Blog Post #2 - Sunken Place

When thinking about this week’s blog post, I wanted to do a deep dive and analysis into Jordan Peele’s film Us. This movie was about the social inequalities that Black Americans face to this day. I think that Peele’s decision to use a person’s shadow was amazing when thinking about the overarching messages and symbols that he is trying to explain. 

One of the most memorable messages that this film was explaining was its critique of the American Dream. When thinking about America, one of main selling points that make America seem so great is the idea of the American Dream that is constantly sold across the world and for many years. There is this idea that America is the best country to live in, with the most equality and opportunity in the world; this has definitely been an idea that has been instilled in me as I have grown up. But after learning more and more about America and how they treat certain groups of people, like minorities, namely Black Americans, I can see how this dream is just a facade. I also felt like this was one of the many messages that Peele was trying to convey in the film. Namely, the reference to the charity event called Hands Across America referenced through the Tethered. The Tethered, who are underground villains, represent the want to replace the more privileged and beneficiary people who live above them, both in a physical and symbolic way. This reminded me of how when we talked in class about how Black Horror brings to light the consequences of racism and inequality that society is constantly reproducing and maintaining. 

Another element from the movie that really stood out to me was how Peele would constantly refer to other Black Horror movies throughout his own film. I remember seeing a reference to the movie The Shining. He also referenced Michael Jackson’s Thriller video both through the similarities from the music video to the Tethered and from young Adelaide wearing the Thriller shirt in the movie. 

Although I really enjoyed this film, the one part of the movie that I did not like was the ending and how Adelaide was actually part of the Tethered the entire time. It made me confused about how the Tethered works and the purpose they held. I also wish that the movie explained more about how the system and the world of the Tethered were able to thrive without any of the above population being aware; I feel like the movie did not get too deep into that explanation. That is just the one issue I have with this movie, otherwise I really enjoyed how deep and complex it was!