“there is a lion in my living room” - clementine von radics // ricky “jupe” park in nope (2022) dir. jordan peele

shirt design concepts for jordan peele’s “NOPE”

The fact that in Nope, when Em points out the Gordy poster (a perfect distraction for Jupe because obviously he can't sell OJ back his horses) Jupe instantly jumps up and the first thing he says is "I used to charge people for this" before he opens a room that is FILLED with memorabilia from his trauma.

It's such an innocuous little line, but it really shows the lengths that Jupe went to, in order to stay relevant. He would charge people who were "obsessed" to take a walk into one of the most horrific moments of his life, sit there and laugh as his trauma is turned into a mockery on SNL, force himself through flashbacks and triggers, all for the money and the recognition.

Hollywood doesn't give a shit about what it puts you through, it teaches you that unless you have something to sell, people won't buy. And when everything was taken from Jupe, the last thing he sold was his trauma.

Naur

Something I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about in the Nope fandom is how every adult in the audience and on set leaves Jupe to die when the attack starts. This is the pinnacle of exploitation. When Gordy starts attacking everyone flees; nobody thinks about the innocent child trapped on the stage with him as he rampages. So many people made the decision to let this child (who has no idea what to do in this situation; hell most adults wouldn’t know what to do) stay on this set with a raging predator and protect themselves. I know it’s instinct to protect yourself to some degree, but this adds to the idea of spectle and exploiting people/animals for entertainment. Jupe was literally nothing more than an object for them to laugh at; the audience was using him for entertainment, the directors and producers were using him for money. Nobody expected him to come out of that room alive, and the saddest part is nobody cared. Children don’t have the capacity to evaluate the safety of the environment they’re around; they depend on adults to do that. All of those directors and producers and cameramen knew that Gordy could become dangerous someday, but Jupe trusted him implicitly, trusted them that he was safe. 

In the end, Gordy reaches out to him. Part of the reason for this is probably because he didn’t make direct eye contact, but I think there’s something symbolic about it too. They were both put in danger on that set, they were both confused and scared and alone, and the people around them were only exploiting them with no care whatsoever for their safety or protection. It makes sense that Jupe would trust an animal more than a person - the people who were supposed to keep him safe failed him. 

I feel like this also is super relevant to the way child actors are treated today. Jupe was put in an environment where he was actively exposed to a predator every single day. People put him in this position; he didn’t choose this. He didn’t know the dangers. He was exploited and he was hurt for it, left alone when the predator attacked. I feel like this correlates with all the children who are abused on movie and tv show sets who nobody stands up for when the predators come for them. People knew Gordy was a predator and they let him around Jupe anyway. People know that certain people in the industry are predators, and we let children around them anyway.

This movie gave me a lot of feelings. Feel free to let me know what you think!

Rewatching Nope and I was thinking about Jupe and his relationship with the Gordy incident, how it affected him and what he did with it.

He keeps icons and memorabilia of the event in a secret room in his office, close to where he works most of the time. He poses the plastic Gordy model with its hands raised over its head, a sign of aggression and a warning/threat. He keeps the shoe under a spotlight, blood still dotting the blue fabric. People pay him to visit this room of collected trauma, and all he can think to do is take the money. They want to revel in the spectacle, and he wants to hold on to the attention it gives him.

When he tells the story to Em and OJ, he stops and recollects himself, choking and pausing to gather his thoughts. When he goes too deep into the story and the memories come back, he ducks out and deflects back to the exploited spectacle SNL made of it.

He calls the aliens he thinks he is communicating with "The Viewers", and sees them as the film reels from the show atop a chimps body. He says he has a connection with them, as he thought he did with Gordy

He carries the spectacle with him, and it hurts him when he brings it back up, but he still does it because the eyes are all on him.

Thinking about how the popping of a star shaped balloon freaked out Gordy causing him to attack everyone but Jupe which lead to his death, then Jean Jacket eats Jupe, then a balloon shaped like Jupe kills Jean Jacket

this review posted on jupitersclaim (site for the in universe themepark in nope) is fucking brutal

enjoyed the photo well. watch out, owner is a depressing traumatized shell of a man with low self awareness of how much this fact shows. loved the horses  and the burger shack is really good. 3/5 stars.  

Jupe is taking the picture

The fact that Nope actually deconstructs the cosmic horror genre by taking an intentionally Lovecraftian creature and forcing the audience to understand how it works is so delightful? Like- there's definitely a lot of cosmic horror aspects to the film, but it really reads more as a deconstruction of the genre because of the fact that OJ is able to understand Jean Jacket's motivations so well and by extension make it a knowable and understandable threat.

There is still horror and there is still a reason to be afraid.. but it is not because of the unknowability anymore.

Okay, the number one question I have about Nope. SPOILERS BELOW!!

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What was Jupe's plan if OJ and Em (and Angel) had taken him up on his offer to visit his friday show? Obviously we know it didn't end well anyway. But did he really expect OJ and Em to sit back while he essentially fed their horse to Jean jacket?? And also not expect OJ to suddenly want to know where the rest of his horses had gone?? Idk, it just didn't seem the best thought out plan

when you know, you know.

The Star Lasso Experience vs. Regular Feedings

I just realized something. Jupe was feeding Jean Jacket for months before the Star Lasso experience, presumable one horse at a time. So why did the Star Lasso experience go so poorly in comparison?

1. One of the big themes of the film is that trying to use a wild animal for entertainment will end poorly.

2. Going off of point 1, wild animals are unpredictable, as seen by Jean Jacket showing up early.

3. The amount of people. Specifically, the amount of eyes. Looking at Jean Jacket is a challenge, a threat. It’s pretty clear that Jupe never learned not to look. Perhaps Jean Jacket was willing to overlook one or two sets of eyes when there was other, bigger prey being offered. But with a stadium full of eyes and still only being offered that singular horse? No chance.

4. It’s important to note that prey animals are often more dangerous than predators, and predators are fully aware of this. Look into cape buffalo for further proof. Jean Jacket very well could’ve felt threatened with the amount of eyes on them. This is more conjecture, but it’s a possibility.

little oj fanart i did back in april :3