4 References, Explained, In Jordan Peele's 'Us'
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4 References, Explained, In Jordan Peele's 'Us'

"If you wanna get crazy, we can get crazy."

Kiarrra
Apr 02, 2019
Arizona State University
66
4 References, Explained, In Jordan Peele's 'Us'
Universal Pictures / YouTube

Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers for "Us"

Jordan Peele's horror/thriller film "Us" hit theaters on March 22 this year. The movie's basic plot is a family encounters their doppelgängers and has to fight for their lives. However, if you've seen the movie you know there is so much more to it. There is social meaning, pop culture references and the overall symbolism makes "Us" stand out. Here are four things you might have missed in the film.

1. Adelaide's carnival prize.

YouTube

The movie starts with a young girl and her family at a carnival. The girl's father wins her prize at a booth and the girl chooses prize 11 (which is a reference in itself if you watched the movie). Prize 11 is a Thriller t-shirt. Not only is the Michael Jackson music video appropriate for the time, but it is appropriate in meaning. Michael Jackson's character in Thriller turns into a zombie with other creatures, but by the end, everything goes back to normal- so it seems. At the end, Michael flashes a smile at the camera as an evil character in disguise.

2. 11:11.

YouTube

When a young Adelaide decides to explore the carnival without her parents, she runs into a man holding a sign with Jeremiah 11:11 written on it. The biblical verse is "Therefore this is what the Lord says: "I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them." 11:11 appears everywhere in the movie, from the sports game husband Gabe watches to the time when Adelaide tucks Jason into bed. But more than that verse, the number 11 has a meaning that represents the movie extremely well. On Insider's YouTube channel, they explain that 11 is the number of the twin flames. Not to be mixed up with soulmates but it means that everyone has a spiritual doppelganger, someone exactly like them at the core. The individuals may appear different on the outside and could have different personalities, but they are each other at the core.

3. Hands Across America.

YouTube

For a little background, Hands Across America was a movement in the 1980s that hoped to raise $100 million to combat homelessness and hunger. $36 million was raised, and only $15 million was distributed to the American people. The commercial for the campaign featured Americans holding hands from coast to coast. This is referenced when the doppelgangers or the "Tethered" rise and hold each other's hands or when Red (Adelaide's doppelganger) make paper puppets of individuals holding hands. On a deeper meaning, this could be Peele's way of highlighting American culture. While we often carry the facade of being mixing pot and all united, it is clear in the real world that privileged people are always a few steps ahead. That's part of the masterpiece of the "Tethered," they are human beings who are not given the same opportunities of those who live above ground. Like Red says early on "We are Americans."

4. The Twilight Zone.

YouTube

While there are so many references to horror movies (The Shining, Jaws, Lost Boys, CHUD) and pop culture in general (Thriller, Guess Who?, Home Alone), the one that may be most relevant to the director, writer and producer Jordan Peele is The Twilight Zone inspiration. Peele told Rolling Stone that the idea for the doppelgangers came from a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone where a woman sees someone who looks exactly like herself at a train station and thinks the woman is trying to kill her. This is important to Peele himself because he is behind the reboot of the show this spring.

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