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The aforementioned quotes are the words that Jordan Peele, writer, and director of the film Us, delivered just before unveiling the movie trailer. His words were a beautiful foreshadowing of what was to come in the trailer. Us is a very important psychological horror film that plays on themes prevalent in the Black horror genre to create an experience that is unrivaled by anything we have seen thus far. Like Get Out, this film promises to set the world to thinking about the power that we give away so freely to constructs like race, class, and the phobias that we inherited along the way.
Take a look at the trailer before moving further. There are many spoilers ahead.
From the very beginning, the visuals make it clear that Peele is deconstructing stereotypes and generalizations about the Black identity. The first scenes of the trailer are very important. They not only introduce us to the family (played by Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Shahidi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex), the Wilsons. There is also another purpose at play here. Look at how the family sings such a popular rap song, but their AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is not quite what it needs to be for a precise recitation. They are a dark-skinned Black family, clean cut, and clearly affluent or comfortably middle class. They are going to a beach house where, Nyong’o’s character (Adelaide) presumably grew up, and meeting with white friends who they seem to genuinely love and connect with on an organic level. In a subtle, yet nuanced manner, the representation of this beautiful, well-put-together family onscreen defies everything that we have been conditioned to think, know and feel about blackness.
The Unfair Assumptions That We Internalize
It is widely assumed that all Black people listen to rap and allow their children to listen to rap music, and as this is a generalization-it is a fallacy. For example, in the trailer of Us, the Wilson children have no idea who raps this song, nor do they know the words to “I Got 5 On It”. The Wilson clearly defy that stereotype. Additionally, they are well-adjusted children who are acclimated to going to the beach, boating and enjoying family time on road trips and beach trips. Another defied trope is that the Wilsons’s are an articulate, brown-skinned family placed as the nucleus of the narrative, not just a supporting cast or an after-thought. The visuals within the narrative of the trailer are clearly deconstructing negative ideas about blackness that are generally prevalent amongst Americans.
Yes. This beautiful, Black family is going to the beach. They are not afraid of water. They have white, friends that they genuinely trust and they appear to be comfortable with their upward mobility.
Releasing Generational Fears
This family has done what so many Black families have done since the Great Migration — made themselves affluent and educated enough to navigate the world. Oftentimes, as a means of survival, they have had to disconnect themselves from certain experiences, defy assumptions, and prove the stereotypes wrong. Like so many others, The Wilson’s, know the “urban” version of the Black experience, but they don’t live it. They enjoy the music and other elements of “Black culture” that they’ve chosen to preserve, however, their lives are also steeped in a different world beyond the communities from whence they may have come from. They’ve made it, and in doing so paint a portrait of a black family that has arrived. At least until they receive a visit from some uninvited guests.
The Manifestation of It All
That is some heady analysis, but it’s necessary in order to understand the latter parts of the trailer. Four figures that look exactly like the Wilsons, but more sinister and alien-like appear at the end of the driveway of their home. Presumably, a darker, more dangerous, foreign and sinister version of themselves. Let us consider Peele’s words at the beginning of this piece. Now, look at the danger presented by the figures once they enter the home. Now go back. Right after we meet the white friends, the son, Jason goes missing while everyone is on the beach. He’s found, but it seems like something has changed. Something is amiss, but the boy is found. We think the figures at the end of the drive and the situation at the beach may be connected.
Whatever happened at that beach triggered something, probably some of the dark residue that the family thought they had overcome. Something triggered that Black trauma. In Black horror, the trauma of the Black experience in America is connected with other themes to create a truly horrifying event. A Black mother’s missing son, when they are with their white friends is enough to do just that. All the mistrust of whiteness, the remnants of micro-aggressions, and the leftovers of thoughts that are not only irrational, and tainted by something that is deeper than the now affluent folks understand.
We think it brings out a manifestation of that dark energy, the residue, in a similar way that produced Baby in Beloved by Toni Morrison. She was a manifestation of grief and trauma that the main character Sethe could not contain. Beloved was dark, evil, and there to do harm to the family. Whatever happened to the Wilsons that day on the beach triggered their dark trauma and out if came an evil embodiment hell-bent on doing the family harm.
So where do the scissors come in? Well, look at them. They are two identical heads looking in opposite directions. To make the scissors work, each head must pull in an opposing direction and then come back together. They have to work in unison to make this happen. This leads us to believe that the way out for this family is to somehow come to terms with their own darkness. They must reconcile all that built-up inner trauma in order to survive. They must figure out how to reconcile all the elements that have darkened their struggle — race, classism, and the historical trauma— in order to get out alive.
This is our deep dive into the trailer. What are some of your thoughts? Agree with us? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
Us hits theaters in 2019.
