doesn't go the same. Jean Jacket has no connection to Jupe despite that he's been feeding it food for months now, and shows no mercy or remorse when it comes to killing and eating it. Because animals are not people, and that's not a bad thing. They can kill you, but if you respect them and know what won't piss them off, you can sometimes tame them.
Sorry this ramble went kinda long. I think that viewing is really super interesting, but i wanted to give my own spin on it
@@mariposavioleta3488 That is an incredible deep reading. You should make your own comment out of this reply, too.
This movie felt like an instant classic
Would definitely inspired few people. Its just too creative while taking shots at those who didn't understand it
yes! it was so good!
Seriously, I’m itching for a director’s cut!
Facts! I want to time travel back to the day I went to the theaters to see Nope and erase my memories of it to.
I loved the movie but man, if only the characters were more likable except for oj.
Usually, when I hear little green men, I think nothing but harmless, little, bent out of shape, alien dudes. But in this movie, Peele really crank up the scare level to 9000. That scene where Otis was being pranked by 3 kids dressed in alien costumes in the dark scared the shit out of me.
HONESTLY thinking back on it im almost embarrassed that scene got to me purely bc of how corny and typical the alien costumes were, but the execution was perfect especially with the sound design
the kids did it so well like jesus i thought that’s when where the movie was going it was also kinda hilarious for some reason
that was the scariest scene imo, i kept going to cover my eyes and my brother was yelling “just watch it!!!!!”
The Gordy scenes are important because they further illustrate the way that wild animals react to certain things regardless of training. It helps explain why the Jean Jacket attacks when looked at. The creatures have triggers. A horse’s trigger being a mirror, monkeys being set off by loud sudden noises, and the Jean Jacket being angered by eye contact.
This film perfectly captures the duality between the uneasiness of looking at trauma and horror happening in the real world right in the eye, and our fascination with and inability to look away from commercialised trauma and horror served as escapist entertainment.
True Crime is a huge example of this. I never liked True Crime and never understood why people thought they were so quirky when they were obsessed with it.
isn't it funny that Art and Spectacle, commoditized or not, stimulates so much thought and discussion? Good art encourages you to think, bad art does not.
@@BratzRockAngels yeah some people are into it for completely questionable reasons. i listen to true crime mainly to keep up with current events and get a better sense of what lies out there (as much as i can, i guess) as well as hopefully keep the victims in my thoughts and prayers. whenever i share that im into it though, people always get the wrong idea and assume i’m super dark or something. it’s strange that some people treat it like a personality trait (in regards to themselves or others)
Dahmer and Blonde.
It's the pinnacle of Gordy's Home-style spectacle.
And there’s nothing wrong with spectacle it’s pointless message and pointless movie trying to be deep and also nope is also spectacle exploiting you
@@smartwater598 "If I distance myself from everything and everyone I'll look smarter"
@@smartwater598 there is a problem. Dahmer series on Netflix wasn't done with permissions of the Dahmer victims families, they weren't even made aware until the trailer and release, meaning they were forced to see they're worst traumas broadcasted on TV for mass entertainment and profit. They tried to make Jeffrey dahmer sympathic even, and this comes back to the issue that trauma that affects black people is never taken seriously compared to the trauma of whites, instead their seen as mass entertainment and something to profit off.
I regards to the shitty movie Blonde not only does it portray Marylin Monroe in the same stereotypes she tried her hardest to avoid. It once again completely sexualises her (which led to the playboy situation) and infantalises her as someone passive where things just happen to her. They completely misrepresent historical facts about her life and take advantage of her worst traumas and memories for profit and entertainment, which disturbing and gross to watch. It once again paints her as someone who slept her way into fame, makes no mention of her politics (which was a very big aspect of her life) and treats her like an archetype of the sexy exploited blond bombshell not an actual person.
And here in lies the problem with spectacle it completely strips a person of their humanity instead of trying to tell the person's story, the industry encourages them to embellish their stories to make it more profitable reducing the person to a cash grab and concept not a person who had something horrific happen to them. In regards to Jordan peele he doesn't do this, it's why he changes his stories to be based on things not actual representation of what happens. Not only does this mean the people are not forced to watch their lives displayed on screen, Jordan peele uses his movies to tell a bigger story their not empty like spectacles are in nature they're used to tell the stories of already unrepresented people without making what is essentially trauma porn, trauma for the sake of trauma. This is Blonde particularly does and what Dahmer takes advantage of.
This was my first horror movie in theaters. Went with my brother and sister. That scene where OJ is stuck in the truck at night had me averting my eyes because the suspense was so terrible. As for the film overall, I think this is Peele's best so far.
Omg same thing haha x
What do you mean about the suspense do you mean it was done good or bad
@@eduarsanchez5856
I meant terrible as in uncomfortable, not lousy. Also as a reference to that Oscar Wilde quote.
