*It would probably take over 7 pages to give a fair explanation and reflection of this movie (as well as hours of research considering all the symbols, allusions, easter eggs, etc.), but I will do what I can without digging a hole too deep. I am also assuming that someone else in the class is doing this movie so I will spare you the trouble of reading too much of the same thing twice.
Us is writer and director Jordan Peele’s second movie (first being the Oscar Award winning Get Out). The film follows the Wilson family taking a vacation to Santa Cruz, the location of where Adelaide Wilson (the mom) supposedly went through some unknown traumatic experience that would turn her mute as a child. While on vacation the family comes face to face in an hour and a half battle between their doppelgangers who come from the underground. These people are known as “the tethered” and are failed clones of a government experiment. They live underground in the abandoned tunnels which run hundreds of miles just beneath us. Underground the tethered are forced to mirror the movements of their above-ground counterparts but instead of food, they eat raw rabbit meat, and instead of colorful toys, they play with sharp objects. Underground they are unable to speak as well.
The film, similar to Get Out, is social commentary, but he broadens the topic. Instead of just covering race relations in America, Peele is commenting on the class system. What he is saying specifically may be up for interpretation, but I believe he is making a statement about how privilege can make one blind to the true terrors in the world. An inarguable statement that Peele is making is that indulging in unnecessary luxuries comes at the expense of others, a possible statement on capitalism and how it affects consumer culture. Those enjoying their life on the surface, eating whatever might come their way, makes their tethered person indulge in raw rabbit meat. Similar to how the average American will throw away leftovers while the less fortunate go hungry. This idea is especially evident in the white upper class family that the Wilsons befriend. They are present to symbolize American greed. The mother had just recently gotten plastic surgery, and the parents partake in drinking as if it is a personality trait. The family owns this beautiful smart home in the same area as the Wilson family. It should also be worth noting that the relationships among this family are far less loving in comparison to the Wilsons, who are part of the middle class. This could be making the point that money does not buy happiness, or it could be making the point that too much money could cause unhappiness. The family also seemed to have no survival instincts whatsoever when their dopplegangers find them, but that’s a different story.