For this blog assignment I have decided to focus on Jordan Peele’s black horror film famously known as “Us.” Jordan Peele has done an excellent job in portraying the true expectations of black horror through both of his intense and well known films “Get Out and “Us.” The only difference is Peele’s horror film “Us” takes a toll on black horror in it’s own spine-chilling way compared to his original horror film “Get Out.” Within Peele’s horror film “Us” one can see that Peele tries to implement evil through the life of the Wilson family by showing them being in battle with their own replicated version of themselves. Through the Wilson family battling with what appears to be their own reflection, Peele’s intentions is to lead his audience into questioning where evil truly lies and whether evil is ones own rival. Above all, in Peele’s horror film “Us” one can really see the multiple themes that played out which are rooted from black horror. Due to attending Professor Due’s lecture, I was truly able to gain a much deeper insight in regards to the underlying themes that were incorporated throughout the film.
The first theme revolved around the idea of survival. The meaning behind this theme involves the idea of fight or flight. In the case of Peele’s film “Us,” it is quite evident that the Wilson family automatically followed their protective instincts as a fighting mechanism from the moment they came face-to-face with their own apparition. Gabe is seen being quickly ordered by his father to get the bat for self-defense. On the other hand, Zora’s mother Adelaide is seen telling her to quickly get her shoes on. Clearly, Zora’s mother instantly knew that something bad was about to happen and that they were about to encounter a chase of a lifetime. Depending on the situation, human beings are naturally inclined to follow their survival instincts when needed to and without hesitation. Jordan Peele has done an astonishing job in portraying the theme survival through the characters by having them make instinctive decisions during horrifying matters. The second theme that is portrayed within the film is isolation. This idea of isolation is seen when the Wilson family are enjoying their day on the Santa Cruz beach. I remember when I came across this scene while watching the film, I had noticed that everyone on the beach were white individuals; therefore, the Wilson family were in a sense isolated due to them clearly being the only colored family that were on the beach.
When I had first watched the film “Us” in theaters, I did not fully understand the meaning behind certain scenes. One scene in specific happened to be when young Adelaide was walking through the haunted game house that Professor Due had played in class. At first it was difficult for me to understand who the imposter was verse who the victim was, but after re-watching that scene during lecture I was able to gain a much better understating and differentiate between the two. I learned that the moment Adelaide walked into that haunted game house holding her big red apple, that she was in immediate threat by her doppelganger. Adelaide was than forced to switch places with her doppleganer Red, who wanted to live a normal life on the surface; therefore, leaving Adelaide trapped in the underworld under the surface. After truly understanding that scene, I had understood that Adelaide was the victim and Red was the imposter who posed a threat.
188A-Blog Assignments 