What is the significance of Gordy?

“Jordan Peele On Nope’s Gordy Sequence: ‘It’s About Feelings Of Rage’ – Exclusive.” Empire, 30 Aug. 2022, https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/jordan-peele-nope-gordy-explained-feelings-of-rage-exclusive/.

While viewing Nope, I was very confused and captivated by the side plot of Gordy’s Home. In modern-day moments of the film, I hoped it would cut back to the past and give more info about the inciting incident, the aftermath, or why the shoe was floating. Alas, the film keeps much of this info out of view. I additionally enjoyed how the construction and editing of Gordy’s scenes were used to increase the off-putting nature of the tension of his storyline. One instance where this stood out to me is in Gordy’s birthday scene, where we see the scene initially from the perspective of the camera, where it fades to black on the inciting of violence before cutting ahead in time to a certain amount of time in the future from a handheld shot walking into the set as the violence is continuing. Due to how offputting this whole storyline and its construction was, I was incredibly interested to hear what Jordan Peele had to say about it. 

In an interview with Empire Magazine, Peele explains  ““It’s about exploitation,” “It’s about feelings of rage. At the industry.”(Peele). Nope is, without a doubt, a movie about creation and what lengths you have to go to reach success, but it is telling that story from the African American perspective, one of a group that has constantly either been vehemently denied from working in the industry or has have had their ideas exploited. When I read that it’s about exploitation, I thought of a later point in the movie. During the film’s Climax, Antlers Holst, realizing he has sacrificed too much in the pursuit of artistic mastery, goes closer to the alien vessel to try again for the perfect shot, letting himself be consumed by the alien.

 Well, that’s how I saw that scene after its conclusion. When Holst initially left, taking the camera with him, I thought that Holst was leaving the crew to die, taking the footage for himself, serving as an allegory for exploitation in the film industry. Maybe that sentiment was Peele wanted me to feel that instinct, and maybe he didn’t. Either way, reading Peele’s interview helped to solidify connections that I had made to African American oppression in the film industry that I made while watching. 

Another quote from Peele that stood out to me was, “We fear Gordy, but we don’t hate Gordy. I think there’s an interesting thing happening for the audience there.”(Peele)

And in all honesty, he’s right; how can we hate Gordy?  For all the terrible violence that Gordy commits, he is still a victim of the film industry. He is pulled from his home to be paraded and poked on set, in service of making a profit for film executives. Reading this interview made me think back to when O.J. brings the Horse on set at the beginning of the film. The film producers are pocking at him, invading his space, and ultimately scaring him so badly that he shoots back. Both of these animals are victims of confinement and exploitation in the film industry and eventually snap.

So, to answer the question of the significance of Gordy, Gordy is a parallel for exploitation in the film industry. However, while this is what Peele said in an interview, I don’t think all of what he stands for, I think just saying exploitation is a little reductive. Gordy represents the feelings of oppressive exploitation in the film industry without any escape. He represents being watched, paraded, and taken forcefully out of your comfort till you break.