Us (2019) Explained: a COMPLETE Breakdown and Analysis

What did you think about "Us"? Did this video bring any new insight into the film? What other things from Us did you find really interesting? If you think this video will be helpful for someone else, I'd certainly appreciate you sharing it.

I haven't seen the film, but it also seems to say that sometimes the people you think are so nice are not. A Jekyll and Hyde. Kind of goes with his other film of "Get Out." A look at the evil nature of people. People can become possessed by evil, but nobody wants to see themself in that way.

You earned my sub. I should have found you earlier.

In fact. The police never show up in the movie.

I finally understand what Red was saying with, "...if you had taken me with you..." From the perspective of not knowing Addy was the copy (although I did because someone already had spoiled it for me), you are led to think the copy wanted her to take her into the real world, but was rejected and had to go back down. But, Red is the real Addy, so is saying "instead of taking me hostage and replacing me, what would life have been like if we both both lived the life of privilege. This opens up another possibility in meaning, perhaps saying we don't always have to rise up and slaughter and replace, that revolution can happen another way, to reach a goal of sharing in prosperity. What if they all came up and cooperated and took down the corrupt government? Unfortunately it has been human nature throughout our history to rise up radicalized, kill and replace. Injustice doesn't have to be corrected or balanced with slaughter. That's just creating more imbalances.

N😅

Anybody notice that the guy standing on the beach with blood dripping from his hands, was the first dobbleganger to kill his twin? Which was the homeless guy holding the sign?...he was waiting for the rest to kill their twins and join him in hands...

A capitalist family meeting there communist counterparts.

I had a slightly different take on the rabbits. I wasn't thinking of them as test subjects. I was taking them to be symbols of rebirth. Rabbits are often seen in the spring, the time the earth is renewing itself. And an important element in many spiritual practices is to know your own shadow before you can go through a period of rebirth. The problem is, most people tend to suppress themselves and don't get to know their shadow selves. The shadow selves are imprisoned in this sense. The rabbits being in cages seems to mirror how the Tethered were wearing prison style jumpsuits, but they only wore these prison style jumpsuits in the above world. In the below world, they wear regular clothes. The rabbits being in cages and the Tethered wearing these jumpsuits, to me, symbolizes how the humans in the above world are unwilling to go through periods of rebirth or get to know their shadows, so the Tethered feel imprisoned by their above world counterparts. They feel like they've been stripped of their humanity and self expression. They've been stripped of their voices. This is why Addy/Red dancing makes her their spiritual leader. She has seen her other self and she is able to express herself in a way the other Tethereds can't. I know I'm mad late, but I might rewatch Us and make a video analysis because, like you said, there is a lot to talk about in this movie.

Completely lost me when you started into the political shit. The privilege of health care he had he also worked his ass off for

You are trying to make sense of something that made absolutley no sense hehe

Bro I really thought it was the daughter that got switched

VERY late to the party, but I wouldn't compare 'Hands Across America' to the Fyre Festival. I'd compare it to Global Citizen concerts. Performative 'charity' that doesn't do anything or solve any problems, except to make the participants feel good. (I'm GenX - I participated! I was 15. Still even remember the song)

Tethers the movie is about tethers. We create tethers and then they come back and kill us like a 911.

They always claim that Americans are responsible for the conditions in a lot of Third World countries.

No one is “afraid” of immigrants take jobs. THEY ARE taking jobs and keeping the wages low …. Which leads to a lot of the other issues listed in this video.

Best breakdown of us I've heard I feel a lot of people missed these points

The whole movie I kept supporting the villian 😂

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts kingg… whata info dump 🫵🏾 you’re a star kidd 🫶🏾✨

I think Jason's mask was Chewbacca

I’m a go a lil deeper than that this movie represents what happened to our ancestors and US. How our identities were stolen and how ppl took advantage of US and how hard they will fight to keep their privileges. Look at how they prospered off our land destroyed our identities n took our rights left us at the bottom and choked the voice out of US🔌💡

Very well summed up , basically about how inequality in society will lead to revolution, didn't buy the "souls and god" theme more about the underclass being driven by the lack of basic needs deciding to take what the others have ,but you raised a few good points I missed ,thank you,Eman.

An odd aspect of Jordan Peele’s “Us” is its take on religion: Some of the film’s early references to God are easy to dismiss as fanatical rambling, but the twist ending makes you consider that those statements reflect divine empathy for oppressed people — and society’s tendency to crucify prophets. The film’s many references to the Bible’s Jeremiah 11:11 become terrifying when you read that verse’s references to “they” and “them” as “us,” and see that WE are the sinners deserving punishment.

On the other hand, the film’s dualism may borrow dark elements of Egyptian myth that were falsely “Christianized” as Gnostic heresy. Specifically, Gnosticism justified rape, murder and other physical crimes when the criminals’ souls were supposedly pure. So, if that’s the case, then this film may promote dangerous, amoral anarchy. So, I hope that’s not Peele’s intention.

Clone

I think these rappers are tethered

I almost revoked my like! I don't have rhythm!!! I have a soul! Ya bastard!!! 😭😭😭 I just can't dance or stay on beat

So didn't they switch places as a kid? I think you got the one part confused. Cuz the both learned to dance

is Us on netflix

The only thing I don’t understand is how the real addy down below was still forced to dance along with Red at her recital even tho Addy wasn’t a Tethered. Did Red gain control over Addy when he put her down there? If so wouldn’t that mean it’s the tunnels making them Tethered and they weren’t actually born/created that way?