Nah, man. His name is OJ! He was destined to live (literally, he went 'on the run' away from the monster), plus he's consistently shown to be wearing a baseball cap, therein limiting his ability to 'look up'. Plus, he's a trainer, able to tame (or more accurately, respect) animals. I thought that level of layering was kind of neat.
It was almost as good as get out
1:39 the word choice in this story is so great, showing how performers (particularly certain male podcast comics) use increasingly violent terms to denote the maximum amount of entertainment...and then when we cut to this vulnerable scared child that still lives inside him, just *chef's kiss*
Not only that, it (most likely) foreshadows the fates of the crowd that gets sucked into the Jean Jacket!
I've heard plenty of people talk about NOPE being Peele's less interesting film, mostly because it doesn't come to a conclusion. It doesn't tell the audience what to do or how to feel. When you brought up that this film doesn't answer it's questions I completely understood that, and I think in a world where people demand answers, it's beneficial to sit without them, to sit with a thought, and to gain perspective rather than coming to a conclusion. This was a wonderful essay to watch. Thanks Thomas!
Honestly I think this is his best so far I loved it so much
To me, the scene at 7:03 kind of highlights how we as viewers are inherently drawn to spectacle. There is an emotional character moment going on in the foreground but I, and probably many, zeroed in on the fight in the background. As much as I wanted to focus on the characters, I kept feeling myself drawn to the spectacle of the fight.
Dude i was so focused on the characters reactions at the restaraunt i did not see the fight. Wild
Good point! I remember thinking 'what the heck is going on in the background?' too!
Wait I didn't actually notice the fight until I watched again.
I didn't notice the fight at all.
i just wanted to look at the fried fish sandwich angel was having
I can’t believe people disliked this movie, I told my sister how much I enjoyed it so she went to go see it a few days after and she said it was one of the worst movies she’s ever seen, I don’t understand why our perspectives were so different, great film is all I have to say the Gordy scene were really terrifying.
Art is subjective and most people aren't thinking critically about the movie they're watching. They're watching for the spectacle
They probably didnt understand the deeper themes!
@@Anu32148 or maybe they didn't like the movie
As a cinephile who sometimes watches bad movies on purpose, your sister must have only seen, like, two or three movies ever, and the other two must be the top two best movies ever made. Nope is well acted, shot, written, etc., but people have this attitude that if something isn't what they want/expected it to be, then it's bad.
I challenge your sister to watch "Things" or "Rollergator" and holler back!
@@no_peace agreed lol It was a terrible movie
Watching this movie in IMAX was definitely an experience
it was breathtaking
Seriously. The sound design and imagery hit so hard in IMAX. It made me really creeped out and uncomfortable which I love.
Man I'm jealous that you saw it that way, I saw it in RPX which was the closest I can get.
It was so beautiful and creepy
How you noticed that he uses two-sided words when he's talking about the SNL sketch? He says: he's crushing it, he's a force of nature, he's just killing it on stage.
Which the Gordy actually did all this:)
One thing I can say about the scene at the fast food place is something that a lot of fans of this movie speculate. It may or may not have been intentional, but to those of us who are, OJ comes across as neurodivergent along the lines of ASD. He speaks very little and when he does it’s literal and direct, he has a real affinity for the horses, but seems to struggle with human interactions, he avoids direct eye contact, and it takes a lot for him to seem excited or even interested in what’s going on. It may be that he’s so focused on solving the mystery of JJ that he doesn’t actually understand the need to take a break from it. Once OJ was shown this problem of a dangerous predator putting his loved ones at risk, he made his life about stopping it. Em wants then”Oprah shot,” Angel wants to save others from the danger they’ve faced, Holst wants one last thrill of filming danger, but OJ is single-mindedly focused on solving the problem.
But OJ wanted the Impossible Shot, too. He mentioned it outside the diner, got excited about the new camera set up and the whole last bit of the film is so that they could get the Impossible Shot.
Nah, he didn't make eye contact with animals because he was a wrangler. He also clearly wasn't a man for spectacle or presentation, which reinforces the theme. He was a man of few words but most men are unless you get them to talk about something they're experts in.
@@ThaiNguyen-ng3wp Yeah, no way. Have you met men? They’ll talk about anything for hours. You don’t have to share this interpretation, but implying most men are quiet is just not factual. 😆
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this!!!
@@Razzlewolfflight true lmao; men actually statistically talk roughly the same damn amount that women do. Data disproves the stupid theory that women talk too much and men speak far less
The impossible shot scene just made me think of storm or tornado chasers, even clout chasers willing to do the most dangerous challenges like jack ass just for views.
Yesss
The dichotomy of trauma is the pull between only wanting to talk about it versus avoiding it
Offf I feel that
I thought the Gordy scenes were to tell us that animals can’t be tamed and that if we try to extort them for spectacle than the result will be a horrific death.
