Jordan Peele Redefined the Horror Genre
An analysis on Jordan Peele’s Directorial style
Written by Beatrice Galvan
Graphics by Katalena
Comedy TV Star to Academy Award Winning director, Jordan Peele, has absolutely deconstructed and revamped the horror genre we all knew for the better. What sets Peele apart from past horror films like The Conjuring, Halloween, Insidious, Cloverfield, etc. is how he not only strays away from the generic tropes in American Horror but also uses it to his advantage to explore the real life horrors that live in our society today. He doesn’t just force us to face the real horrors of the world– he gets us to think, and question these social issues. In a sense it makes the horror portrayed on screen all the more terrifying. Because the real villain isn't some ghost or a big scary man with a knife– no, Jordan Peele makes it more complex than that– it’s humanity itself. Peele took the blueprint of American Horror and redefined it.
“I define ‘social thriller’ as thriller/horror movies where the ultimate villain is society itself.”
Peele isn’t confined or restricted by the American Horror norms, in fact, he uses it and puts his own twist to create a disturbingly beautiful concoction of a film that hits more than just the Horror genre. Take Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out (2017) as an example. This film is a perfect mix of the classic genre thriller with a dash of smart political satire. In the box office smash hit, Get Out, portrays the big time lie we lived in during Obama’s presidency; that American Society has evolved and ascended into a peaceful place of post-racial harmony.
Get Out (2017)
Peele wanted to show us the part of racism that isn’t typically targeted in modern media– Peele showed the evolution of racism because it’s not the white hooded wearing cross burning kind, it’s the the microaggressions kind that hits closer to home for all the white liberals cheering and applauding from home, the white saviors. In most films, when it comes to anything related to the racism in America it is always from the perspective of the the White Savior (i.e. The Blind Side, Green Book, The Help). With having most films from the perspective of the white savior it absolutely dilutes and flattens the true horror racism has been to black people in history.
Just like how the white savior is a constant trope used so heavily in film, so is the final girl trope in Horror films. If you’re not too familiar with the term, the final girl is usually always intelligent, resourceful, resilient, and most importantly white protagonist; they’re usually the ones to live to tell the story. Whereas the POC character is usually the throw away character that is the first to die. In Peele’s films, he creates a refreshing reversal of the common horror movie cliche. He trumps that ideology we had for the ‘final girl’ of a horror film and shows that black people can be that final girl, the hero, the protagonist of the story.
“I’ll say this: The scariest monster in the world is human beings and what we are capable of, especially when we get together.”
In Peele’s second film, Us, he delves head first into our own worst enemies… Us.
Us (2019)
The villains of Us (2019) are what’s known as the tethered. In the film they’re a lab experiment, our dopplegangers. However, if you look deeper, the tethered represent poverty, the underclass, and dark histories we try to erase. Whereas the ones who live on the surface represent the blind eye and backs we turn from these social injustices. In this twisted horror, Peele wanted to show that the demise of humanity is none other than humanity itself.
Now moving on to Peele’s final film, Nope (2022)– it’s a brilliant Hollywood film that critiques the Hollywood film industry. This film explores the exploitation, infantilization, and erasure within Hollywood film history– i.e western films, the black horse jockey in the first motion picture; Hollywood’s white washing in American Cinema. Jean Jacket killing the black cowboy (OJ’s Dad) at the beginning of the film alludes to American Cinema’s erasure of black people in film.
The untamable predator in Nope is the film industry and the “spectacle” and we’re all guilty of partaking in it. As humans we have a sick and twisted relationship to spectacle and traumatic events/images– whether you are a viewer or creator, there’s something so insidious and magical about it that we just can’t help but look. Like the film industry, Jean Jacket is able to eat you alive and spit you right out.
Nope (2022)
Throughout the film they talk about the perfect shot, the “Oprah Shot” but in order to get that shot, OJ and Emerald must face it head on. They’re determined to get that money shot no matter the cost– just like creators and filmmakers in the industry. So capturing that monster on film and killing it at the end not only helps OJ and Emerald get closure with their dad’s death, but they gain fame and enough money to rise and take back their ranch and some of the history of their family’s involvement in Hollywood.
Much like OJ and Emerald captured an image of a monster– Peele has as well by creating this film. Peele captured the monster of our own horrifying fascination and exploitation of spectacle and in doing so he’s helping correct some of the erasure that black people have endured in Hollywood.
What makes Jordan Peele such a phenomenal filmmaker and what makes his work stand out is how he resculpts these old overused tropes and cliches and creates something new. Peele creates Horror films that encourage his audience to really think and process the social injustices and issues that live outside his films. He creates villains that we face every day in the real world and that makes his films all the more terrifying. It has fans questioning if this man is insane or a genius– perhaps he’s both.