By: Chloe Perdue
Written and directed by Jordan Peele, NOPE follows siblings Emerald (Keke Palmer) and OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) as they attempt to get evidence for what they believe is extraterrestrial life. But what is it really?
From my own experience watching the film, I viewed it as a depiction of how humans exploit seemingly benign spectacles of nature. The excitement around the strange and beautiful, how we view tragedies and violence; as if witnessing a car accident.
This film portrays exploitation in terms of the “obscureness” that our society deems abnormal or strange, and we have done this for centuries. From colonization to people taking videos of a crime, the film interprets this by questioning how this spectacle will react.
Photo by: Chloe Perdue
We follow the characters OJ and Emerald through their own space, that being the only black-owned horse farm in California. They are descendants of an unnamed black man riding a horse, turning out to be one of the first people captured on film in the 19th century.
OJ is a very introverted character, in contrast to his sister Em, who is more outspoken and extroverted. Both are integral in the film, as we are completely immersed in what they both encounter and how they react to their situation.
Another character Ricky (played by Steven Yeun) is another interesting character within the film. Being a child actor in the late 1990s show Gordy’s Home, we are immediately placed in the traumatic situation of Gordy, a chimpanzee, getting scared by a balloon popping and starting to attack people on the stage. Interestingly, a shoe can be seen standing by itself, which is strangely a focal point of this scene besides the chimpanzee massacring people.
It’s interesting to see Ricky go on to epitomize that episode with that exact shoe. He even goes so far as to get a crowd of people together to see this terrifying extraterrestrial, apex predator. Did I mention it was an animal?
Interestingly, my reaction to finding out that this UFO was in fact a living, breathing animal was mind-blowing. Revealing that this being is more than just something little gray men ride in is terrifying, and how it is portrayed as eating humans and animals is fascinating. How is this being a spectacle? Is it a metaphor for something larger? It is up to interpretation completely.
This movie was fantastic, with its pacing and characters, it is certainly no surprise that it held up so well in the box office. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone and ask them what their own interpretation of it would be.
THE PHAROS 
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