I think there are multiple layers and interpretations to this.
There's just something so painfully sad about seeing Mary Jo Elliot again, and it fits into the whole spectacle thing, too. She is ruined, she's covering her hand, her face, and to me, the saddest part of all is her sweater that has a picture of her own face when she was younger on it, and you can assume she wears that at any public appearence. It really put a pit in my stomach. And beside all that, I was still curious, I wanted to see behind the veil. Jordan Peele movies hit the hardest right after they end, and you can just digest it all (pun very much intended)
Stand up comedian Bobby Lee who got personally invited to the NOPE movie premiere revealed after the screening Jordan told him he was Gordy. That it was how he felt being in MADTV and this conflict involving SNL. Bobby Lee was his co-star in MADTV. Superrr interesting and revealing of a podcast clip, easy to search up. You hit it right on with this video
It was based to their experience of being exploited by MADTV themselves. From Jordan losing the gig to SNL, to Bobby not wanting to do anymore stereotypical characters.
So is Jordan meant to be Gordy and Bobby is Ricky???
@@smellylorenny no I think madtv is Gordy?
I believe that table scene was not just the idea of a group of people witnessing a traumatic event but surviving it. Those people are now bonded over a shared experience hence they all went to eat together but also shows the different povs of how they handle the trauma. Some want to talk about the event which for them could be seen as attacking it head on and feeling less of a victim while others may want to avoid, suppress or deny. In that moment it was a great piece on shared trauma and coping.
the gordy tale (patent pending) is legitimately the key to understanding the films themes, shocking how many people dismissed it
The very first horror movie my girlfriend and I ever watched together in a theatre. Can’t forget about this movie and how it literally change our perspective and expectations from horror films.
This is the first horror movie my boyfriend and I watched in theaters too! We loved it
Same, my boyfriend and I are cinephiles but we don't watch horror films in theatres, so this was our first as well!
Its not a horror movie.
@@Speedur_why not?
Ricky "Jupe" was tragic and arguably the main character regarding the theme.
Edit: He grew up around spectacle. He's not the bad guy. He's an American trying to live the American dream. He knows a huge spectacle will help him achieve his goal. He thought he had a deep connection with Gordy because the chimp spared him. He thought he had a connection with “the viewers” because he fed “them.” Unfortunately for him and everyone in the star lasso arena, he was wrong.
Hes definitely the bad guy. He literally bought off ojs and their family hard work to have horses be slaughtered for no reason. He also threatened them, when he spoke that language its translated to "Your home is my home".
He was also a spectacle himself- he's only known as the "Asian kid" in the show he acted in as a child. Both he and Gordy were spectacles, which Gordy almost seems to recognize.
@@genevasmallman8937 I dont think gordy had that deep of a connection to him. I think he calmed down because he saw him as submissive, and his eyes where obscured. Jupe thought he had some type of connection with gordy, so he chased that connection with JJ. He thought he could tame him, and use him for his act because he thought he tamed gordy.
@@changedcj007 "Su casa es mi casa" -Always thought there was some significance to Jupe's awkward, inverted, seemingly off-the-cuff 'make-yourself-to-home-welcome.' You made it crystal. Jupe feels just like a car salesman,-or shark- closing in on the sale. In his mind, he's already bought the farm...er, ranch.
@@Rdale0 Yeah its the inverted saying of "my home is your home." Its supposed to be a welcoming but the way jupe twisted the saying was brilliant.
Another thing to note about the restaurant scene when they were debriefing, there was a fight amongst a bunch of guys in jerseys outside and none of the main characters noticed or reacted to it. By the time the main characters went outside, the fight seemed to have resolved itself and the group of guys were gone. I think that this is a subtle message of how not turning things into a huge spectacle could minimize troubling situations. If other people had gotten involved or gathered around to witness the fight, it might have escalated the situation.
During the digestion scene I started to hyperventilate and had to leave the theater…and despite that, Nope was still my favorite movie of the year. It takes a special talent to get someone to have a medical emergency and STILL buy the blu-ray of your movie. Hats off to Mr Peele.
Just a heads up, at 9:00 you mention the image as being Jean Jackets mouth- it’s actually JJs eye!
Jean Jackets mouth is the circular gap on its underside- this opens into a large empty space where food is sucked straight up inbetween two sheets (we see this during the Star Lasso Experience, and attention is drawn to said sheets later during the, uh, Crunch). These two sheets press together throughout the rest of JJs bulk- forming the digestive system we got an uncomfortably long look at.
Jean Jacket is, aside from all this, practically hollow. You can see its skin rippling loosely on its empty frame in some scenes. The whole creature is composed of the various sheets and membranes shown when it unfurls to threaten the twins.
Emphasis on threaten too- thanks to its insides now being its outsides and having no mouth to speak of even Jean Jacket has sacrificed for the sake of spectacle; while puffing itself up like an angry animal it can’t eat to survive. Until it wraps itself up again at least, like we see when it lunges through the air at the inflatable Ricky.