The post ‘Us’ is the Intellectual Horror that Drags the Fear Out of Us All appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
The aforementioned quotes are the words that Jordan Peele, writer, and director of the film Us, delivered just before unveiling the movie trailer. His words were a beautiful foreshadowing of what was to come in the trailer. Us is a very important psychological horror film that plays on themes prevalent in the Black horror genre to create an experience that is unrivaled by anything we have seen thus far. Like Get Out, this film promises to set the world to thinking about the power that we give away so freely to constructs like race, class, and the phobias that we inherited along the way.
Take a look at the trailer before moving further. There are many spoilers ahead.
From the very beginning, the visuals make it clear that Peele is deconstructing stereotypes and generalizations about the Black identity. The first scenes of the trailer are very important. They not only introduce us to the family (played by Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Shahidi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex), the Wilsons. There is also another purpose at play here. Look at how the family sings such a popular rap song, but their AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is not quite what it needs to be for a precise recitation. They are a dark-skinned Black family, clean cut, and clearly affluent or comfortably middle class. They are going to a beach house where, Nyong’o’s character (Adelaide) presumably grew up, and meeting with white friends who they seem to genuinely love and connect with on an organic level. In a subtle, yet nuanced manner, the representation of this beautiful, well-put-together family onscreen defies everything that we have been conditioned to think, know and feel about blackness.
The Unfair Assumptions That We Internalize
It is widely assumed that all Black people listen to rap and allow their children to listen to rap music, and as this is a generalization-it is a fallacy. For example, in the trailer of Us, the Wilson children have no idea who raps this song, nor do they know the words to “I Got 5 On It”. The Wilson clearly defy that stereotype. Additionally, they are well-adjusted children who are acclimated to going to the beach, boating and enjoying family time on road trips and beach trips. Another defied trope is that the Wilsons’s are an articulate, brown-skinned family placed as the nucleus of the narrative, not just a supporting cast or an after-thought. The visuals within the narrative of the trailer are clearly deconstructing negative ideas about blackness that are generally prevalent amongst Americans.
Yes. This beautiful, Black family is going to the beach. They are not afraid of water. They have white, friends that they genuinely trust and they appear to be comfortable with their upward mobility.
Releasing Generational Fears
This family has done what so many Black families have done since the Great Migration — made themselves affluent and educated enough to navigate the world. Oftentimes, as a means of survival, they have had to disconnect themselves from certain experiences, defy assumptions, and prove the stereotypes wrong. Like so many others, The Wilson’s, know the “urban” version of the Black experience, but they don’t live it. They enjoy the music and other elements of “Black culture” that they’ve chosen to preserve, however, their lives are also steeped in a different world beyond the communities from whence they may have come from. They’ve made it, and in doing so paint a portrait of a black family that has arrived. At least until they receive a visit from some uninvited guests.
The Manifestation of It All
That is some heady analysis, but it’s necessary in order to understand the latter parts of the trailer. Four figures that look exactly like the Wilsons, but more sinister and alien-like appear at the end of the driveway of their home. Presumably, a darker, more dangerous, foreign and sinister version of themselves. Let us consider Peele’s words at the beginning of this piece. Now, look at the danger presented by the figures once they enter the home. Now go back. Right after we meet the white friends, the son, Jason goes missing while everyone is on the beach. He’s found, but it seems like something has changed. Something is amiss, but the boy is found. We think the figures at the end of the drive and the situation at the beach may be connected.
Whatever happened at that beach triggered something, probably some of the dark residue that the family thought they had overcome. Something triggered that Black trauma. In Black horror, the trauma of the Black experience in America is connected with other themes to create a truly horrifying event. A Black mother’s missing son, when they are with their white friends is enough to do just that. All the mistrust of whiteness, the remnants of micro-aggressions, and the leftovers of thoughts that are not only irrational, and tainted by something that is deeper than the now affluent folks understand.
We think it brings out a manifestation of that dark energy, the residue, in a similar way that produced Baby in Beloved by Toni Morrison. She was a manifestation of grief and trauma that the main character Sethe could not contain. Beloved was dark, evil, and there to do harm to the family. Whatever happened to the Wilsons that day on the beach triggered their dark trauma and out if came an evil embodiment hell-bent on doing the family harm.
So where do the scissors come in? Well, look at them. They are two identical heads looking in opposite directions. To make the scissors work, each head must pull in an opposing direction and then come back together. They have to work in unison to make this happen. This leads us to believe that the way out for this family is to somehow come to terms with their own darkness. They must reconcile all that built-up inner trauma in order to survive. They must figure out how to reconcile all the elements that have darkened their struggle — race, classism, and the historical trauma— in order to get out alive.
