Nope is About Assholes and Exploitation – A Review
**Warning, contains spoilers**
Jordan Peele’s Nope is a fantastic spectacle about our obsession with spectacles. There’s a great cast, it’s a fresh take on aliens in film, and it’s all very well executed. I was definitely a little high when I watched, and so it could just be the edible talking, but the alien creature definitely gave me butthole vibes at times, so I thought to myself, “This movie is about people being so consumed by their obsession that they turn into assholes, only to be literally consumed by one giant asshole.” Now that I am no longer high, I still stand by this take. Allow me to elaborate.
The theme is presented to us immediately
The theme is pretty much handed to us at the start of the film when the following biblical verse is displayed on screen
I Will Cast Abominable Filth Upon You, Make You Vile, And Make You A Spectacle.
—Nahum 3:6
The cloud-alien-creature-thing literally rains down the “waste” it consumes upon them, killing Pops in the process. The characters’ obsession with the creature drives them to do foolish things with deadly and traumatic consequences. Quite literally, their need to capture and create “moments” can becomes an obsession that turns them all into assholes in one way or another. The doomed TMZ reporter is probably the most on-the-nose example of this. He’s so obsessed with capturing the “spectacle” that he forgoes all safety and reason, forfeiting his life in an effort to cling to a moment that was never his. His adamant refusal to be rescued by OJ is a darkly humorous example of how things are in the age of “content creation.” He didn’t beg or even allow OJ to save him; instead, he begged OJ to take a picture of him lying there injured. His concern was for the safety of his camera as opposed to the safety of his own fragile existence. The guy is also kind of an asshole in the way he carries himself thanks to his belief that nothing is more important than capturing the big moment.
Everyone is guilty
There’s also the fact that everyone else in the film engages in varying degrees of exploitative behaviors because they just can’t resist the chance to be a part of the spectacle. They want to see it, to cash in, to say they were there in some way even if it means violating the privacy of your customers (like Angel did), forcing animals into showbiz even when you’ve witnessed the extremely traumatic effects of doing so (like Jupe does), and needlessly risking your own life and the lives of others just to get the perfect shot (like they all do, but especially Antlers Holst). All of these things can easily be classified as asshole behavior. Every single character is so consumed by their need to get in on the spectacle in some way that many of them end up quite literally consumed by it. None of this is particularly hard to understand, and it’s all executed so perfectly that it’s hard to believe anyone could leave the theater without knowing what is actually being said – yes, that is a reference to Logan Paul’s laughable confusion at the film.
I mean, the Gordy’s Home incident is nearly the exact same thing that takes place between the extraterrestrial being and the people who are obsessed with trying to exploit it. Most of them are killed, and the few who make it out alive only end up perpetuating the cycle of exploitation that led to the massacre by either active or passive participation in it. Steven Yeun’s character, Ricky “Jupe” Park, witnesses the murder and mutilation of his Gordy’s Home co-stars at the hands of a fed up chimpanzee, but rather than take away anything meaningful from that experience about the dangers of trying to exploit living creatures for the sake of entertainment, he grows up to more or less repeat the pattern with both horses and the alien creature that eats everything that dares look upon it. He also has that disturbing shrine of Gordy’s Home memorabilia, including the bloody shoe of a slain cast member. He seems less concerned with the trauma of it all, and more than a little pleased that he was a part of it since he’s happy to talk to anyone about it, and even mentions that he charges people to see his weird monkey murder mini museum.
Similarly, his former costar, who was left disfigured after being mauled by the aforementioned angry chimp, dons a sweatshirt to remind everyone of her part in the unfortunate spectacle, and is eager to witness the “Star Lasso Experience” that ultimately kills her. Everyone is eager to exploit and even be exploited if it means they get to say they were part of the big show. Nobody is safe, and nobody is innocent.
It’s Painfully Relevant
The themes and messages in Nope are particularly timely given the way social media, influencer culture, and celebrity obsession have shaped the way we consume and engage with the world around us. Everyone is looking for a big moment, whether they have to create one, capture one, or just say they saw it first. It’s all about creating spectacles. It’s all about creating viral moments, consequences and decency be damned. Just ask Logan Paul, the guy who can’t seem to understand the film, and the same guy who went into Japan’s “suicide forest” and filmed himself joking about the dead body of a suicide victim that he and his friends found therein for the sake of getting views on his YouTube channel.
