https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/nope-explained
In the 2022 film Nope by Jordan peele, the film opens up with an Epigraph. the Epigraph comes from the Bible verse Nahum 3:6. The quote states “I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.” The entirety of the film hinges upon that verse and in an article by Kyle Deguzman he goes on to talk about the importance of the epigraph and how it ultimately relates to the film’s overall theme of spectacle.
In the article Deguzman emphasized on how the the epigraph ultimately foreshadows the consequences that characters run into when they “succumb to the allure of seeing and monetizing the extraordinary.” He goes onto talk about the character Jupe and how he exploited his very traumatizing childhood event and turned it into a type of commodity at the theme park. Deguzman states how the continuation of individuals being fixated on making a specatcle can lead to ultimate danger, as seen in the film Jupe gets eaten by the alien.
Deguzman adds onto this by talking about OJ and Em’s attempt to get the “Oprah shot” and how this eventually put the charcters in a lot of danger. It just goes to show how far indivudals are willing to go to compromise their lives and morals to create a specatcle than other indivudals can gaze upon and recognize.
To wrap it up, Deguzman ends with talking about how the use of Jordan Peele’s use of the epigraph reinforces the “film’s exploration of humanity’s darker inclinations toward making a specatcle out of trauma,” and ultimately valuing fame over morality and humanity.
I greatly agree with the ideas that you and Deguzman bring up! I thought it was really interesting to see how the various “spectacles” we saw were reflected through those frames that showed the names of each respective spectacle. For example, we saw a frame that just had the word “Lucky” right before we see Jupe attempting to make a spectacle of Lucky getting swallowed by the spaceship creature. The fact that the movie is split into chapters that all contain the same theme and outcome is truly testament to just how important the epigraph is when attempting to grasp its overarching themes regarding spectacle, the consequences of greed, and the taming of nature. One thing I would like to add in support of the ideas in your post how the resolution of the movie is more about coming to the realization that spectacle (more specifically, the orchestration of controlling nature as spectacle) leads to corruption rather than the more plot-centered resolution of them finally getting a picture of Jean Jacket (spaceship creature). The realization of spectacle’s corruption is reflected by Em in the final moments of the movie, where she is laying down after having captured the photo of Jean Jacket and fully processing the fact that she may have lost her brother (OJ). We see that the photo of Jean Jacket has been printed out physically as well as the appearance of news outlets in the background, causing us immediately to think: “pick up the photo! Make sure that nobody steals it!” But instead of reflecting our thoughts, Em is seen looking towards the direction where she last saw OJ, with his figure finally being revealed as the dust settles, showing that he was in fact alive. The fact that Em, who was shown to be very money-oriented (recall the self-plug in the beginning studio scene and how even capturing the photo of Jean Jacket in return for compensation was her idea), finally places more value on her brother than the prospect of riches exhibits her realization that the corruption/consequences of spectacle are not worth the sacrifice of personal morals, family, or in this case, human life.