This is our deep dive into the trailer. What are some of your thoughts? Agree with us? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
Us hits theaters in 2019.
The post ‘Us’ is the Intellectual Horror that Drags the Fear Out of Us All appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Universal Pictures invited journalists last week to view a sneak peek at the movie trailer for the Jordan Peele film Us released on Christmas Day. We broke down the trailer which you can find here. As the internet and social media are buzzing about its release, and after watching it myself several times — here are some theories I have of what we can expect to see in the impending Monkeypaw Productions project.
Maybe Jason’s doppelganger is an homage to Jason Vorhees?
It’s not lost on me that Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) and Gabe Wilson’s (Winston Duke) son is named Jason (Evan Alex). It is likely that Jason’s doppelganger has the same or similar persona than that of Friday the 13th’s Jason Vorhees. If you fast-forward to 2:10 in the trailer, Jason’s doppelganger uncovers his mask and his face is clearly burned. Jason Vorhees also had a facial deformity which is why he, too, always wore a mask. If this theory proves true, then each family member could likely have a doppelganger that represents a horror icon of some sort.
What’s with the Jaws shirt Jason is wearing?
In Jordan Peele’s universe, there are no coincidences. Nearly every scene potentially could be filled with social commentary about race. It is likely that the Jaws shirt Jason is wearing during the Wilson family road trip is indicative of something that parallels what Jaws is — a film about a great white shark. Is Peele trying to convey something about whiteness and danger? The word shark comes with a myriad of idioms. Could it mean a threatening loan shark or Jason is a small fish in a little pond to being attacked by a shark? Water seems to be a bit of a theme here since the family takes their vacation to the beach and Gabe purchases a boat for the family. Let’s just hope this sophomore project of Peele’s doesn’t equate to the TV idiom of “jumping the shark”
The Masks
The meaning behind the masks is literally the writing on the wall. Us clearly has to do with the masks that we hide behind that we are afraid to face ourselves. This psychological thriller will force many of us to face the horror of how we hide who we are and Peele has an artistic way of turning this genre upside down to see that truth is always more terrifying and stranger than fiction.
An Asylum of Us?
It appears in one scene of the trailer — we see Zora Wilson (Shahadi Wright-Joseph) walking ominously in slow-motion down a corridor. She appears to be in some kind of asylum. There are other people in the background walking around like zombies. Are these other doppelgangers? Could it be that the Wilson family is not the only one under attack by these horrifying identities?
White Rabbits
Jordan Peele is clearly trying to get our attention with the white rabbits featured in the trailer. It’s also featured in the cover art for the film, so there is a theme here with white rabbits that is deeply connected to the story. Now in 2:20 of the trailer there is an image of several caged rabbits and not all are white, so there may or may not be some racial commentary tied to the rabbit’s color. The last time we saw something really bad happen involving a rabbit was Glenn Close’s character in Fatal Attraction boiling one. Then there’s the creepy Frank character in Donnie Darko that creeped everyone out. Bunnies do have some history in the horror movie genre, so it could either be Peele paying homage to a series of films featuring these seemingly innocent little creatures or he’s trying to turn our world upside-down again.
Where’s Black Manta?
Okay, well let me clarify here, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is currently playing one of the most popular DC characters on the big screen right now in Aquaman as Black Manta. The actor is a principal cast member in Us and was notably absent from the trailer. Could he be portraying yet another main villain sent to terrorize the Wilsons? Or is he the key to helping get rid of the doppelgangers?
What theories do you have about the impending film? Fire off in the comments below. #UsMovie releases in theaters nationwide March 2019.
Watch the trailer one more time and see if you caught anything new.
The post 6 Terrifying Things We Caught in the #UsMovie Trailer appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review 12/11/18
Listen to the latest installment of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing every Wednesday at 7pm eastern. The topics to be addressed are: per usual, we pick up where we left off during Sunday's Grindhouse-Dburt waxes about Mark Millar's new spy thriller comic with it's Black "Bond" analogue lead, Prodigy; he also dissects the implications of Doomsday Clock #8; our impressions of the CW 's annual crossover event, entitled Elseworlds, and featuring a first look at Batwoman in primetime; a Columbia University student has a meltdown while professing his love for White culture; a video surfaces of NYPD officers ripping a 1 year old infant from the hands of his mother who was waiting in line at a public food assistance center; the Godzilla 2 trailer hits the internets like a sonic (atomic) blast; Dburt finally addresses his thoughts about "fake news" for Black folk; Doctor Strange slated for a 2021 release; And lastly, what's the deal with Marvel planning a major retcon to the Fantastic Four origin story? Call LIVE at 646-915-9620.