“Nope” explores the idea of fame, and sensationalism among other things. Much of “Nope” involves Haywood and Emerald looking for that one big shot that can acquire dreams of wealth and notice. But when they contact an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, he warns that sometimes fame is “a dream you can’t wait up from.” Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya are wonderful in their respective roles as a pair of ranchers anxiously trying to keep their family’s ranch afloat after the inexplicable death of their dad (Keith David has a welcome cameo). Fate inevitably comes knocking down their doors, as they begin witnessing strange phenomenon in the skies.
What’s worse is despite what they think, there are others out there anxiously trying to find a way to use this extraordinary series of events for their own benefit. “Nope” inevitably transforms in to a movie about voyeurism and technology. It’s about how, in a world where everything is video tapes, and everyone has to be the first to deliver a scoop, we’re faced with an enemy we’re not supposed to see. “Nope” is tailored in commenting on the gaping maw that is public consumption. We have to see, we have to be the first to offer the breaking news, the big bulletin, and the gossip whether it’s right or wrong. The characters don’t know it, but they’re racing to be the first to see and experience the entity, no matter what the cost.
And like them, audiences in America had to be the first to know what “Nope” is about. With a brilliantly deceptive ad campaign and series of trailers, Jordan Peele turned America in to the very thing he’s commenting on. Movie fans spent months theorizing what the poster, and title meant, and what the actual beings were in the trailer. We had to be the first to see what was going on, and many rushed to theaters to see it firsthand. Like OJ, we can’t look away, and for once we’re faced with a being that demands to be seen. It’s so spectacular, it’s such a once in a lifetime experience that you want to look. But if you do look at it in all of its glory, you’re going to be swallowed up in its gaping maw.
Peele wonderfully exemplifies that by also turning the film’s entity in to something of a living and moving camera. It’s something that focuses in on its victims with tendrils that move like film strips, and the only way to ensure survival is, to quote “The Simpsons”: Just don’t look. “Nope” is bound to be yet another of Peele’s genre entries that’ll be dissected, and analyzed for years by film buffs alike. It’s a great science fiction horror film packed with disturbing dark humor, and a timely message about how our need to see, might be the thing that gets us all killed.