US (2019): ENDING EXPLAINED!!!!!!!
(WARNING: Contains spoilers for Us, although odds are you’ve already seen the movie by now)
It’s pretty safe to say Us, the latest film from Genuis-Man-Master-of-Horror Jordan Peele, is a smash hit. It’s a solid 7.5/10, good all-around but not particularly great in any way, but I’d say it’s better than Get Out and it made a shitload of money in no time flat. But what interests me the most about the film is all the conversation it has generated about what it means.
Us is unusual in that it panders to popular sensibilities but is also pretty obtuse. It’s the definition of tame popcorn horror in terms of style and tone, but it is narratively much more interesting than the typical blockbuster with plenty of symbolism, riddles, and unexplained twists designed to invite interpretation. Being open to interpretation is something popular movies tend to avoid like the plague. The result is tons of discussion about meaning as well as tons of articles like this stating definitively what that meaning is.
Well look no further, dear reader. I have decoded all the symbols and metaphors and shall now reveal to you what #deep social commentary lies within the heart of Us’s labyrinth.
What does it all mean???????
It doesn’t mean anything.
Well, that’s not entirely true. The better way to put it is that the film lacks any fixed meaning. And that’s true about most good works of art is that they’re open to interpretation. Us works best when it’s suggestive, rather than explanatory, and it’s that suggestiveness that makes the movie better than the very straight-forward (and very on-the-nose) Get Out. Now, there are some people who think art must have a definitive meaning and that being open to interpretation is a cop-out. Those people are small-minded assholes who probably have never had an original thought in their lives.
So, Us could be about many things.
Perhaps it’s about wealth, class, and American capitalism and how living as well as we do necessitates the existence of a permanent underclass and that such a system is ultimately unsustainable as the proletariats (in their fittingly red jumpsuits) will eventually rise up and smash the whole thing.
Perhaps it’s about human psychology and how social constraints designed to suppress the Id will always be overwhelmed thanks to humanity’s essentially dark nature and its ability to often triumph over externally imposed means of control.
Perhaps it’s about both of those things or neither of them.
While artists always have an intent behind what they do, art is less intellectual and more instinctual. Many artists make creative choices for no reason other than it made sense on some subconscious gut-level that they can’t really explain. The human subconscious is a powerful machine when it comes to generating meaning, and it’s often why dreamlike and sometimes nonsensical works of art can have an extremely powerful effect on people: while we can’t make sense of them intellectually there is a subconscious understanding of what is happening. However, because each person’s subconscious is a little different, the meaning they draw from a work of art will always be a little different. These are all ideas that G.O.A.T. horror filmmaker David Lynch understands very well.
The only real meaning Us has is what it means to YOU. How did YOU feel when you saw the movie? What ideas and notions did it suggest in YOUR mind? Don’t go looking for someone to interpret it for you. It’s lazy and it’s just no fun at all. Be bold and have an opinion!
I will say that I’m pretty happy to see that a lot of people are talking about the movie and trying to interpret it. While a lot of ideas thrown out there are completely asinine, it’s heartening to see, read, and hear all the thoughtful conversations this movie has engendered as people pick apart even the smallest details for scraps of meaning. I also hope that this opens the door for people to seek out other, better and more challenging movies that may have been overlooked in the past for being too strange or inscrutable.
It doesn’t help that Jordan Peele is going around to the press and interpreting his own movie. It breaks the #1 rule of art: don’t interpret your own work. It ruins the fun for everyone and makes people with differing but still valid opinions feel like their ideas are less legitimate.
Well I have good news for you. Artistic intent really doesn’t matter.
At all.
Peele may want to take a lesson from Lynch on that.
P.S. I avoid using the term “fan-theory” because I find it incredibly loathsome, especially in how it’s used within contemporary parlance. The word “theory” makes the idea being expressed sound more important than it really is while the word “fan” seems to condescend to whoever is expressing it. It’s annoying as hell.
