[Lee Jong-gil's Movie Reading] Those Who Want to Watch... Those Who Refuse to Watch

Director Jordan Peele's film 'Nope'
The mysterious flying object 'Jin Jacket' that absorbs anyone who looks at it
The Black siblings who, aware of the danger, confront it after a past riot victim forced a 'show'
Depicting the resistance of oppressed Black people... reestablishing film history

※ This article contains many potential spoilers for the movie.

Jordan Peele’s new film Nope features a mysterious flying object. It resembles a vacuum cleaner floating in the sky. It creates a strong whirlwind that sucks in everything on the ground. OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer), who run a horse ranch, believe it to be a UFO. They name it “Jean Jacket” and struggle to capture it on camera.

The story, which intertwines fear and curiosity, is reminiscent of director Ron Underwood’s Starship Troopers (1990). The desolate land, the few residents, and the monster that sucks up everything in its path. The terrifying creature is a mutant snake. It detects vibrations underground and pulls its prey in to swallow them. Jean Jacket’s aggressive behavior is different. It sucks in anyone who looks at it. It adamantly refuses to become a spectacle.

This ties into the film’s thematic consciousness. Peele opens the movie with Nahum 3:6 from the Old Testament: “I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a spectacle.” The target is Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Despite committing many sins, it repents and avoids judgment. However, it soon returns to corruption and decay, leading to its destruction. In Nope, the nearby theme park owner Jupe Park (Steven Yeun) follows the same path. Even after experiencing a horrific event, he ignores the word “Nope.”

Chimpanzee Gordy = Jean Jacket

Jupe was a former child actor. He played an adopted child in a wholesome white family on a TV sitcom. The household also had a tamed chimpanzee named Gordy. Perhaps stressed from the grueling filming, Gordy becomes violent upon hearing the sound of a balloon popping. He causes a rampage, killing the actors playing his parents, and is ultimately shot dead. Jupe survives despite being discovered by Gordy. Gordy seems to have felt a kinship with him. He slowly extends his fist in an attempt to communicate. This poignant gesture symbolizes Black people who have been oppressed in studios filled with white supremacy. They seek liberation from being mere spectacles.

Jupe, who was in a similar position, takes a completely opposite approach. He opens a theme park based on the concept of the little sheriff he once played. Longing for public attention, he willingly becomes a spectacle. He was the first to recognize Jean Jacket’s nature and runs the “Star Lasso Experience” show. A “lasso” is a 15 to 30-meter rope with a loop at one end used to catch horses or cattle. This reflects his ambition to tame Jean Jacket. Despite the trauma caused by Gordy’s rampage, Jupe tries to become a star in the same way. Jupe even introduces Jean Jacket as a “viewer,” clearly positioning himself as the protagonist opposite it.

Emerald dreams of stardom just as much as Jupe. She constantly showcases her versatility in front of Hollywood executives. However, after recognizing the danger of Jean Jacket, she steps back behind the camera and eventually becomes the dedicated camerawoman. She sets Jean Jacket as her subject and desperately tries to capture it.

This series of events can be interpreted as a form of resistance by Black people who have long been surveilled. In 1991, Rodney King was beaten by white police officers on a highway for speeding. The incident was recorded on camera, proving excessive force. When the officers were acquitted the following year, riots broke out in Los Angeles. A similar event occurred in May 2020. George Floyd, accused of using counterfeit money, died after a white officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes during arrest. The video of the incident sparked protests across the United States and worldwide.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Reestablishing Film History

Peele places the “moving horse” at the beginning from Jean Jacket’s perspective. It is a motion picture created in June 1878 by British photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Multiple cameras were set up to capture the continuous motion of a running horse. This experiment was conducted to observe the moment when all four hooves leave the ground, and it is considered the origin of motion pictures, now called movies. OJ and Emerald rent horses to Hollywood studios and claim that the Black jockey in the photo is their great-grandfather. Hollywood executives respond with indifference. They refuse to acknowledge that the first actor and stuntman in film history was Black.

The siblings’ process of escaping Jean Jacket’s terror is depicted as a reestablishment of film history. OJ and Emerald use closed-circuit television (CCTV), film cameras, and other equipment to prove Jean Jacket’s existence. What ultimately brings success is a well camera designed on a principle similar to motion pictures. Emerald captures Jean Jacket’s form just as Muybridge captured the moment when all four hooves were off the ground through continuous shooting. This reversal is emphasized by the swapped positions of the “moving horse” at the beginning and Jean Jacket. It serves as a warning that even an all-powerful authority will collapse if it fails to gain attention and is surveilled.

Originally, Jean Jacket was the name of a horse Emerald tried to tame. Their father sold it to a Hollywood studio without their consent and only gave OJ the opportunity to train it. OJ understood Emerald’s sense of loss but never showed it. However, when Emerald is in danger, he rides his beloved horse Lucky and offers himself as Jean Jacket’s subject, initiating a redefinition of their relationship. They exchange looks and open a new path of coexistence and mutual enjoyment through horizontal solidarity. This also engraves the existence of their great-grandfather, who had been obscured by vertical hierarchies...