Meaning that little rectangular thing- resembling of course an old camera- is JJs eye. The shiny strips you see in the video around it here later zap out in the form of the green threat display, and the structure as a whole is nestled inside the weird swirling organ most of JJ seems to be attached to.
When in its UFO form the eye sits just inside the rim of the mouth with that miscellaneous organ churning to either side, meaning that in fact all those shots of inside the creature are literally POV shots from Jean Jackets perspective!
Dispassionately and blankly staring at its dinner like the creepy beast it is.
holy crap. this is an amazing explanation thank you
Have your own yt channel? You should with an explanation like that - nobody else does that's for dang sure
you have no idea how much this made me finally understand its structure even tho I saw it months ago
THAT'S ITS EYE?!
Brilliant
The amount of messages this movie is giving out is mind bogging, just hit me people selling their traumatic events for entertainment in exhange for money. Like what’s happening today in our black community where rappers are selling what’s happened to them as music but in reality it’s something of horror
i think it's more of a grey area with rappers or any other kind of artists. creating art is one of the best ways to process your trauma. it's drastically different from just recording an actual event and uploading it online to go viral. rappers only rapping about cash and drugs and women and avoiding the real stuff would be more similar to OJ at the diner wanting to talk about what they just went through while the other two would rather talk about fried fish sandwiches
This hits different after the stampede in Itaewon, South Korea. It happened on a street I go to drink with my friends almost every month. I couldnt watch the uncensored videos as they were popping up, while my friends who did were left pretty traumatized (more so after finding out that some friends were killed too)
It's interesting, the perspective of Jean Jacket as a metaphor for Hollywood really makes how OJ's father dies especially interesting. The 'bad miracle' of stuff falling from the sky, the coin in the eye. It's almost like the 'cost' of being seen.
My favorite part of the film was how Daniel Kaluuya imitated Keith David's speech patterns and mannerisms, basically making it seem like Keith David really was his father. Not sure if that was how Jordan wanted it acted, or he chose to do this himself, but it was pure genius to do it that way.
I noticed that too! Especially since he's done American accents before and didn't sound like that.
Such an insanely talented actor!
I remember the early days of his career on British TV in the late 2000s, and it's been amazing to watch his career take off.
Really bummed about the people who didn’t enjoy this movie. So much to chew on here.
It is what it is. I feel sorry for Jordan Peele, it's his best movie so far in my opinion and it will probably be the less successful one, but it was still a considerable success in the box office so he should be alright
@@davidfernandez8515 he’ll definitely be alright, but it must be mildly infuriating at the least to see people either completely miss the message, or blatantly maliciously misrepresent it. Maybe I’m projecting my own shit onto him, but I’d be pretty defeated after releasing pretty impactful massages through new genres of film only to be told I’m a subpar film maker/writer.
@@Bimbologyexpert well, you shouldn't. Some people will get you some will not. At the end of the day you'd have made something to look back and be proud of. When it comes to art the product is all that matters not if it's well liked or not.
Besides that, there're countless movies that weren't appreciated until many years after their release: Blade Runner, Fight Club, Dune (the David Lynch one)...
@@Bimbologyexpert take into account that some films take years, sometimes decades, for people to finally get them and give them the recognition they deserve. It's sad that it goes like this sometimes, but Jordan really did something fantastic with Nope, and I'm sure it'll be a cult classic sooner or later
@@davidfernandez8515 I know right
Think Nope took the spot as my favorite Peele movie, and probably #3 movie of the year across the board. Such an excellent film.
The other top 2?
@@mohammadareeb2488 Minions: The Rise of Gru and Morbius
@@mohammadareeb2488
#1 Everything Everywhere All at Once
#2 The Northman
@@SamuraiMujuru nice list! Now I gotta go watch the northman if its sitting up there with these movies.
@@HINOBI2047 trust me it's worth it
I'm only just realising that Ricky was recreating the weekly sitcom spectacle using Jean Jacket with his weekly horse devouring show, almost "putting a party hat" on the beast. Of course the crowd were devoured.
Exactly...and it's like he should have known better because he was in a similar situation before (Gordy episode)
@@Ashley9thwd He should have, but he got the wrong lesson from it. In his head, he put together things like Gordy giving him an exploding fistbump and sparing him (and the uncanny balancing of the shoe) as signs that he and Gordy had had a special relationship, which helped him cope with survivor's guilt by rationalising that he dodged the attack because of some skill or understanding on his part rather than ultimately just luck. He projects that onto Jean Jacket as well, acknowledging in his patter that he and the aliens have never met face-to-face but that he's nonetheless convinced they chose him.
Best piece of analysis on Nope so far. Glad this film is starting to get a fair shake. Really annoys me when critics dismiss ambitious projects like this within the first 48 hours of its wide release because they don't have the time or mental energy to assess it properly.