I thought there were a lot of subtexts going on - the ones that jumped out at me:
1."The Shadow" - Carl Jung's analysis of the human psyche identifies a "shadow self" that is like our supressed desires and dark impulses. The shadow gets created when she undergoes trauma as a child and metaphorically creates a kind of split (supressed) personality. Going to the site of her childhood trauma triggers the "shadow self." We all have "shadows" and you see that played out in the movie.
2. Immigration / jealousy. The main characters are "haves" and the Tethered are "have nots." This is well explained in your video. I think there was also an element of the main family imitating the white couple (moving to the same neighborhood, also buying a boat etc.) and at one point they even "get" their house and car.
3. Marriage / relationships / trauma
The husband is a sort of "every-man" who is reminiscent of the director. He takes his wife to a place she does not want to go because of childhood trauma - the result is total chaos and she literally "turns into someone else" - a metaphor for how we bring secrets into relationships and we think we know our partners - but you never know what hidden traumas are below the surface ready to rip your happy life apart.
4. Monarch/MK Ultra - the conspiracy theory says there was a CIA brainwashing program that took place in underground bunkers using kidnapped children who were "driven crazy" in order to control them. The Tethered being abandoned a generation ago could be a reference to the program being supposedly abandoned in the 70s.

red sus

I hate us it gives me nightmares 😭 please stop making these us theories

What happened to the daughter and father at the end of the movie?

Jordan Peele explains what the rabbits represent in an interview I saw. He said they represent the duality between faith and reason because they're used in science experiments but are also viewed as "lucky"(lucky rabbits foot) which is 100% mysticism and faith based nonsense.

I put all that in my own words he mainly just said the duality between science and faith I think.

Jordan Peele also talked about the hands across America campaign and that it represented duality of America as a whole as well. I assume he is saying that we want to help and do right by others but you don't fix a problem by holding hands and throwing money at it. I'm reminded of the quote "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime". Education is the real remedy.

And who controls Education? The government. And the movie starts with all the lab rabbits in a classroom being indoctrinated into the narrative that they are victims, that they're owed. The rabbits represent test subjects just like the tethered. That's why when the tethered are eating the rabbits it's supposed to be more like cannibalism. Or all the poor on poor crime. They eat/kill one another.

But yeah Education is the first step to actually fixing all our nation's problems. Not throwing money at the poor.

This movie is a perfect example of the fixed pie assumption. The fixed pie assumption is believing wealth is produced by society as a whole and as a society as a whole we should divvy up the slices evenly. Except people are individuals and will always be unique from a productive standpoint.

There is no fixed pie. An individuals productivity is how they CREATE their own pie, or make the big pie bigger. The more productive one is the higher the rewards. Money is a reflection of value and profits are the measuring stick for how much of a value your labor, products or services are to society.

This is a movie about the mind body dichotomy. The split between spiritual values and material values and how, according to altruism which is the morality most humans embrace, these two must be at odds and clash with one another. You can't be moral AND rich.

Imo, the experiment that tethered the productive to our non productive systematically through the use of force was FDR's New Deal. His goal was to free people from poverty and only succeeded in creating an entire class of individuals who are now resentful of their more productive counterparts. But those who succeed do not owe anyone anything. But the morality of altruism instead claims you owe EVERYTHING.

The switch in the movie shows us that people aren't a product of their genetics or environment but a product of what we choose to believe. Our choices. Red is a collectivist who values egalitarianism, equals across the nation(which you can't have without heavy central planning which amounts to government force and zero property rights) and Adelaide, which fun fact means "noble in type", is our individualist who protects what she values most. Her family.

This is such a great video! I am very late to watching this movie but this helped put a lot of pieces together for me.

One small detail I noticed was the fun house mirror location. In the 80s, there was a native American in a headdress headlining the entrance. In the present day, they changed it to an old wizard, keeping the tagline of "come in and find yourself!" (Or something to that effect)
I think this is a really great visual as to how the US keeps trying to "fix" our societal issues with meaningless editing. Like someone thought it was racist to have a native American over an attraction that could be making fun of how their culture is more spiritual. They create a forest and sounds but just make it into jump scares and mirrors, making the use of a native American pretty pointless. However, changing it to a wizard literally does nothing for the deep rooted biases against the "other." It's a small thing that went a long way for me in driving home the messages of this movie. Especially considering all the things Hollywood has done recently in order to be "less" racist, which haven't actually made any REAL change for society at large.

Great video,thanks!

wow, good start (beginning of video). I'm hooked. don't disappoint

This movie sounds crazy!

Not only was he wearing a monster mask, but he was wearing a werewolf mask. Which is also a symbol of duality.

Jordan peele is more privileged than millions of whites in this country. Does this mean that life is not fair for those millions? I think not. Jordan peele is talented, and made the right decisions in life, and worked hard to get where is.

this was such a fascinating movie! finally rented it no regrets!

You forgot that Jason’s look at his mother at the end was him realizing that she’s the tethered and that him and his sister are mixed and that’s why he’s so different and had the ability to control his doubles movements.

I honestly thought that dude in the thumbnail was the actor from Get Out...ya know the guy from T S MUTHAFUCKIN A😁

@Eman's Movie Review I found this late looking for videos on "Nope". Love your commentary. Guess what? I DID participate in Hands Across America. I was 9. All I remember is it was a long day and the goofy song attached to it. 😆

Great review!!!

Watching this cause I just seen Nope last night, and I left confused again. Please break down Nope

Not only is Jordan Peele funny as shit on the Key and Peele ur channel, he’s also an incredibly talented director. Nope has just come out and it’s really good. He’s created just 3 movies which are all 8/10 and above. I never would’ve thought it