10. NOPE, GET OUT IS NOT JORDAN PEELE’S MASTERPIECE

My return to the world of film discussion through Nope

I watched Nope yesterday and cannot get that movie out of my head. I meant to discuss The Piano Teacher and I prepared an entire review for that but I scrapped it in favor of this (pretty much last minute). I love both movies and agree with the message of both movies but at the same time, Nope challenges me more. Believe it or don’t, writing is actually very therapeutic to me, I use it as a tool to improve my knowledge so I’d much rather tackle something that would prove more difficult to dissect.

It is also worth mentioning that I want to start writing movie reviews again. Yes, I used to write movie reviews and no, you cannot see them. I’m a bit embarrassed by those reviews. My voice wasn’t as developed and I wrote a lot of negative reviews as well. Your average snarky, know-it-all reviewer; that’s what I was but that’s then. I want to start on a new foot.

Enough preamble! I’m really eager to sink my teeth into this film.

LAYER 1: GET OUT!

I was just so eager to discuss Nope so the only logical thing to do would be to talk about a different film. Still directed by Jordan Peele. I believe Get Out was his directorial debut besides Key and Peele. I wanted to name each heading after a Key and Peele skit but that would take a lot of trawling. Anyway, Get Out was a great movie but I would be lying if I said it didn’t leave me unimpressed. Now, I am not a white individual, and seeing Get Out release was exciting for that reason. Horror for and by black people? That’s awesome. It turns out that perhaps Get Out is NOT for black people.

To me, it feels very aimed towards white people. Which isn’t bad or anything, this can only help to increase awareness of systemic issues among people who may be uninformed. It also isn’t bad to have wanted this movie to be aimed at me. Truth be told, Get Out put me off of Peele’s work. Can I call him Jordan? I don’t like calling him Peele. Again, it is an amazing movie but I don’t think about it. The most thought that I give this movie besides this is when I reference it to joke about people visiting their white friends.

I genuinely wish I could offer more criticism but I just don’t remember Get Out too well. The one guy made an Obama joke if I remember correctly. Now I really want to talk about Nope. I’m done discussing Get Out.

LAYER 2: MOVIE HECKLERS

I guess we are doing the Key and Peele skit title motif then. I couldn’t think of a better heading. Anyway, I was eager when Nope came out but I waited until literally yesterday to watch it. I wanted to see the consensus and it got all the right people angry. By all the right people I mean Logan Paul and others I forgot the names of. Racists’ names weren’t the only thing I forgot because I forgot to watch the movie.

I really do wish I got to see this in the cinema. What I wouldn’t give to participate in the discussion of this film at the time. I don’t think I had the vocabulary to articulate myself then but regardless just to see this movie in theatres would have blown my mind, even watching it on my much smaller and dustier screen managed to floor me.

The one thing that does sadden me is that Get Out still gets more attention and engagement. I don’t see nearly as many poorly written “ENDING EXPLAINED” articles on Nope. The unfortunate reality is just that it’s easier to digest the message of Get Out, it’s easy for white people to laugh and wipe sweat from their brows while thinking about how they’re different. Nope is much more confrontational. Like I said I agree with the message but swallowing that pill is a different story as well as stomaching it after the fact.

LAYER 3: THE VIEW BETWEEN VILLAGES

I guess now we’re just referencing country songs. Great. Very consistent. I’m being sarcastic but I can say without any irony or sarcasm of any kind, the visuals in this movie are consistently good. By visuals, I mean; lighting, cinematography, that French word I can’t spell, the framing, the editing, all the visual elements. One thing that I found particularly striking however was the imagery.

I can’t tell you what each profound shot in this movie means but there are so many impactful shots. The opening; with the monkey or after the opening when we get our first glimpse at the main characters. I think these shots or scenes hold so much power because of what they choose to show and what they choose to conceal. It’s a basic principle of horror and I think this is only proof that Jordan Peele is a master of his domain. He might be the most promising horror director of modern times.

The great American countryside is also a great setting for this. I can’t say I’m too fond of that country, especially the southern regions but I must say, it does look beautiful. It is an excellent backdrop as it adds to this idea of a recontextualized Western. I’m always hesitant to use the term anti-western and the word recontextualized makes me sound smarter. The Western genre is very white, I must say. I love a good Western but I gravitate more to these recontextualized Westerns. They toss off the rose-colored glasses and show the audience a more sobering reality and this movie is no different even if the audience doesn’t see the full extent of the sobriety at play.

LAYER 4: HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW

To tie back to what I mentioned in the last segment; Jordan Peele knows what to show and what to conceal. That not only makes him an excellent horror director but also a better director in general. The film’s mystery unravels at the perfect pace, and the viewer is constantly hungry for the next development in the story. On a surface level, it’s just a damn well-told story but on a deeper level, that is how the movie involves us.

As I said in a previous section; Get Out is easy to separate yourself from. Of course, you’re not like the white people in that movie but it is impossible to be invested in this movie and at the same time sever yourself from it. Nope, comments a lot on spectacle and our desire for spectacle. None of us are safe from this confrontation either, the main characters for example attempt to capture footage of a UFO… to create awareness, of course. Why else would they? Not for fame or money or exposure, right?

Jupe has to be my favorite character and I’ll describe him the same way that I describe one of my favorite literary characters; he’s a walking trauma response. He was a child actor on a sitcom and underwent a traumatic event on set. It’s (the opening shot with the monkey I mentioned) and naturally, when something terrible happens to public figures, people talk about it. One of the saddest things about Jupe which becomes apparent the minute you meet his character is that he processes his trauma by making a spectacle of it. His acting is what sells the complexity of his character. Words will never express the hurt he feels but they don’t need to, it’s painted all over his face and engraved deep into his mannerisms and behaviors.

LAYER 5: HOW MANY MILES?

I had a lot of questions… or rather have lots of questions. I still haven’t quite found my answers. All my questions boil down to one: when does it end? Not the film but the spectacle and the chase thereof. What will it take for people to stop hunting bad miracles just to get 15 minutes of fame?

I think this movie wants us to be more aware of what we are watching and consuming as well as asking us to have empathy. It’s only natural for us to get caught up in the pageantry and that’s not wrong but it is wrong to put it above your own or another life. Spectacles have become so natural to us at this point, often to a dehumanizing degree. So much of humor has just become shock value or even just blatant racism. How many memes have you seen where the point was to laugh at the black man or laugh at the Asian man? We can forget that, despite the differences between us, they are still people.

Even documentaries or entertainment of a more serious nature fall into this trap of trading humanity and empathy for spectacle and shock value. It’s sad actually. What can be used to create awareness is used to capitalize on the trauma of others. As I’m writing this, I have the TV on and I just saw a commercial for another true crime show which will probably disregard the families of the victims in favor of whatever will get them the highest ratings.

Jordan Peele never gives us the satisfaction of cheap shock value. Instead, we get this deep unsettling feeling that would probably be disrupted if we saw the full picture. I once saw an interview with a rapper/poet who said that we should see what we consume as a sort of diet, just as you would with food, it is important to have a balanced diet. If we are to look at the dietary values of this movie, it would be a meal that makes you feel great after eating it. Not stuffed to the brim, popping buttons but sated. This movie left me fulfilled is what I’m trying to say. It feels like something I really needed to see.

Moth... of DOOM!