Also, little detail I caught on 2nd viewing: The alien suits that Jupe's kids were wearing in the barn scene, which can also be seen as toys on a merch stand later in the film, are a great visual metaphor. Obviously they resemble Gordy the chimp, but did you notice the Panavision cameras in the tracking shot during the Gordy flashback? The film stock on top of the cameras is a large off-white rectangle with two black dots. The 'aliens' that Jupe is selling on the merch stand look like they're halfway between the Panavision cameras and the Chimp's face, representing both the glamour and horror of spectacle that Peele is exploring. He is then packaging this amalgamation as what he mistakenly believes is inside the UFO (Jeanjacket), which illustrates how he believes he has power over spectacle and is immune to its danger, a belief he has internalised from being the only cast member not to be attacked by Gordy.
I just think it's such a great visual metaphor and character-revealing detail, and I think it's great that Peele has the confidence not to bring too much attention to it.
Bobby Lee (a colleague of Jordan's from Mad TV) spoke to Jordan at the premiere; Bobby was told that the monkey attack scene was a pivotal scene, and that Jordan was also referencing how he felt as an actor on the set of Mad TV.
this whole essay reminded me of all the gore websites and subreddits that exist where people make a spectacle out of people being tortured, executed, in horrific accidents, or their brains smashed by a bus or something, its genuinely sickening how normalized these things have become because of overexposure
For real man the people who regularly watch that stuff sicken me
Its surprisingly common throughout history to see some form of entertainment revolving around violence or death
I just think about those youtube channels who do their makeup while explaining horrific, gruesome true crime stories.
Does anyone else think Nope could also be read as being about police brutality? (Based on Peele's quotes in this video, I'm assuming this wasn't an intended reading put forth by the director, but I find it interesting to discuss regardless). To me, OJ's experience with his father dying at the hands of this lurking eye in the sky, and only getting a sanitized explanation with no closure (plus the coin shot through his father's eye being reminiscent of a bullet) set this train of thought going. In my interpretation, Jean Jacket represents the threat of police brutality. There are rules of how to interact with Jean Jacket. Don't look it in the eye, don't do anything that could provoke it, or it might turn violent. OJ, being a Black man, is the most attuned to this danger. The scene of his car being physically stopped by Jean Jacket, with danger all around if he steps outside, reminded me of a traffic stop.
Jupe feels safe around Jean Jacket because he believes it won't hurt him. He's dealt with a similar creature before and survived, and has even tried to convince himself that it was no big deal. Jean Jacket has patrolled the skies above him for quite some time. But some animals just can't be tamed, and Jupe learns this after he deliberately provokes the creature. Jean Jacket descends upon the stadium, killing the group that is gathered peacefully. This is when the media and the outside world begin to notice something is wrong. However, Jean Jacket doesn't yet unfurl into its true form.
Our main characters have to get video of Jean Jacket attacking, because nobody will believe them if they don't. This is where the theme of spectacle comes in. OJ and Em know they can't beat Jean Jacket on their own, so their greatest weapon is a camera. Jean Jacket's presence turns the security cameras off, similarly to body cameras being switched off in many police brutality situations. Jean Jacket doesn't want its true form to be seen.
Finally, once Jean Jacket feels provoked enough, it reveals its true form to OJ and Em: unfurling into a huge hooded white cape.
When I watched Nope the first time, I came out of it thinking that it was about the film industry, and the grotesqueness of spectacle. But after my second viewing I wondered, "Wouldn't it be brilliant to have made a film about police brutality that shows no cops and no guns?" Again, not saying the film was intended to be read this way, but I wanted to get this interpretation out there and see what other people think.
I've literally never heard this theory before...but it's genius
This is a very very interesting take that I actually enjoy very much
Please don’t involve a topic that died down and was a cause of horrifically violent crimes as well as horrific handling of the situation
Good theory.
@@andrewfairweather4742 do you even know who Jordan Peele is
I feel like we cannot stop to stare away at Jordan Peele's Probably Biggest Inspirations and one of his favorite movies, AKIRA. Now I feel like I also have to connect the government in that movie too well, Jordan Peele's General take on the Film Industry because of how they want to harness this "power", get the "Impossible Shot". Tetsuo and the being of "AKIRA" is an example of the control they want and how they want to use this power to do something for their own good and I can relate to the impossible shot. Yet they could never get that shot, as everything falls through their hands as this mass evil is unleashed not because it's evil, because it has been abused for a spectacle.
I love this movie.
Plus, wasn't there a reference to AKIRA with Emerald riding the bike and doing the slide in Jupiter's Claim?
“See how they run“ is a cheeky, meta, hilarious take on this commodification of spectacle and trauma in the mystery and crime genres.
