Spoiler Warning: Nope (2022)
Jordan Peele’s summer blockbuster Nope has created a buzz. Not just for the story or special effects, but the fan theories about what it all means.
Nope is the story of an African-American family of Emerald (Keke Palmer), OJ (Daniel Kaluuya), and their father, Otis (Keith David), that train horses for the film business in Southern California. The Haywood family’s horse ranch in Aqua Dulce, California, supplies the expansive setting and incredible vistas in the film is set. If that is what one calls them, being a reasonable distance away, their neighbours are a western town amusement park owned by a former child star (Steven Yeun).
The film opens with the patriarch of the family being killed by a nickel fatally embedded in his head. The disjointed brother and sister have a rough time making it on their own, and OJ is forced to sell some of the horses to their neighbour to survive. Emerald is usually off in Hollywood working on other side projects to get her big break in the business. It is at this point that OJ sees something, something that has him shaken.
Is NOPE an acronym for “Not Of Planet Earth?”
The initial marketing for Nope gave away very little about the genre or type of film, enticing Peele fans into making some fantastic assumptions. Vanity Fair posted a video of the cast (Palmer, Kaluuya, Yeun, and Brandon Perea) reading the fan’s theories. While some were out there, others had serious potential for new Peele-written and directed films.
In his interview with Emmy Winner Jake Hamilton on the Jake's Takes YouTube channel, Peele revealed:
“I think one of the great things about getting to make movies now is that you do get to have conversation with people, sometimes it sucks, but quite often you…I get the inspiration for what I’m going to do next out of the conversation that I have with my fans.”
With the success of Us and Get Out, it is no wonder Peele seems to be on a streak, and his fans are there for the long haul as well. In the Vanity Fair video, Steven Yeun reads, “NOPE=Not Of Planet Earth.” The actors banter around this, saying that they could see it as being Peele-esque as he could put coded elements into the film. However, in the end, Palmer answered the question if Peele put that code in, and she said, “Yeah, he didn’t!”
The Real Monsters are Human
Kaluuya read another theory that Nope would be about “colonialism and human panic." It reads:
"Almost every classic alien movie is turned into us versus them. A tale about how fear or the unknown makes us turn into monsters, and we paint ourselves as the good guys. Peele is known for social messages and metaphors, so I have a feeling the aliens are coming to help us, but the real monsters we discover are people. Maybe we kill them first, they get angry and react vengefully…”
After reading this, all the actors reacted positively and thought this was an excellent idea. So much so that Kaluuya wanted to see the screenplay! But, all the actors also had to shoot this theory down.
Bad Miracles
There is one fan theory that does fit so well; it is a bit scary. A Reddit user posted their take on Nope and said they agree with it 100%. But before revealing this theory, let’s go over some of the reasons why you may agree with it.
OJ and Em had a conversation in which OJ asked if there was a word for a ‘bad miracle.’ It was suggested that ancient prophets might have used this "bad miracle" to describe “God’s wrath” or “God’s Judgement.” Is what happened in Nope a bad miracle?
One of the outstanding characters in the film, Angel (played masterfully by Brandon Perea), suggests History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and other paranormal elements are what they might be looking at.
Last but not least, Peele starts the film off with a biblical quote:
Nahum 3:6: I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.
This leads to the theory that the UFO/creature in Nope is actually a “Biblical accurate angel.” Another Reddit user concurs and expands this theory a bit more by stating:
"There is the theory that humans fear creatures who do not bear any resemblance to them. So that's the reason so many people hate spiders.
Now, I find it interesting how the characters aren't really scared of the Alien but are more interested in making profit Out of it, despite in its final form being so abstract and different from us that it doesn't even resemble a living being.
In contrast, there is the murderous chimpanzee who is the real scary creature in the movie despite being our closest relative and resembling us a lot."
So, this theory that the horse vacuum flying creature might represent a biblical angel holds quite a lot of weight. Peele and the cast have mentioned the word "spectacle" has been used a lot on set – and with his use of social messaging, one can easily place the creature as an avenging angel carrying out the wrath of a supreme being.
However, this is only a fan theory, but as Peele has suggested in his interviews, his conversations with fans will inspire his next creation!