NOPE: Spectacle of Exploitation

Known for his powerful social commentary in US and Get Out, Jordan Peele reinvents the summer blockbuster through a neo-sci-fi western that looks at society’s obsession with spectacle. 

Six months after an unexplainable incident involving a quarter that killed their father, estranged siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood has taken over “Haywood’s Hollywood Horses.” The pair are the descendants of the forgotten Black jockey, Alistar Haywood, in Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion, the first instance of chronophotography. Alistar is created by Peele to serve as the center of one of the film’s themes of erasure.

Across from the Haywoods is Ricky “Jupe” Park, former child star now the owner of a Wild West amusement park. After a traumatic childhood experience involving a monkey co-star massacring the entire cast except him, he has been left behind by the industry that once celebrated him. For something so horrific, Jupe keeps a Gordy paraphernalia room with anything that references that event including a stained slipper. Like the public, Ricky responds to the event with exploitation for his gain. While Gordy doesn’t have much to do with the plot, it is his actions that mirror many of the characters throughout the film. The trigger of being in unnatural environments leads to a brutal ending. 

Following a string of unusual events such as blackouts, noises, and disgruntled horses, OJ discovers what seems to be a flying saucer in the sky. His observation is confirmed when he spots a cloud that standstill among the rest of the clouds. With a scheme to get the “Oprah Shot” to make a profit the siblings enlist a technician Angel and documentarian Antlers Holst.

This film is purely a summer blockbuster with an underlying question of what it means to engage with the unknown. Underneath the Haywood sibling’s desire for cash is also the need for recognition. They are willing to put everything on the line to capture the impossible. Serving as a commentary on exploitation that people bring onto themselves, especially in Hollywood, and how that can lead to their demise. The most refreshing aspect of this movie is the character’s ability to make smart and logical decisions throughout the film. The use of the film’s title, Nope, is sprinkled throughout to communicate this. 

Marketed as horror, it is pure suspense. The UFO doesn’t move like a saucer, it is swift and sporadic in its attacks. There is a constant threat from above, of an entity with the advantage of seeing all and creeping in before it takes the shot. Instead of a stress-induced score, Peele uses the blackouts to signal something is coming. Peele is balancing a lot here from multiple genres to plot points that all tie back to each other in the end. Peele has a cynical viewpoint within the film, from chimpanzee attacks leading to parodies instead of stricter animal protection in Hollywood and instead of running from their inevitable deaths people gawk. People are too focused on clout that they will do anything. 

The ending of the film mirrors the beginning where Emerald gives a lengthy monologue on the Black jockey who was left behind and the man behind the camera who received all the praise. Our protagonist siblings managed to save themselves (and maybe the world) and will end up with their work exploited by those who came on the scene later.

Nope is a throwback to the height of original blockbusters that celebrated filmmaking while also digging at the cruelty of Hollywood.