We saw the new Jordan Peele movie "US" yesterday... It's my first time seeing a Jordan Peele movie... and WOW!
First of all... SPOILER ALERT...
When I walked out of the theater, my first thought was "OK... it was good... but it was really loose... and the story didn't do it for me..." Then I remembered a tweet I saw before the movie that said it's way more than what you see on the screen and you will be thinking about this for days. With that in mind I started thinking about some of the things that stuck out to me and what it could all mean...
I think the whole thing is a metaphor for this history of America enslaving and marginalizing groups of people and then trying to pretend that it didn’t happen and just moving on... Living “up there” and ignoring the underlying issues that we actually created... There is a scene in the movie where Gabe asks "Who are you people..." and the answer is "We are Americans..."
Eventually the "tethered" come to the surface... The uprising is what happens when you ignore a problem long enough... it comes back to haunt you... And no matter what side you're on... the History of America is that of pushing groups of people to the side and looking the other way as if it never happened. Now they never come back in red jumpsuits to kill us with gold scissors... but this is a movie...
... SUPER SPOILER ALERT...
When it's all said and done and you see the plot twist, you will know that only the little boy knows what’s going on. He puts his mask back on after his mom says “...it will be like it used to be”... This is the old “passing down the sins of our fathers” and the kid putting his mask back on is starting the cycle of ignoring it all over again.
Now... could I be wrong? Yep... but that's what I took from it... Maybe Jordan Peele will see this and let me know if I am on the right track... In the meantime, this is a good article about the many theories about "US"
Did you see it? What do you think?