Whether it’s engaging with bystander apathy or cashing in on the attention economy, we all engage with this directly or indirectly, whether we turn our noses up or not. This value comes from (how PBS would put it) “viewers like you.” You and I both are culpable in this. Logan Paul and others who engage with influencer antics that cross ethical lines and without reflection (like the TMZ character) are easy to point out, but everyone in the movie is trying to cash in on the dangerous alien because there’s an economic and social value in capturing footage of it. All four of them are each are working through trauma and handling it very differently. Even with Angel, although he’s kind of annoying, we quickly accept him as part of the group when we realize he’s avoiding processing struggles. We learn a lot about the Haywoods and their family history through the movie. Why? Because alongside Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), to a degree, we empathize with them. Human nature & the attention economyĮven the main characters of OJ (Daniel Kaluuya), Emerald (Keke Palmer), and supporting castmate Angel (Brandon Perea) engage with this fixation on spectacle, and no one is calling out people who are like them. Dozens of others die, such as people at an amusement park, and many animals, too. The audience may feel justified vindication when the TMZ employee gets their comeuppance in the film, understandable sadness when the visionary director dies for the perfect shot, surprise when the traumatized child actor continues this cycle of exploitation, and so on-and these are just the people with considerable screen time and high up on the billing. #NOPEMOVIE /OHEC1Akvq2- TODAY July 20, 2022 Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Jordan Peele discussed his new horror film Nope, out on July 22nd. (I think he meant what’s commonly called rubber-necking, by the way he phrased it.) Using a big splashy summer movie, he took on the discussion of how “the spectacle” (even when it’s dangerous) has a grip on people, and within the story, everyone participates. Jordan Peele, in promotion of the film-which features a group of people trying to capture footage of a murderous UFO-has said he was inspired by the concept of bottlenecking. While, after watching it, I completely understand where this sentiment comes from and will take any opportunity to dunk on Logan Paul for his gross insensitivity ( especially regarding the Aokigahara scandal), I’m concerned about the way this conversation has absolved people from honest reflection by throwing all the blame on extreme examples like Logan Paul. The wave of memes and replies of “It’s about people like you” made me more aware of the thematic elements before I saw the movie. I thought I was avoiding it pretty well until Logan Paul went viral, against my will, by talking about how the movie didn’t make sense. That meant if you wanted to engage and avoid spoilers, you had to be on high alert. Last weekend, Jordan Peele’s third horror movie was finally released, and with that came discussions about the meaning and layers of the text.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |