Jordan Peele’s new movie US came hot off the heels of Peele’s best picture nominee Get Out, and though it didn’t quite achieve the acclaim of its predecessor there’s still a lot to talk about in regards to it.
The movie is filled to the bring with little easter eggs and hidden details that make it a really interesting watch. Throughout this post, we’ll be going through the ins and outs of the film including all of its meanings and messages. There will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to watch the movie yet and don’t want anything ruined then I highly recommend that you turn it off now.
US Plot Recap
US Follows Adelaide Wilson a woman who goes on vacation with her family to their holiday home in Santa Cruz.
Upon arriving there Adelaide becomes haunted by a memory in which a doppelganger attacked her in a fun house when she was a child. She initially just seems paranoid but her worst fears are realised when a duplicate of her family attacks them in the home at night.
These are called the Tethered and slowly these copies of humanity have started an uprising. They are led by the copy of Adelaide known as Red and she becomes the main antagonist of the film.
The family fight to survive and eventually, the younger of the group Jason is kidnapped by Red. Adelaide descends into a secret door hidden in the funhouse and she finds the home of the tethered below it. Here she kills Red and rescues Jason but it’s revealed in the end that Adelaide was actually the original Doppelganger and that she switched places with Red, taking her life in the process.
That’s a basic plot summary but a lot is going on in the movie.
11:11
Before going through everything we need to discuss the significance of the number 11 which appears throughout the film at several points.
This is actually a reference to Jeremiah chapter and verse 11:11 from the King James Bible and in that the following passage can be found.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
This basically discusses Red’s quest and how she wishes to bring doom to the surface dwellers. Now the number itself is also important because 11 is a palindrome, a number that is the same forward as it is back. It looks like a mirror and this reflective nature is given further weight by 11 11 once more reflecting the 11s and so on and so on and so on.
The Wilsons themselves can be seen as somewhat of a reflection as there are two males in the family and two females, two adults, and two children and generally, there’s this idea of mirroring that is seen within them and their tethered copies.
Things above ground are mirrored by those below and throughout the piece, things line up and are seen as almost complete reflections.
As for the film itself, mirroring and this idea of 11 is seen throughout.
We open with a news report on channel 11 news with a report that will happen on 11 at 11. We can see a reflection of Adelaide on the screen and an advertisement for Hands Across America plays. In this we can see the Twin towers, a possible reference to 11 and then we see two women running on a beach, them being an 11 and their reflections too.
Hands Across America was about people putting their hands together across the country and this could hold the meaning of the tethered binding themselves once more to each other rather than to those that they are copies of. The film is very much about the oppressed and forgotten rising up and taking their place in society and even the title US was purposely chosen to also stand for United States.
Red says We Are Americans when they’re asked who they are and I definitely think this ties in together.
Next to the TV are four videotapes each of which looks like a number one in a way which once more hammers home this point of 11 11.
Take a shot every time I say 11 by the way.
I’m just kidding you’ll be dead in the next 11 seconds.
Anyway one of these videotapes is Chud or rather the movie the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers which is a reference to the tethered rising from the underground.
MJ Reference
At the Santa Cruz fair Adelaide asks for prize number 11 which just so happens to be a Michael Jackson Thriller T-Shirt. Peele said he intentionally chose Michael Jackson here because as a child he viewed him as a larger-than-life positive figure that too could scare him because of his thriller video.
Throughout the film, Red also wears one Glove which could be a reference to the pop icon.
At the Fair
Adelaide and her parents walk through the fair and there discuss a film being filmed by the carousel. This is a reference to the vampire classic The Lost Boys which was filmed at the same location. Peele also picked this because of the two Coreys that feature in the film, Corey Haims and Corey Feldman and Adelaides’ father buys two tickets for Whackamole and two fairground tickets side by side that look like…..I’ll not say it.
Adelaide walks towards the beach where she sees a man holding a Jeremiah 11 11 sign and there are also two people playing rock paper scissors. They constantly mirror one another and choose the exact same thing which just so happens to be scissors. Two pairs of finger scissors look like 11 11 and scissors of course are the weapon used by Red throughout the film.
The scissors look like two heads back to back and they mirror each other perhaps signifying two people.
The funhouse has a sign that says find yourself which Adelaide does and the voice of the announcer in the location is Jordan Peele’s. Adelaide whistles the itsy bitsy spider which is about a spider climbing up a drain pipe and this is meant to symbolise Red coming up from the bottom…or Adelaide, I get confused.
