Us: horror as a medium for change
Year: 2019
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke
Language: English
Rating: Entertaining 5/5 | Informative 3/5 | Inspiring 4/5
Image Credit: Allstar/Universal
Jordan Peele’s film Us, released in 2019, continues to prompt conversations centred around social change amongst viewers three years later. Although the movie is classified as a horror film primarily for entertainment, Peele maintains that his creative content seeks to ignite conversations around topics that “fascinate” him. Us details the story of a family, played by Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke, and how they must fight for their lives when their doppelgangers appear at their summer home. With the tagline “We are our own worst enemy”, it is easy to assume that the title refers to the individual struggles people face. Yet, it soon becomes apparent that ‘us’ is synonymous with the United States.
“We’re a country that is afraid of the outsider. We’re afraid of the other, whether it’s within our borders or outside of our borders.”
During an interview at the film’s Los Angeles press day, Peele confirmed, “There’s a double meaning to everything…The state of this country inspired me. We’re a country that is afraid of the outsider. We’re afraid of the other, whether it’s within our borders or outside of our borders. I think when we fail to point our finger inward, we’re capable of really messing up in big ways.” Although the doppelgangers in Us act violently towards the main characters, they maintain human qualities that are hard to ignore. When asked by Lupita Nyong'o's character to reveal who they are, they respond, "We're Americans." In an increasingly polarised climate, Peele uses an oft-overlooked movie genre to bring his audience face-to-face with what is feared most—the truth that those we see as ‘other’ are far more like us than we would care to admit.
Peele’s use of doppelgangers plays out the metaphor in the most physical way. It also reveals a more profound meaning about wealth inequality and the ease with which privileged people can pretend that the consequences of inequality don’t exist. The main characters live in wealth and are oblivious to their doppelgangers suffering just beneath them. The only difference between the two is the circumstances of how they came into this world. This point is underscored in a significant plot twist highlighting that our ability to thrive in life is keenly dependent on the resources and social support we can access.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated a similar message. In the USA, the pandemic has widened socioeconomic inequalities among young adults, people of colour, and those without a college degree. Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented among essential workers and industries that refuse to keep their workers safe, and people of colour experience higher rates of severe illness, hospitalisations, and death from COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on globally marginalised groups is a real-life horror story, and Peele’s filmmaking reminds us that systemic inequality is what should truly terrify us.
