Right in time for the Halloween season, I had the opportunity to watch “Us,” the horror film by Jordan Peele. I have watched this movie before when it first came out. I remember feeling very confused about what the plot symbolized, and I remain pretty confused after the second viewing. As one of the audience members from tonight voiced during the post-movie discussion, it feels like there is some deep symbolism, but it’s cloudy.
In the movie, everybody has their own doppelgänger who lives in an alternate word underground. Adelaide and her family are on a vacation when their underground doppelgängers arrive to kill them. Other doppelgängers are doing the same in a concerted attempt to “untether” themselves from their lives of imprisonment. It is revealed at the end that their movements are forced to mirror exactly what the people in the “real” world chose to do; they do not have any agency over their life. For food, they are forced to eat rabbits “raw and bloody” (Red’s description). Because they were suffering while simultaneously being controlled by the free will of the people in the real world, it is understandable that they are angry. The first time watching this movie, I did not know any of this until the very end, so this time around I got to see the earlier scenes through a new lens with this context in mind. I found that I was able to sympathize a little more with the murderous doppelgängers–although, for the record, still not very much.
The huge plot twist at the end is mind-blowing to me… Mostly because it still feels like there are some inconsistencies in the story that don’t make sense. I wish we got to discuss the movie a little bit more at the end, because I would love to hear what other people interpreted. I’ll definitely be surfing the internet tonight to try an understand the deeper message!
I also knew, coming into this movie, that there would be so much to unpack! After much thinking, however, I still wonder why Jordan Peele chose to mention rabbits (instead of any other animal). Perhaps it relates to cloning? Or the imagery of innocent animals trapped in cages, as a parallel to the Tethered being imprisoned themselves? But I do think the doppelgängers’ use scissors as weapons makes much sense with the “untethering” situation that you described—the idea that they attack in order to literally and figuratively cut their ties to their surface counterparts and free themselves from essential enslavement. I might have to replay the film too many times in order to finally understand all the clues and references!
Us is an extremely good movie with a lot of complex symbolism. After he created Get Out people really expected Jordan to hit us over the head with a message but this movie as he said himself is really up to our interoperation. It is and can be about so many things but it is really up to the viewer. Some things cannot changed like the comments on social class and race that the movie makes but other things like what do the rabbits mean what doe the jumpsuits mean and what the scissors mean that all up to the viewer to decide.
I’ll start off by saying I love this movie!
I saw it in theaters when it came out, too. I’m a sucker for this genre — the horror, mystery, thriller kind — so I did really like it when it came out.
But when I saw it this time, I talked it out a little bit more with everyone else, which helped me see it for the symbolism. I still like it, but now I like to think I have reasons to like it because I understand it better!