William Earl SPOILER ALERT: THE ENTIRE PLOT OF ‘NOPE’ WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THIS ARTICLE.Jordan Peele’s films are densely constructed, with plenty of symbolism and parallel storytelling built in.
On one hand, “Nope” might be his most straightforward popcorn film, but early screenings left many fans connecting the dots between the story of OJ and Em Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) on the hunt for their “Oprah shot” of aliens and the tale of a young Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun, with Jacob Kim in flashbacks) avoiding certain death at the bloodied hands of a chimpanzee.
While Peele rarely breaks down his works, Variety is here to analyze and contextualize these scenes.Why is this chimp attack such a central focus in a movie about aliens? Two key themes in “Nope” are:1) You can’t tame a predator, and2) Mankind will risk everything for spectacle.To the first point, Jupe’s folly was looking at his survival from the “Gordy’s Home” massacre optimistically.
When the alien seemingly presented itself as another showbiz opportunity, he mistook the first six months of feeding horses to Jean Jacket as a trainer/animal relationship — similar to the sitcom, but forgetting the consequences.
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