Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-8172-4291
Abstract
While Jordan Peele’s films have always held their mysteries close to the chest, they eventually granted their viewers some climactic clarity. Get Out (2017) used an 1980s style orientation video to clear up its neuroscientific twist, while Us (2019) had Lupita Nyongo’s underworld twin narratively spell out the details of the plot. Yet Nope (2022) refuses to show its hand even after the game is over, never illuminating the connection between its opening scene and the broader film, nor a myriad of other questions. As such, critics complained that it stitched together two seemingly incongruent plots without explanation; one where a chimp attacks the crew of a successful Hollywood show, the other where an alien organism haunts a small ranch in the middle of nowhere. In this paper, I will argue that a theological interpretation of Nope helps explain some of these mysteries at its center, while revealing Peele’s underlying religious critique and its place within his broader oeuvre.
Recommended Citation
Lyonhart, Jonathan D.
(2023)
"Peele’s Black, Extraterrestrial, Naturalistic Critique of Religion,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 27:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.27.02.01
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol27/iss2/1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
VolNum
27
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Philosophy Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons