Student's Theories About Jordan Peele's Film, 'Us'

Jordan Peele's latest film, "Us," had people left speechless all around the world. This movie is responsible for all the memes about "your tethered," and how you may not want to know who your doppelganger is after all. This horror film will have you on the edge of your seat all throughout and will leave you questioning EVERYTHING about the movie at the very end. The ending is what makes the film and, honestly, had me initially confused. I asked students what they think the movie's meaning was and the following quotes below are what they had to say.

"Classism"

"The tether represents the poor, even though they look like us." - Kendall

"'Us' is about how people tend to blame outsiders for all of our problems instead of looking to our roots."

- Anya

"You are definitely your own enemy with your shadow."

- Tessa

"You are your own worst enemy."

- Bradley

"The duality of man for sure, good and evil."

- Zach

"Honestly I don't know but the fact that Fu** The Police was playing in a white household tells me race [is involved]."

- Jordan

"Your past never actually goes away no matter how hard you try and move forward."

- Rachel

"The American Dream ain't all that." 

"Poor people be leaving their poor homes but end up getting isolated in America just as bad, or even worse. The American Dream needs to die." - Isaac

"How politics has compressed the poorest of people."

- Sasha

"We're killing ourselves with our own negativity."

- Ryan

"Trump."

- Felix

When I watched this film, I loved it, but then became so confused once I got to the ending. Once I grasped what the ending was, I totally appreciated the complexity and originality of the piece itself. According to Jordan Peele in an interview with The Root, the following is what inspired him to write the screenplay: "[When] I decided to write this movie, I was stricken with the fact that we are in a time where we fear the other, whether it is the mysterious invader that we think is going to come and kill us or take our jobs or the faction that we don't live near that voted a different way than us. We're all pointing the finger and I want to suggest that [when] making a monster, we really need to look at our face. Maybe the evil is us."

Let me know what your theory is. DM me on Instagram @neehaw19