A spider also appears on a coffee table climbing out from under a fake one and Adelaide moves her fingers in almost a spider-leg motion on her face.
Before the twist is revealed at the end Red also whistles it just before she dies, highlighting that she is in fact the real one.
We then cut to the title sequence which contains Rabbits within cages. These are in rows of 11 and amongst the white and brown ones, there is a black one who looks slightly out of place. Peele said he put this deliberately in place to show that the real Adelaide is now trapped below with the Tethered
More Tethered Clues
We then cut to the Wilsons in their car and a sticker on their rear window of four people which again follows this format of 11 11 layout-wise. This is also how the Tethered family show up on the driveway.
Jason is wearing a Jaws T-shirt and the image which is taken from the poster is of the fish coming from the depths and rising to the surface to claim its prey. Zora is wearing a white rabbit shot which of course ties to the animals that are laced throughout the film.
Gabe does a knock knock joke that goes knock knock, who’s there, you, yoo-hoo open up the door. Whilst it’s a proper dad joke it also is a reference to how you will be at the door which of course happens when the Tethered show up.
In their house there’s a picture of Adelaide and her mother who is wearing all red and rising above Adelaide, perhaps showing the rise of Red.
Jason says if you point a finger at someone you get three fingers pointing back at you which Gabe then corrects. Three plus one is four, four fingers 11 11 look we get it yeah.
Anyway from here, we get another look at Adelaides’ childhood. In a sandbox, she lines animals out one by one side by side and places a white rabbit in between them. This could be seen as representing the hands across America and it may hint at Red’s plan to be at the centre of it.
Adelaide’s parents also say that she cannot speak which hints at her being one of the tethered rather than simply suffering from shock.
At the home, Adelaide finds a bunny in a box and she smiles when she looks at it perhaps recalling her childhood in the tunnels. This doll later gets its head cut off by Red who sees it as a sign of contempt.
Jason puts an ambulance in the door to stop it from closing and this could be a reference to the ambulance that they drive off in at the end when they close all this behind them. That ambulance has 11 11 written on the top of it and this callback here is a nice bit of foreshadowing.
Musical Clues
On the ride to the beach, Zora brings up a fluoride conspiracy theory in which she says that the government has placed it in the water to control people’s minds. This sounds crazy at first but we later learn that the entire tethered program was put in place in an attempt to control humanity through their copies.
They play ‘I’ve got 5 on it’ on the radio and Adelaide tries to click along with it but she’s out of time showcasing that the Tethered have trouble with rhythm and it shows she’s slightly out of sync which is a nod to the twist.
Peele stated that he chose this song for the trailer because it shows the darker side that can exist within people, most notably their youth. Gabe says it’s a dope song but we know what the song is really about and this could highlight he wasn’t always the upstanding father that we see in the film. I think this may be reflected in Adelaide too who as we know has a dark side to her past.
More 11’s at the Beach
In the car, they pass the man with the Jeremiah 11 11 sign from the start of the film and he has had 11 11 carved into his chest.
This perhaps foreshadows that things from Adelaide’s past will come back together but it also shows why the man’s duplicate, who we later see on the beach has blood dripping from him.
The family walk along the beach and their shadows look like 11 11 once more.
The family also all are in line with each other except for Adelaide who isn’t hinting that she perhaps isn’t in line with the rest of them.
Here they meet with the Tylers. Kitty discusses her facelift and we later see that the copy has scars on her face, likely because in the underground it was carried out by a surgeon with scissors.
One of the twins also has a t-shirt that looks like 11 11 and the pair mimic each other’s speech completely at one point, showing mirroring once more.
A red Frisbee landing on a blue circle perfectly symbolises Red rising and taking over and this red over the top of blue could also be a call back to the painting from earlier.
Bedtime Story
In Jason’s room, we can see a picture that looks like people holding hands, referencing the hands across America and Gabe watches the highlights of a game on the tv.
In this there was an 11-11 tie in the seventh inning and in Jason’s room the clock hits 11 11, I’m getting sick of saying it now.
Adelaide tells a story to Gabe about her doppelganger in which she clicks slightly when speaking perhaps hinting at her hidden history.
She does this whilst looking at her reflection in a glass, mirroring the story of doppelganger discovery which too involved coming face to face with her reflection.
Red’s Home
Anyway, the Tethered shows up on Gabe and warns them that the police are already on the way. The Wilsons did call them but as we know the world is in chaos so they don’t show up.
