5/1/2023 0 Comments Films that subvert genre![]() “All Rose is really saying in his article is ‘I don’t like horror, so these particular films must be something else,’” argued one online article, which concluded: “using platforms of cultural gate-keepership … to denigrate a persistently rich and popular genre with little mind to nuance is more than simple cultural distinction, it’s shoddy journalism.” Well that was me told. Responses to my article varied from “It’s all just horror, duh” to “This is elitist snobbery” to “You can’t possibly weigh on this subject because you haven’t watched as many horror movies as I have”. The “horror community” wasted no time in telling me how wrong I was. And in the same way postmodern architecture played with established language and traditions without necessarily sticking to the rules, I suggested a number of recent horror movies were doing the same: movies such as It Comes at Night, A Ghost Story and The Witch. To me, the term had a nice ring to it – a bit like “postmodern”. That said, Nope, did everything right from the moment the UFO appeared at the end when its true nature is revealed and deeper themes are made evident.F ive years ago, in this paper, I coined a term to describe what I saw as a new trend in horror movies: “post-horror”. It's an extremely human story that most wouldn't suspect, as most alien films focus on the spectacle of tragedy more than the people affected by it. The film is a think piece on exploitation told through the eyes of a family trying to stay afloat. As the film progresses, it's clear the object in question was alien in nature, but nothing could prepare the characters or audience for the truth behind the UFO in question.įrom the start, the film is played up as a classic UFO film, complete with a flying saucer, but as the story is expanded, it's more a story about humans versus a beast and showing how far humanity will go to cash in on something tragic. As they try to get back on their feet following their father's surprising death, it's revealed that something strange is hovering just above their ranch. The film followed OJ and his sister Em, who co-own a family business after their father died, where they train horses for movies. Peele's most recent film, Nope, has easily become his version of Jaws in all the best ways. Even though Us maintained its horror elements, it used the reel of doppelgängers to instead tell a deeply personal story for the main character while also exploring the world and how it has handled the idea of privilege. It also looked at equality in its purest form, where class and race didn't matter, but on the flip-side, it also showed humanity at its most primal as humans literally fight themselves to see which face comes out on top. ![]() In fact, the film was instead another bait and switched to explore ideas of privilege and control. ![]() While this foundation did remain, it wasn't the main focus. The film set itself up as an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style story as families were killed by their Tethered and replaced. Confusion quickly becomes the story's main focus, as this family does their best to survive what is quickly revealed to be a rebellion of sorts. While there, things take a peculiar turn as doppelgängers invade their home and demand to take what's theirs. The film follows a family headed on vacation by a ocean for the summer. Us was Peele's sophomore film and likely his most out there yet. Instead, Peele used the concept of being isolated in an unknown environment and the anxiety of meeting a significant other's family and subverted the initial concept with a sci-fi twist that no one could've expected. However, this was only a small aspect of the larger theme and never played into the big surprise. This theme not only made sense from the perspective of the social climate and was even set up with particular scenes. ![]() RELATED: Nope Subverted Horror's Most Eye-Rolling Trope - and Made It Betterįrom the trailers, it appeared race would play a large role, as Chris was a Black man in an interracial relationship and was nervous about heading to a rural place to meet Rose's family. In the end, the reveal was something that appeared set up on the surface but was totally different from what was presented. However, there were certain strange occurrences that unsettled Chris and the audience and gave light to something sinister yet unknown about the family. At first, everything seemed okay, and the family was very nice. ![]() In his first film, Get Out, Peele introduced audiences to Chris Washington, a young man in a happy relationship who's supposed to be meeting his girlfriend, Rose's, family. ![]()
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