I think what I adored most about nope is how jeanjacket, as a predator animal, functions in a way that makes sense for a creature designed the way she is. She spends most of her time dormant in a cloud, only leaving her camouflage to hunt, and she doesn’t ever attack without reason, and I think the most brilliant thing about the eye contact being what makes her go berserk is that that makes a shit ton of sense for a creature like her.

With her being shaped the way she is, the only way she Can attack someone is while making eye contact— and if another one of her species was to do that? That would be a declaration of all out war. That’s a clear sign of aggression, and the fact that the movie plays into that— the fact that the stadium Jupe built is shaped like an eye, the fact that she flares up at the balloon at first in a clear show of aggression, of fear, trying to scare off what she presumes to be a threat…

And of course, the fact that it just plays into the theme that not everything is a spectacle to be stared at, that people can be destroyed by seeking fame or fortune, that tragedy can’t be tamed and that the past will eat you alive if you’re not careful— and that it all fucking fits flawlessly into her design as a creature. It just. Nope is The Movie Ever.