On July 18, Jordan Peele released his new sci-fi, horror film, “Nope”. After watching the movie, several viewers gave mixed reviews about it. While fans of the movie praised Peele for his creativity, others bashed him for seemingly changing his deep, analytical horror movie style. 

SPOILER ALERT:

“Nope” tells the story of two siblings that live in Agua Dulce, California. The siblings begin to witness multiple strange occurrences in their town over a span of months. First, their father unexpectedly dies while training a horse, then they experience odd and sudden power outages in their home. When they noticed one of their father’s favorite horses acting peculiar, they decided to give in and solve the mystery. Long story short, they end up discovering that they lived within a mile of an unknown alien entity that consumes every living thing in its path, who they later give the name Jean Jacket.  

In the first scene of the movie, Peele shows a short clip from the fictional sitcom “Gordy’s Home”. Gordy, a trained chimpanzee, suddenly loses his mind and violently mauls the other cast members. However, he decided to spare a particular character, Jupe, a former child star and owner of a western-themed amusement park. Gordy sadly realized his horrible mistake and showed Jupe that he meant no harm and gave him a fist bump, one of the key parts of the show. However, before their hands meet, authorities shoot Gordy dead in front of Jupe’s eyes. Viewers found this scene confusing because it does not align with the movie’s sci-fi, horror plot. Although viewers did not understand the significance of this scene, Peele explained that he added it for viewers to make connections in Jupe’s life. Later in the movie, Peele reveals that Jupe knows of the alien entity and actually uses it as an act in his theme park show. This may mean that Jupe made an attempt to befriend and tame the predator since he failed to do so with Gordy. 

“First and foremost, I wanted to make a UFO horror film. And then of course it’s like, where is the iconic Black UFO film? And whenever I feel that my favorite movie out there hasn’t been made, that’s the void I’m trying to fill with my films,” Peele said. 

Although certain viewers failed to understand the deeper meaning or plot line in “Nope”, it seemed pretty clear in Peele’s eyes. In previous Peele films, viewers quickly uncovered the deeper meaning that he attempts to convey. In his third highest-grossing movie, “Get Out”, people discovered multiple hidden meanings and issues. In an interview, Peele answers the question that people kept asking: What is the meaning of the movie, “Nope”? In reality, Peele simply produced a normal summer sci-fi, horror movie. Regardless of viewer interpretations of the movie, “Nope”, Peele did not produce it with a deeper meaning in mind. 

“The storytelling in ‘Get Out’ is so good as well as Jordan Peele’s movies in general. He uses black leads tastefully and does not adhere to stereotypes which I like. Some black directors will adhere to stereotypes to appeal more to white audiences or use black struggle as a selling point. He offers representation without exploitation. I like how he excellently wove racial themes into ‘Nope,’” magnet Senior Jerrica Arnett said. 

Near the beginning of the movie, O.J and his sister, Emerald, make it known that their distant grandfather rode a horse in the first ever short film. The movie continues to introduce similar facts to the viewers to remind them to recognize black faces in the film industry. However, one might perceive “Nope” as a movie surrounding surveillance culture. In one scene the lead character, O.J, realized that the alien entity ignores him when he looks down. Instead of investigating the creature from close up, he sets up cameras around his home. Similar to the way onlookers record police brutality toward black people from afar. The watched essentially became the watcher. Other viewers view the movie as documentation of black film culture. 

Regardless of the true meaning of “Nope”, Peele definitely proved he never fails to produce a blockbuster movie. As of last week, “Nope” surpassed 100 million dollars at the box office. Although it may not rank in his top five best movies, Peele received a well-deserved 82% on the Tomatometer. Accustomed to the typical aliens terrorizing innocent citizens storyline, the average sci-fi fan would find “Nope” enjoyable.