Us by Jordan Peele

Us is a 2019 horror film by Jordan Peele. The film follows a woman named Adelaide and her family as they revisit the beach where she experienced a hidden trauma in a hall of mirrors. Following their arrival, they are visited by a violent family of doppelgangers known as the Tethered, and Adelaide must help her family escape.

"Adelaide in the hall of mirrors," Jordan Peele, Us, 2019.

"The Tethered Family" Jordan Peele, Us, 2019.

This film is the follow up to Jordan Peele's wildly successful Get Out, which dealt with race relations through the horror genre. Us has a similar goal, using thrills and chills to make a movie which is both entertaining and socially conscientious. This film focuses on the concept of class consciousness, using the Tethered to symbolize a working class that suffers under a blissfully unaware upper class. It examines performative activism with the Hands Across America campaign and the role that these events play in the American narrative, as well as the way that real class consciousness, not just a performance, allows for revolution and change. All of this is found in the subtext of the film, which allows the film to be enjoyed on multiple levels of critical thought. Jordan Peele makes movies that have deeper concepts to invest into you're looking for them, but allows an audience just looking for popcorn entertainment to enjoy them as well.

1. Why do you think Peele chose the horror genre to examine these aspects of society?

2. What are the benefits of having messages in the subtext of a film, rather than the surface level story?