Capitalism, Materialism and the duality of the American dream: the American dream isn't a destination it's just constantly trying to get more than what you already have and constantly being dissatisfied by what you do have.
Symbolism: * Hands across America: a grand gesture that looks great from the outside but actually meaningless and empty. Aka capitalism.
* Gabe: Gabe represents the someone who comes from a background of oppression and now he bought into the American dream, hence his obsession with material things, plus he's becoming this regular American that's not aware of what or where danger is: 1. His constant arguments with his white friend about their possessions. 2. He kept trying to offer more money to the tethereds even though it was obvious that they don't care about that. 3. When he was trying to scare the red family in the driveway the first time he talked in a regular way but the second time when he came out with the bat he tapped into that "intimidating black man" persona)
* The tethereds in the white family house trying on clothes and stuff, the thetherd wife trying on make up and seems happy for a second before her face changes and she takes a pair of scissors and tries to give herself a plastic surgery (just like her original), because the American consumer is never satisfied.
* The Black Flag tshirt the twin wears: (Black Flag was a punk rock band that founded the counter-culture and anti-conformity revolution) the carnival worker in 86 was wearing one too in the beginning of the movie. This detail matters because the carnival worker was wearing it when Black Flag was at their peak, and because of the cold war and the capitalism vs. communism atmosphere nobody would just pretend to be that extreme because it's "cool" like nowadays. And that leads us to 2019, one of the twins from the white family was wearing a Black Flag tshirt, not because she's really hardcore or anti-anything or going counter to anything, she's a typical blond teenager doing gymnastics in the beach and bullying others in packs like hyenas; she's actually the epitome of the American cultural conformity, and her wearing the Black Flag tshirt shows how capitalism turns and appropriates the realist of things into sellable pop culture. The most brilliant part is that she's wearing something that stands for individualism and the lack of conformity, and she's a TWIN, she's literally a copy of someone else. BRILLIANT SYMBOLISM!
* The main twist of Adelaide turning out to be the tethered Adelaide: it's not my favorite twist but it still complements my theory, that an entire person got replaced by a soulless copy and the shallow surface level society couldn't tell the difference. As long as it looks the same from the outside it does not matter.
Usually we tend to ignore injustice and inequality when it's forced on someone else, someone who's removed from us, an other. But Jordan Peele doesn't allow us to look away, the idea that this could be you, you could be the other, will you be able to look away from your own tragedy? The difference between the originals and the tethereds is completely circumstantial, directly a result of having vs not having.
"We are Americans" Red (tethered but really the real Adelaide) said that but I think she really meant "we are Americans too" Because there are two Americas, like I already mentioned: a direct result of having and not having. A good example of that is the Alexa like device in the white family house that changed the songs from The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, a feel good song sung by a group of white party boys, to N.W.A's F tha Police, a rage filled song against the harassment of the black community by the police and the entire system.
The brilliance of the ending is that it leaves you not knowing how to feel, who did win? The good guys? Who were the good guys? Was I rooting for the victim or the villain? The movie makes us ask an uncomfortable question: if we relate or root for Adelaide family in this scenario, does that make us the bad guys? Does that mean we are rooting for preserving an unequal and unjust system just because we benefit from it?
Symbolism: * Hands across America: a grand gesture that looks great from the outside but actually meaningless and empty. Aka capitalism.
* Gabe: Gabe represents the someone who comes from a background of oppression and now he bought into the American dream, hence his obsession with material things, plus he's becoming this regular American that's not aware of what or where danger is: 1. His constant arguments with his white friend about their possessions. 2. He kept trying to offer more money to the tethereds even though it was obvious that they don't care about that. 3. When he was trying to scare the red family in the driveway the first time he talked in a regular way but the second time when he came out with the bat he tapped into that "intimidating black man" persona)
* The tethereds in the white family house trying on clothes and stuff, the thetherd wife trying on make up and seems happy for a second before her face changes and she takes a pair of scissors and tries to give herself a plastic surgery (just like her original), because the American consumer is never satisfied.
* The Black Flag tshirt the twin wears: (Black Flag was a punk rock band that founded the counter-culture and anti-conformity revolution) the carnival worker in 86 was wearing one too in the beginning of the movie. This detail matters because the carnival worker was wearing it when Black Flag was at their peak, and because of the cold war and the capitalism vs. communism atmosphere nobody would just pretend to be that extreme because it's "cool" like nowadays. And that leads us to 2019, one of the twins from the white family was wearing a Black Flag tshirt, not because she's really hardcore or anti-anything or going counter to anything, she's a typical blond teenager doing gymnastics in the beach and bullying others in packs like hyenas; she's actually the epitome of the American cultural conformity, and her wearing the Black Flag tshirt shows how capitalism turns and appropriates the realist of things into sellable pop culture. The most brilliant part is that she's wearing something that stands for individualism and the lack of conformity, and she's a TWIN, she's literally a copy of someone else. BRILLIANT SYMBOLISM!
* The main twist of Adelaide turning out to be the tethered Adelaide: it's not my favorite twist but it still complements my theory, that an entire person got replaced by a soulless copy and the shallow surface level society couldn't tell the difference. As long as it looks the same from the outside it does not matter.
Usually we tend to ignore injustice and inequality when it's forced on someone else, someone who's removed from us, an other. But Jordan Peele doesn't allow us to look away, the idea that this could be you, you could be the other, will you be able to look away from your own tragedy? The difference between the originals and the tethereds is completely circumstantial, directly a result of having vs not having.
"We are Americans" Red (tethered but really the real Adelaide) said that but I think she really meant "we are Americans too" Because there are two Americas, like I already mentioned: a direct result of having and not having. A good example of that is the Alexa like device in the white family house that changed the songs from The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, a feel good song sung by a group of white party boys, to N.W.A's F tha Police, a rage filled song against the harassment of the black community by the police and the entire system.
The brilliance of the ending is that it leaves you not knowing how to feel, who did win? The good guys? Who were the good guys? Was I rooting for the victim or the villain? The movie makes us ask an uncomfortable question: if we relate or root for Adelaide family in this scenario, does that make us the bad guys? Does that mean we are rooting for preserving an unequal and unjust system just because we benefit from it?