Head in the Clouds: Detaching Oneself from Trauma through Spectacle and Media in 'Nope'

Jordan Peele’s 'Nope' is most frightening when interrogating its characters inability to confront their traumas.

By Vanessa Sanginiti

In Jordan Peele’s Nope, there is a moment where Emerald (Keke Palmer) knows something is off about what she just heard. Her brother OJ (Daniel Kaluuya), who stands quietly by, can feel it too. She is intrigued, laughs, and mentions seeking out the SNL sketch that former child actor Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) has just described, but there is still something not quite right. And although the escapades of the horse-wrangling siblings and their tech salesman sidekick Angel (Brandon Perea) are rooted in escapism and spectacle, it is the character of Ricky that takes this escapism to drastic (and deadly) levels.

Ricky “Jupe” Park runs Jupiter’s Claim, a western-themed theme park based on Kid Sheriff, a film he starred in as a child. The theme park highlights Ricky’s fascination with his more successful past, as he even goes so far as to use the name Jupe (a reference to his character in Kid Sheriff, Lil’ Jupe). When Em and OJ visit Jupiter’s Claim on business, audiences are taken inside Jupe’s office, which is littered with memorabilia from his acting days. It is a jarring sight, as Jupe is exposed as a stereotypical former child star, one that desperately clings to the past with each poster, photo, or prop from the projects he worked on as a kid. 

This phenomenon is not uncommon in real life, as former child actors often refuse to move on from the (usually small) roles they once held, profiting from them through personalized videos, photo ops, and paid appearances. I am looking at you, Tom Felton. This clenching to the days of their youth, instead of inspiring fond nostalgia, is so overdone that it carries an air of secondhand embarrassment - audiences find themselves urging these actors to just move on.