While it’s easy to harp on someone like Logan Paul, even people who aren’t as easy to dislike often engage in the same sort of shitty behaviors. No, we aren’t all trying to capitalize on other people’s suicides, but many of us are guilty of exploiting other people and situations that have nothing to do with us, driven by a desire to see and be seen, to be a part of things, to cash in. Just look at the way the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial became such a spectacle. Graphic accounts of abuse and assault were turned into TikTok memes, and wannabe influencers and internet personalities made bank by capitalizing on the case with little regard for the harm they were doing. Even otherwise decent and reasonable people were finding ways to be a part of it all, tweeting, reacting, sharing in the spectacle with little regard for the harm they were causing. If you want a less polarizing example, just take a look at the way people will unintentionally platform bigots on Twitter because they can’t resist “dunking” on them for approval and clout — a behavior so common that people routinely try to remind others not to.
The characters are believable
In addition to the clearly very real behavior depicted in Nope, the characters themselves also feel like real people, so much so that several came to mind as I watched. Their behavior is unsettling in the way that unexpectedly catching a glimpse of your own reflection when you weren’t prepared to is startling, but unlike the trope of people making laughably poor decisions in horror movies, it doesn’t cross over into the realm of the unbelievable. I mean, yeah, depending on how much you believe in other intelligent life out there in the vast expanse of the universe, the whole alien thing can be unbelievable, but the way the characters handle things isn’t at all out of the ordinary, particularly in this day and age.
Most of us have met (and probably are, to some degree) people like OJ, Emerald, Angel, Jupe, and even the eccentric director. Their motivations are not inherently harmful or even unreasonable; they just want to be seen, to be financially secure, to outdo themselves in their craft, to be a part of the show. They aren’t bad people for wanting these things, but they all engage in behaviors that override their sense of self preservation, decency, and safety as a result. It’s all so hard to watch because it feels so real, and I mean that in the best way possible. I love it.
TL;DR
Ultimately, the horror in Nope is both cosmic and devastatingly human. It’s about how obsession with trying to cash in on or simply be a part of the next big moment or spectacle turns people into unreasonable assholes, even if they aren’t necessarily bad people. It’s about the more devastating consequences of that obsession. It’s about the cycle of exploitation and inability to look away that we are all guilty of perpetuating and participating in because maybe there’s no way to just say “NOPE” and fully opt out of it all.
Assorted Asides
- The older white actress recoiling when she finds out that Daniel Kaluuya’s character’s name is “OJ”…lol
- Angel was really hot. It was distracting. I would definitely be in Fry’s Electronics shamelessly trying to pretend like I don’t know how to plug in an HDMI cord so he could come to my home and show me. I’m ok with admitting that.
- The fact that the alien creature was also the “ship” was pretty cool, so I’m not mad about the trailers faking us out with the kids in the alien costumes at all. I am fine being misled in trailers when the payoff is so rewarding.
- I cannot stress enough how memorializing the massacre you witnessed as a child by creating a tiny, secret museum dedicated to it is really fucking creepy. He needed therapy, not a ranch and theme park combo!
- All the actors did a good job. What else do you want me to say? They all nailed it. It was real neato. Awards for everyone!
- Jordan Peele giving us Black and Asian ranch people in the same movie? And it’s not about racial trauma? Very cool, very “diversity and representation in media” that doesn’t feel patronizing. More of that, please.
- Keke Palmer’s li’l fro was very cute
- Big props to Jordan Peele for letting Daniel Kaluuya’s character make (relatively) good decisions in this movie, putting an end to the memes about his characters always making fantastically poor ones
DeLa Doll is a culture writer, cosplayer, and artist based in Florida. She has been writing professionally since 2016, with some of her work being featured on sites like HuffPo and /Film. She is an advocate for meaningful diversity and representation in media, a gamer, a mom, and an avid user of DIY hair dye.
