Jordan Peele Explains Us • Collider While there are many metaphors to make of this film, it ultimately comes down to who has privilege and who doesn't. We don't actually have shadow versions of ourselves wandering around tunnels (or do we… no, we don't).
It's about how we, as a country, try just to rename, reclaim, and wash out the stains of the past, as if that will just make everything better. The movie opens on Hands Across America, a statement of unity that was supposed to be the "we are all one, racism is over" moment of the '80s.
The Story of Us: Jordan Peele's New Movie is an Allegory for Capitalism in the United States. “The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil. That's how I see it, my word is bond... and the ground is the symbol for the poor people; the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people.”
Jordan Peele's Explanation Of Us's Scissors Explained
Peele added that in Us he explored various things relating to the duality of human beings and “the guilt and sins that we bury deep within ourselves”, so scissors are a visual representation of the duality of humanity.
The reveal as to why Red talks the way she does is one of Us's most haunting moments, and it's one of Jordan Peele's screenplay's cleverest payoffs. As revealed in Us's big twist, the reason Red's voice sounds so creepy is that she was strangled as a child.
Us Metaphor and Ending (Not(!)) Explained | Film Analysis
What do the rabbits symbolize in Us?
However, the rabbits hold a deeper meaning too. Rabbits commonly symbolize rebirth in human culture as explained by their usage around Easter to signify the rebirth of Jesus Christ. In the case of Us, the rabbits symbolize the rebirth of the Tethered who are now rising up to take their place in society.
For starters, Red is the only tethered who can speak albeit in a raspy, damaged voice. This is due to the fact she's the original Adelaide who was born and raised in normal society.
In Us, Jeremiah 11:11 reads as, "Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them." Narratively this is represented through Adelaide's duplicate, Red, who represents the evil she and the other ...
What did Red Whisper to Adelaide in the classroom?
Warning: Spoilers for the film Us. “How you could have taken me with you,” Red wistfully states to the Adelaide that has taken over her life. All that you have, all that you are, all that you've become — you took from me.
Another question viewers might have had: Why were each of the Tethered wearing a single, leather half glove? Barrett approached this design element from a very practical standpoint. Her team learned early on that it's easy to cut yourself when handling large shears, which the Tethered use as their primary weapon.
But there's one more subtle twist at the end of the movie that complicates it further. Jason looks at Adelaide in the car—who we now know is a Tethered—and some sort of acknowledgement passes between them. This seems like an indication that Jason seemed to realize that his mother was actually one of the Tethered.
She finds Jason and exits the tunnels. But aboveground, the many Tethers have joined hands together in a mirror of Hands Across America, the 1986 event meant to raise money and awareness of hunger, which stretched a 6.5 million-person chain (almost all the way) across the Lower 48.
The ending of the film reveals a shocking twist, where the protagonist we've been rooting for is actually the villain. The film's deeper meaning revolves around the class divide, with the Tethered representing the oppressed and the above-ground counterparts representing the privileged.
Pluto wears a mask to cover up the burns of the accident. This would explain why Jason is often wearing a mask throughout the film. Pluto's death is by self-immolation, which reinforces this as well. Several other small details speak to Jason's potential swap.
Us is about the duality of human nature. Perhaps the most obvious and recurring theme is the duality of human nature, as symbolized here by the doppelgängers. There's a reason why 11:11, a double of doubles, pops up everywhere.
The one from the Underground — attempting to escape from horrific enslavement down below — attacked and kidnapped the one from above, replacing her in her old life as “Adelaide.” The girl formerly known as Adelaide then grew up in captivity underground, becoming known as “Red.” Meanwhile, the new, replacement Adelaide ...
Red then continued to live aboveground and eventually married Gabe and had two children, with everyone believing she was the real Adelaide—and the movie seems to imply that Red repressed her origins as a childhood trauma and believed she was Adelaide too.
The use of scissors as a weapon in the Tethered attack seems a direct reference to these paper dolls, Hands Across America, and the way scissors can quickly separate two connected things.
They return to the above world, where Adelaide drives her family to safety, and Jason gives her a suspicious look before he puts on his mask. That look might be interpreted as Pluto, Jason's Tether, and Jason switching places earlier in the movie, and Pluto knowing Adelaide's secret.
We learn they're clones without souls who are shadow versions tethered to their original selves. The final moments of the movie reveal Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) isn't actually the person you thought. It turns out she was switched with one of the clones, Red, when they were both young girls.
Red explains that the Tethered are genetic clones created by the government to control the populace. When the experiment failed, the Tethered were abandoned underground for countless years, mindlessly mimicking the actions of their counterparts and surviving on raw rabbit meat.
She appears to be examining Adelaide's facial structure, before returning to Kitty's vanity and digging into her face with her scissors, leaving a deep cut in her cheek, all with a smile on her face. This is intended to mirror Kitty Tyler's implied facial surgery.
“I was inspired by the condition spasmodic dysphonia,” she told Variety at “Us'” Los Angeles premiere, “which is a condition that comes about from trauma, sometimes emotional, sometimes physical. It creates this spasming in your vocal cords that leads to an irregular flow of air.”