“nope” was definitely one the best movies of 2022. this will definitely go down a classic
As an amateur gore effect artist, I worry a lot about the spectacle of it and whether or not it's gratuitous or just needless
I'm an FX aritst too, and i can tell u, the main fault of "the spectacle" is when it exploits and causes real harm, which is more applicable to something along the lines of snuff than FX makeup. Fake gore for films and entertainment generally doesn't exploit anyone so you shouldn't have anything to worry about
during the opening credits there's this eerie corridor turning into a movie screen with the projection of "plate 626". only later in the movie this eerie coridor appears again - as the inside of the alien when jupe and his audience are getting sucked in
...hiding the obvious in plain sight
Is it me or does Jupe’s red jacket not only look like the ufo is hiding in the clouds (flowers) but the bottom portion of the back looks like a mantis’ face. The flowers being the eyes and the mouth being the design at the bottom.
The lines on the back also look like rain. It’s almost foreshadowing to when Jean Jacket spills blood rain onto the sibling’s house
glad to see someone finally cut right down to the core of the idea. it feels reductive to say 'it's media!' but there's a lot to read into regarding Peel's attempt to unpack his relationship with everything under that umbrella. two ideas I'd like to add are that it engages with digital effects regarding the danger of capturing something real vs its threat to perceived authenticity and established workers in the industry without reaching consensus, and that JJ is literally a silver screen lmfao
11:57 - I think “The Minutes” on Broadway does something similar by marketing itself as a comedy. With the audience’s guards down, the show’s true message just hits harder. The show is ultimately about (spoilers) Native American genocide, which is a subject that everyone is acutely aware of, but one that no one wants to talk about, much in the same way as the restaurant scene depicts OJ wanting to hash things out, but being ignored because they just think “here he goes, telling us why he’s disappointed in us”
I don't know what the production technique was, but the night shots Peele got are some of the best I have ever seen. Visible, yet it still looks like night.
Also, artists or people in show business perform when eyes are on them. The same way the alien attacks/feeds/performs when it's looked at.
Thank you for this. I was born and live in Kyiv, Ukraine. I'm not fit to be a soldier, but I didn't flee and yet was lucky to never see the horrors of occupation and the fighting first hand, although it was very close back in the spring. However I did experience the very literal, almost animalistic, horror from the constant shockwaves from gigantic explosions shaking the city. Along with the expectation to be killed any moment the 24/7 explosions really mess up your sleep patterns! The other kind of horror, a gut-wrenching one, is from seeing the footage captured by those in the thick of it, the footage of entire families slaughtered, the footage of genocide unfolding just a few miles from you, sleep deprived, refreshing the timelines on your smartphone to see if the frontline is approaching your doorstep or not. I was among those who tweeted some of that horrible imagery and translated/explained the context in English. It's the least I could do. I can't begin to imagine what it was like to be in the middle of it all. You're right, just seeing that on your screen, especially that much, it changes you. It makes you numb. Saying "Nope" is a defence mechanism I can understand.
The movie is brilliant, by the way. And I don't even like horror movies, never did.
Lol 😂
This reminds me of how I got early access to the internet, at the age of 7, and how much it fucked me up. Back then it was easy to stumble upon really gruesome videos, like cartel killings, road accidents, ISIS executions, etc. Of course I watched it all out of morbid curiosity and bragged to myself how cool I am for being able to stomach it. I do wonder whether it was a coping mechanism of a child or there was something more sinister to this. Now, as I’m older, I rediscover my sensitivity and refuse to watch such videos. I’ve stumbled upon some war footage (particularly the one with a POW being castrated) and felt sick for days after watching it. It’s a dilemma I face now - do I pay attention to it or do I say nope? Where’s the thin line between not letting yourself forget the people’s suffering and feeding the voyeuristic monster inside of you?
On the side note, I’m Russian and I’m staying in my county for now as well. I’m truly sorry for what you and your fellow countrymen experienced at the hands of our soldiers and I pray for this war to end well for Ukraine, as soon as possible. It is a vile crime against humanity. I hope to live to see day when our president is condemned for the suffering that he brought onto his own country and its neighbors.
I think it's important to note that Ricky's first response when faced with what he thought was a first contact scenario was not *just* to turn it into a show, but to turn it into *his* mediocre western show.
I'm not sure how that fits into everything, but it feels important.
It definitely has to deal with Ricky never understanding his trauma with Gordy. He was the only cast member not attacked, I'm sure he thought the reason was because Gordy liked him, however he was just doing what he was trained to do (the fistbump). Gordy had a bad reaction to trauma with the balloon popping, and ended up hurting and killing those around him, and it got him killed. Ricky did the same by not understanding the shit he went through on the show, he created the weekly spectacle of feeding a horse to Jean Jacket, ending in his and the audience's deaths. He believed he could be another exception with Jean Jacket, train it and exploit it, but it's a wild animal and ended up killing him
And that ties into his monologue on the SNL skit. He's talking about the actors, not the actual events or how he felt during the incident. He's recounting an exploited version of his trauma, but refusing to talk about his actual trauma. Because doing so would mean Gordy was taken advantage of, Ricky's trauma was used as a joke on tv, and Ricky is doing the exact same thing with Jean Jacket.
