Jordan Peele’s Nope, unlike many films does not even come close to confining itself simply to one genre. Not only is there strong elements of horror and western, the sub-genre of comedy and sci-fi is also sprinkled throughout. Via Peele’s directing the film can jump from comedic and lighthearted to terrifying and tension filled in a matter of seconds.
The movie opens with the audio of the Gordy attack. Creating tension in the viewers mind, then allowing us to fully see what would be the stereotypical “monster” in most horror movies, but in this case is Gordy. In the reading from this week regarding genre, the book remarks on how the monster in most horror films scares the audience because it violates what we normally think is possible. The interesting thing about Nope is that what Gordy is not out of the realm of reality. However, this leads us to think of the main “monster”, Jean Jacket which does fall into this idea, fitting the typical horror trope. Another common trope in horror films is the excessive usage of blood. Nope does that in a multitude of ways not only with the blood-stained chimpanzee in beginning, but also by having the house get rained on by blood, OJ Sr’s death, etc.
However, it also challenges the conventional western which consists of a conflict between civilized order and some sort of lawless frontier. This is a part of Nope with OJ being a cowboy with the lawless frontier being their desert home in which jean jacket terrorizes. Horses are prominent within the film as they are in many western films in addition to the fact that most of this film takes place in the desert. One of my personal favorite shots is OJ on the horse emerging behind the dust, which is very reminiscent of many old western shots. Peele’s western movie influence does not stop at the images. The score throughout the back-half of the movie is very similar one of a western. The idea of western and sci-fi genres merge at the point of Keith David’s (OJ Sr’s) quote: “Some animals ain’t fit to be trained.” The idea of animals not being fit to be trained works as an intersection between both the horses, Jean Jacket (alien) and Gordy.
The movie, similar to Peele’s other works such as Get Out, demonstrates how one can convey modern ideas using the movie as a of trojan horse. Nope is able to demonstrate the dangers and ways of which we abuse animals but also the reliance on more modern forms of technology. He develops this theme of “watching” and how these events like the Gordy’s home incident get forgotten and become reduced and remembered by an SNL sketch.
This was my second time viewing Nope and I liked it just as much this time if not more so. I like the way Peele blends the genres, although I question why he organized the scenes of Gordy’s home the way he did. Additionally, I was interested to note that you can’t really see Gordy kill the people, it was blocked in some way. Did Peele do this because he thought the violence would be too off-putting or did was he simply trying to plant us more in the vantage point of the young Jupe?
I also really enjoyed Peele’s ability to blend tropes from different genres within his film. One thing I thought the whole time was that Jean Jacket almost looks like a cowboy hat from the bottom especially when it is chasing OJ in the screenshot you included. I thought it was really creative to add a hint of the western genre into the science fiction/horror aspects of the film in order to blend all three genres together. For me, it really added to the overall ‘western vibe’ of the movie as OJ could be seen as the ‘civilized order’ trying to tame and capture the ‘lawless frontier’ which is a predator from outer space. This also tied back nicely to the overall theme you mentioned of the implications of watching and capturing spectacle, when OJ learns near the end that predators aren’t meant to be tamed, ‘you have to come to an agreement with them.’
I thought the blending of genres in this movie was really interesting. I personally don’t like horror movies at all because they are very anxiety inducing but I enjoyed this movie and felt like it was a bearable amount of suspense because it isn’t a stereotypical horror movie and includes so many other elements. I also liked the Western aspects because of the cinematography elements used that are reminiscent of Westerns. The wide shots aren’t only beautiful but allow the audience to grasp the sheer size of what they are dealing with, literally and figuratively. I also think the wide shots created suspense interestingly enough. When you watch a character move across a scene so slowly or see how long it will take them to get somewhere in a climactic moment it builds that suspense. I also thought your take on how traumatic events get reduced to something like an SNL sketch was interesting. It really makes me think about the exploitation of victims with recent films and tv shows that depict serial killers, I actually recently read about a school shooting victim who now owns the rights to the gunman’s name so nothing can be made about him without his permission.