The Monstrefact: The SPOILER from “NOPE”

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses something that happens in the 2022 Jordan Peele movie “NOPE” and there will be spoilers…

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas,
and monsters in time. If you haven't caught Jordan's Peel's

(00:25):
new sci fi horror film Nope yet, I recommend you
go watch it right now, at least if you're a
fan of Peel's previous films, as well as that feeling
of being utterly creeped out in a movie theater and
even more creeped out when you leave that movie theater.
It's not for the faint of heart, but I think
it's must see viewing for sci fi and horror fans.

(00:49):
But don't worry, I'm going to make sure that there's
a clear line in this episode between non spoiler and
spoiler content as we proceed here, because this is one
you really want to go in fresh on if you
choose to see it. First of all, generally speaking, I
really enjoyed this film. Peel is one of the most
interesting directors working today, and Nope is the sort of
picture that would generally captivate me if it had come

(01:12):
out in any previous decade, though the social nuances would
have been different for sure. For instance, I can imagine
someone like Larry Cohen having done a picture like this
in the nineteen seventies. One can easily imagine the nineteen
fifties variation as well, And of course our two version
is perfectly poignant as well skeletally. It is a B

(01:35):
movie sci fi feature with a great twist, but there
is some great flesh on those bones as well, in
the form of Peel's social commentary, a top notch cast,
and exceptional cinematography. Okay, now let's get to the spoilery stuff.
You've been warned. Here we go three two one. It's

(01:56):
various reviewers have already pointed out Nope is a movie
of society's relationship to spectacle. All the main characters have
film industry connections, and Steve Young's character Ricky is the
one I found the most poignant. As a child actor,
it's revealed the character experienced a terrifying and traumatic experience
on the set of a nineties sitcom. The show's central

(02:18):
chimpanzee actor snapped and killed or mutilated all of Ricky's
co stars before security finally moved in and put the
creature down right in front of young Ricky. As an adult,
Ricky has found ways to profit off of that event,
but clearly hasn't fully dealt with all the underlying trauma.
But now he has a new obsession. A UFO is

(02:40):
abducting horses on his California ranch, and he's decided to
spend this phenomenon off into a live, kicketed spectacle, the
star Lasso Experience. In the film's great twist, the UFO
descends early during one of these live events, and a
startling revelation occurs. It is not a ship but a

(03:02):
single predatory organism. It proceeds to suck Ricky, his family,
and all of the audience members up into itself and
consume them in a horrifying sequence that I found and
still find particularly unsettling. This plot twist reminds me a
lot of the twist in the nineteen sixty eight Jeffrey
Household novel Dance of the Dwarves, in which an anthropologist

(03:25):
in South America thinks he is attempting to communicate with
a tribe of pygmies in the jungle, only to realize
far too late that the beings are in fact a
species of predatory giant otter with a taste for human blood.
In both Nope and Dance of the Dwarfs, protagonists set
out under the assumption that the spectacle they chase is

(03:47):
something that can be if not communicated with, then at
least controlled or even exploited to some degree. The anthropologist
character thinks he can offer beads to the mysterious dwarves
in the forest. Ricky thinks he can keep the UFO
at arms length and pacified with horses. Notes. Central characters
O J and Emerald Haywood played by Daniel Kaluya and

(04:09):
Kiki Palmer likewise see the UFO is something they can
capture or film for profit. They all finally realize, and
again so much too late, that their theory of mind
is incorrect in this matter, and that they face a
predatory animal intellect that only sees them as food chilling stuff.
Now that we're discussing note purely as a monster film,

(04:31):
and it is a very memorable monster film, let's talk
about the monster itself. We see more and more of
the monsters. The movie progresses, as is, of course, the
law concerning these things and it's revealed at last to
be some manner of billowy air creature that brings to
mind some of the alien art of Wayne Barlow and

(04:52):
concepts of the sorts of sky jellies that might conceivably
live within the clouds of gas giants. And while this
is entirely speculative biology here for an aerial creature, it's
anatomy does bring to mind various creatures that thrive in
aquatic capitats of the natural world. Plus, its method of

(05:13):
inhaling its prey through a vortex brings to mind the
suction feeding method of many fish. They rapidly expand the
inside of their mouths to create a pressure gradient to
draw water and prey directly into their gaping maws. The
speed at which some fish performed this feat is incredible.
Consider the bay pipe fish, which can inhale small crustaceans

(05:36):
and other prey in as little as two milliseconds so
in a sci fi horror film like Nope, in a
scenario that involves the surface world, this feeding method is
entirely horrific. In Earth socians, lakes and rivers, however, it's
just business as usual. Tune in for additional episdisodes of

(06:00):
the monster fact or the artifact each week. As always,
you can email us at contact. It's Stuff to Blow
your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for
my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

(06:22):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.