I've deeply thought about how the quest for spectacle was explored/critiqued in this film ever since I saw it in theaters. Glad you made this thoughtful analysis so I have even more to contemplate. Thanks! -Stef.
Another great movie that highlighted the length people will go to commodify spectacle was Nightcrawler. Yeun's character in Nope gave me similar vibes to Gyllenhaal in the aforementioned movie. Overall, both films did a great job in demonstrating the length's that people will go to for personal gain. Great video!
100% great comparison, I kept thinking there was a film that made me question media as Nope did in this way but couldn't quite place it.
Man I'm so glad someone finally made this, I've been trying to make a "The Spectacle of Nope' video for a while but I've never done it before so i haven't been able to. Yours pretty much hits on the same notes as I wanted to but better.
This film won me over when Logan Paul described it as one of the worst films ever, a man who went to a Japanese suicide forest and exploited the trauma for clout.
6 years ago but alr😂
@@A_valeska66that doesn’t mean shit. At all. If a murder happened six years ago are supposed to just forgive him?? dumb asf
the opening shot with the credits to me is an allusion “you eat with your eyes first”
The fact that this happened at the family and friends showing also, for me, showcases the relationship how many child actors may end up becoming in the future. We know that this movies showcases the exploitation of animals for "spectacle" but I think Jupe being a child on set also showcases how child actors can be exploited for this love of the spectacle for the audience. They will constantly keep chasing this idealized version of a "spectacle" even if its an event so traumatizing, hence why he responds with the SNL sketch of what happens instead of how he actually felt in that moment. Basically, he wishes to constantly showcase a spectacle to an audience, something that was ingrained in him as a child. In the end, this chase for the spectacle ends up "consuming" these people, and the people that they love. After all, not processing trauma doesn't only just "consume" you, but it can "consume" everyone around you who loves and cares for you. Hence why it is important that this scene happened at the family and friends showing. It's so deeply disturbing to think about, and Jordan Peele's genius in creating Jupe's character is really unmatched.
It's genius, the scene where Ricky describes the attack. He's telling of it sounds like a tacky sketch show episode that's based on the attack. Like he's disconnected from it.
Excellent video. I'd like to add that I also thought of the film in terms of how it explores human ambition (hubris?) of having mastery or dominance over other life forms/nature: gordy, horses, the alien (also a life form, also part of Nature/the universe), and how we think we can tame them, objectify them, use them but there is so much we don't grasp and can't control.
I thought it was brilliant and I love that you nailed the key themes here, it definitely stuck out to me. However, I can literally never watch this movie again. I've had recurring nightmares bc of how unnerving the Gordy scene and the claustrophobia scene were. Definitely the first horror movie that's scared me like that in a long time
what got me most was the look on that dying tigers face. mostly because it’s real 😳
the scene of all the people being sucked up made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. no horror movie has ever made me feel so repulsed from a scene before. i love this movie
the gordy scene made me bite my hand in nervousness, knowing the sad case it was inspired off of 😭
Those green ribbons with the black square in the center is jean jackets eye. So, at the very beginning of the film, we have already looked at it directly in the eye, therefore having challenged it. Also it's positioned right above the hole underneath so it can see what it's eating. Genius design. I loved the movie and I really enjoyed your video. Keep it up
This video is incredible. The writing, the production, the way it's delivered, everything. Thank you for making such a well-informed and thoughtful video on this movie, I swear every analysis of Nope only makes me pump my fists harder about its existence
Originally when I watched Nope, I thought “that was pretty good. I don’t really get the point of the Gordy stuff, but it was good.”
But as I kept thinking and thinking about it, I just loved the film more and more and more. It all made sense to me, that the Gordy stuff really cements the themes of the movie. And I adore the themes of spectacle and exploitation.
I think Peele is just sitting back, waiting for the people who didn’t get Nope on first viewing to eventually catch up.
Thank you for such an insightful video, allowed me to few a movie I loved in a different light.
I also noticed at 9:49 when you speak on the poster of Sidney Portier, OJ is wearing a t-shirt with Emiliano Zapata Salazar, a Mexican revolutionary. Vaqueros were considered the "first cowboys" with common western terminology like Ranch, Rodeo, Stampede, Chaps, etc. coming from the Spanish language - They too were white washed in history of the west. This pairing with Sidney Portier's poster felt intentional
It's also a Rage! Against The Machine shirt which should speak for itself.
The fast food table scene is saying we would rather SEE what we can then talk about it after. The audience and OJ would naturally rather watch the fight in the background. I love your videos bro!
