This summer, the highly anticipated Jordan Peele film Nope premiered in theaters. Months before the movie premiered, fan theories spread all over the internet. Many suspected that the film would be an allegory for COVID and hold themes surrounding a plague as in the trailer, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) asks his sister, Emerald (Keke Palmer) “What’s a bad miracle? They got a word for that?” Some predicted a message along the lines of people are the real monsters and the aliens are coming to save us from ourselves. Others believed the film was simply playing with casadastraphobia, the fear of being sucked into the sky, to thrill and terrorize audiences.
The first time I saw Nope, I left the theater feeling overwhelmed and perplexed. I mean so many things happened between the obvious UFO sighting, a failing Black owned business, Hollywood, the trauma of Ricky (Steven Yeun), and the gore of the Gordy the monkey incident. When you go to see a Jordan Peele film, there’s a lot to unpack, and everything you’re unpacking may not be perfectly folded and organized into a neat pile.
Because I cannot not politicize a Jordan Peele film, two themes I noticed were capitalism and colonialism. In terms of capitalism, this film is about two businesses: one, a struggling Black owned business (Haywood Hollywood Horses) in danger of being bought out by a larger business (Jupiter’s Claim), the other that profits off the trauma of others. Ricky uses his experience with the Gordy’s Home massacre to bring business to his theme park. Ricky was a child star in a popular ‘90s sitcom about a domesticated chimpanzee living with a family. One day on set, the monkey went ballistic, violently attacking the cast and crew. Out of sheer luck, Ricky made it out unscathed, and now has an entire room of Gordy’s Home artifacts and merch that he charges onlookers to tour.
In terms of colonialism, the UFO and its personification is reminescent of the mass genocide of indigenous people across the Americas through theTransatlantic Slave Trade. The UFO encroaches on a space that doesn’t belong to it and takes anything and everything it wants. ”At one point, OJ says to Emerald “It ate them, Em. It ate them all. It’s alive. It’s animal. It’s territorial and it thinks that this is its home.” It simply does as it wishes without consequence. In fact, the opening features a bible verse from Nahum: “I will pelt you filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.” Harsh. This quote perfectly and brutally summarizes how the elite oppresses racial minorities and the working class.
A concept also mentioned a great deal throughout is predator versus prey. Ricky opens a Friday evening show at his theme park where he summons the UFO using the horses from Haywood Hollywood Horses to what becomes his own demise as Ricky and his entire audience are abducted by the UFO. After this spectacle occurs, OJ says “He got caught up trying to tame a predator. You can’t do that. You have to enter an agreement with one.” Cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) eventually joins the team in trying to capture the UFO on film, but in all of his scenes before that, he is editing videos of animals being attacked by larger animals. I wasn’t sure how this concept fit into the story. The predator versus prey relationship has to do with the ecosystem. It’s something that is natural, whereas a UFO is anything but. I also thought this was confusing because horses, which OJ is an expert on, are not predators. However, he uses his knowledge of horses to plot against the UFO. This is where things become convoluted because in the case of Gordy the monkey, humans attempted to take a wild animal, tame him, and use him for their profit. The same could certainly be said about the horses. Perhaps there was an attempt to make a statement about animal cruelty in the entertainment industry, but if that’s the case it fell flat. There are just some pieces missing from this particular puzzle. ‘The math ain’t mathin.’
The character work in the script was not one of the strongest, aside from their frequent clever quips which we would expect from Peele. However, I really enjoyed OJ and Emerald’s relationship, and the way it developed throughout the film. In the beginning, it is clear that they are not as close as they used to be, due to extremely contrasting priorities, but this alien presence brings them together. They balance each other out. Emerald is the showboat go-getter while OJ is more grounded and intuitive. Emerald decides that they must catch the UFO in action and initiates the necessary steps, while OJ uses his knowledge of animals and nature to come up with a plan. Another interesting contrast I noticed between these two characters is Emerald’s obsession of fame and fortune and OJ’s commitment to roots and “honest work.” Emerald makes it clear, from the very beginning, that the ranch is her side hustle, as she promotes that she is an actor, director, writer, singer, etc. OJ, all the while, is committed to taking over the ranch and following in his father’s footsteps instead of pursuing goals and passions of his own. When OJ tells Emerald about what he saw, it’s her that decides they have to catch it on film. She says they need to get the perfect shot, the “money shot.”
When Emerald and OJ go to the electronics store to buy a camera they meet Angel, who at first, is an asshole to them, but then eventually becomes equally invested in capturing the UFO on camera. It is him who discovers from their camera that there is one cloud in the sky that never moves. Even later in the film, a reporter from TMZ shows up. Ater Emerald warns him that he should not go any further, he proceeds to do so anyway. OJ tries to help him, but all the reporter cares about is his camera. As the UFO descends upon him, he yells about wanting to get it all on video. Even though, throughout most of the film, the characters are obsessed with getting this perfect shot so they can show the world and eventually profit, Angel has a moment where he says “What we’re doing is important, right? Like, what we document, it’s, uh… it’s gonna do some good, huh? I mean, besides the money and fucking fame, like we can save some lives. Fuck, we-we can even save Earth. Right?” This felt like Peele trying,not so subtly, to remind us that art was originally meant for people. Even though it’s a bit preachy, I appreciated it.
Something else I really enjoyed is the way the characters react to their world. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about Jordan Peele’s work. Too often in films and TV shows about aliens or ghosts, or anything supernatural, people just don’t have the sense to say “No, it’s not for me. I’m walking away from the fire, not towards it.” There’s that annoying ass stereotype that Black people yell in movie theaters, but you know what? They’re right to do so! Because the characters are fucking stupid! Peele knows his audience. For once, I didn’t feel smarter than the characters I usually see in supernatural films. It was, as always, refreshing to watch characters who have some sense.
Overall, Nope is a fun watch. There are times where you may scratch your head and perhaps feel like you are crazy for over-politicizing a movie about aliens, but the dialogue is great, the acting is amazing (I mean come on, who doesn’t LOVE Keke Palmer???), and the cinematography is stunning. Not everything felt cohesive, but it still had everything else you would want from a film and expect from Jordan Peele: incredible Black actors, good jumpscares, fun quips, and Daniel Kaluuya’s perfect deadpan facial expression.
Maya Hood-Wilson (she/her) is a not-so-proud Brooklyn transplant originally from Baltimore City. She has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied film and women's history. When she's not dissociating on her bicycle, she is watching Real Housewives of Atlanta or agonizing over unfinished screenplays. You can follow her on Instagram if you want: @mayahoodwilson.