There are so many layers in this film, and so many questions regarding so many themes. Peele’s best so far, hands down
I don't know how Nope could have been clearer. It's visceral
This was an awesome video, I haven't heard many people describe the nature of Nope and spectacle so eloquently.
This is an AWESOME take, you have a new sun here! I think there is a lot to unpack around Jupe being of an immigrant family and how he’s driven to live the “American dream” AKA fame at any price …
@ 12:00 continuing to your symbolism of how Peele has portrayed the film industry in this movie; you can add how the K-pop industry has been traumatizing to musicians in that genre; they care more about looks and their commercialism is based on how beautiful they are (the term is literally called visuals)(photo cards and photo books are a hot ticket item and an incentive to buy albums/cds) rather than focusing on the music itself.
I’ll applaud Peele for casting Steven Yeun (who is of Korean decent), and add to your theory of Peele creating an expensive Hollywood movie that exploits the film industry (whether casting Yeun for this reason was intentional or not) - it’s an unspoken thing in the K-pop industry we know is wrong but fail to do something about it.
Nope was brilliant. Equal parts a homage to classic Steven Spielberg films like Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and especially Jaws. But it also reminded me of classic Rod Serling era Twilight Zone and the film also had many touches of the same felling of tension and suspense that classic Alfred Hitchcock films had. That same feeling where the buildup of tension and suspense is better than the payoff
I think this equation works rather well with the intricacies and ugliness of American history specifically, too. Especially if you tie that back to the unnamed jockey aspect of the story. A lot of people just want to sweep it under the rug and ignore the ugliness of their ancestors and the blood we walk on every day. Let's just not look at the monster.
Excellent analysis Tom! I particularly like the parallels you draw between how the movie is a mirror challenge it's audience to think about how they respond to spectacle and trauma. I found humanizing these characters with real tendencies and reactions, much more believable compared to many other horror movies lately. Great stuff!
THANK YOU I've been waiting for a good essay on NOPE about this subject! I was delighted to see this video notification on my subscriptions page : )
This was my favourite movie of the summer with a good balance of tension and spectacle. A lot of what people complained about (like the whole Gordy sequence) I thought were very big pluses. Steven Yuen plays the guy in the horror movie that doesn't learn his lesson and gets everyone killed halfway through the movie.
I think there's a little more to this that I don't see people talking about...
There is the spectacle and exploitation, yes. And you could say it talks about animals and the film industry and the ways those fit in with spectacle and exploitation. But to me, it is even more about the greater microscope that contains those concepts. It is about this view that we must be a certain way, act a certain way to fit in with society-rules placed on us by others as well as by ourselves in the expectations we form; how we place ourselves in a box, all the while craving freedom and telling ourselves that that freedom meets a certain definition.
I believe Gordy does not simply react to the balloon popping because people exploited him for entertainment and didn't respect his nature, but because they placed a definition on how he was expected to act. Those behavioral expectations went against his core nature as an animal, but he followed them because he would be rewarded or punished if he did or did not. I don't believe any animal truly snaps to the degree Gordy did at the drop of a hat-there is something under the surface already going on.
The human animal is no different. We place expectations upon ourselves in how we view personality, gender, school, career success, love... and we and everyone else is holding that microscope over us to watch how we succeed or fail to uphold the definitions around those. And with every bit more freedom we are told we gain, definitions are placed around what that freedom should mean, ensuring that the concept of freedom is an illusion, and ensuring that we will never succeed in gaining what we are told to seek. And it weighs on us. And every generation, our rules compound rather than relax, and we become less capable of handling it. And as we introduce more ways to connect as a species, that microscope continues to grow.
We talk about people that just snap one day-as if everything was fine before they rage quit, or cheated, or killed someone. As if their balloon popped and it just set them off. No one just snaps. We've simply been programmed to carry this immense amount of weight until it breaks us. And we don't see the weight we were carrying until we're sitting in that room in the aftermath of it, looking around at the silence and calm that follows the last straw breaking after a pervasive experience of spectacle and exploitation.
Excellent and insightful essay, you really helped me see layers that I had refused to consider.
thanks man
I love the energy you carry into your video making. 🎬
Your voice is so naturally calm and welcoming but it also grabs the viewer to understand whatever topic you are speaking about.
Amazing analysis! Really strung together a lot of things I didn't understand right off the bat into a well crafted message.
You basically put into words everything that I love about nope, I couldn’t quite line up the words with how spectacle meant so much and how it was a bad thing but you made it click thank you ❤
I appreciate your dedication to film. Your analysis of Nope inspired me while writing my thesis for Theater. What a respectful passion you have. Thanks!
Thomas: Your videos are among the best on the internet. I love LOVE the many layers you evaluate. Nope was complex and brilliant and you didn’t miss a beat of it!
Thomas, this is absolutely incredible work. Thank you!