Red arrives whistling the itsy-bitsy spider and she can gain access to the house through a key that was hidden under a rock, highlighting that she has been to the property before and that she is the real one.
Red is also the only member of the Tethered able to speak whereas the others make clicks and yell because they didn’t live in an environment where they were able to learn through someone else. This is how babies learn to talk but the fact that Red can do it also shows that she learned this in the outside world.
Red has difficulty talking at first because she hasn’t done it for a while and she tells the story of two tethered shadows. She discusses how the underground operates and how they were forced to eat rabbits.
There are also some interesting character traits too. For example, Abraham is unable to see because in the underground he was not able to get the glasses that Gabe had.
Umbre was born laughing which juxtaposes Zora’s shy personality. Umbre is also able to run a lot faster than Zora because she ran on hard concrete and tiles whereas Zora ran on tracks and so on. Umbre is the plural form of shadow highlighting that she is the shadow side of Zora.
Zora also changes into a Hoody that has Tho written on it, which is Vietnamese for Rabbit, no doubt you’ve heard that a million times on breakdowns better than this.
The Tethered attack the family and they all kinda break off from one another.
I love it when Pluto unmasks and shows his burnt face. I was trying to think of where I knew it from or what the reference was and shoutouts to Reddit for pointing out that it’s like when Jason Vorhees unmasks in Friday the 13th.
In Friday The 13th, Jason’s mother was revealed as the villain similar to Adelaide at the end.
Pluto is also referred to as the lord of the underworld once more tying back to things being underground.
Attacked
Anyway, the group all reunite and escapes to the Tylers.
However, bad things happened there and we actually see the full attack carried out by the tethered. The twins appear together at the top of the stairs looking like an 11 and then they are joined by their copies who appear like 11 11 before taking their place.
Kitty calls out for his Alexa-like device Ophelia to call for the police but instead, she plays F the police by NWA.
The opening of this song contains a line that says F the police coming straight from the underground, which could also be a reference to the tethered coming from the underground.
Ophelia also means help in Greek which is what Kitty is trying to get.
The Wilsons arrive at the house and Papa Tethered doesn’t immediately attack Adelaide who goes to the door first, possibly because he believes that she is one of them due to her past.
Another interesting moment also happens with the Tethered version of Kitty in the bedroom in which she vainly looks at her reflection whilst trying on makeup. Kitty had a facelift possibly because she was vain and it is likely that her copy has had to go through this motion numerous times. She even cuts her own face, possibly because she believes this is a sign of beauty.
She also goes to kill Adelaide but lets her live, showing that Red instructed her to do this so she could draw out the revenge plot. This is likely why the Tylers were killed instantly whereas the Wilsons weren’t.
Escape
Gabe flees to the Tyler’s boat and we can see it is bigger and better than his one. He did mention that they were constantly trying to one-up the family and this can be seen by the fact they have this whereas the Wilson’s one barely works.
The family then watch a news report which is once more on channel 11 and it’s here we get the first hint of the Hands Across America. This was a big thing from Adelaide’s childhood and clearly, the publicity of it got stuck with her which is likely what influenced her to instruct the tethered to do this.
Adelaide also wants to flee to Mexico and I don’t know if I’m reaching here but if US stands for United States then the underside of that is South America and Mexico, perhaps suggesting moving from the top to the bottom. Adelaide is attacked by another of the Tethered which Jason stumbles across and she pants similar to them foreshadowing the twist.
Mind Control
Eventually, they make it to the beach and come face to face with Pluto. Pluto waits until Adelaide is out of the car before almost sparking the fire but Jason can read his mind and get the family out before.
Jason can control him and make him walk into the fire perhaps showing that the mind control experiment worked but that the government couldn’t get it to operate properly on the end of the tethered.
Use of Red
Red snatches Jason and flees to the funhouse where she’s chased by Adelaide who sees the hands stretching across the beach and even into the ocean. This means that some of the Tethered drowned themselves in doing this.
We can see the tethered version of the man that was holding the sign has also carved 11 11 into his head.
Now you may have noticed at this point that Adelaide’s clothes are now almost red from all the blood. This could be a nod to the upcoming reveal as they transition from white to red.
In the basement Adelaide confronts Red and she cuts out some people holding hands. These are similar to the family sticker on the car and also 11 11 symbols. She cuts these down to just two symbolising an 11 and then splits them completely to show the untethering. Also when we see a flashback the escalator from the ground up too looks like 11 11.
The Reveal
We get the backstory and Adelaide is actually able to recall this herself because it happened to her. We see that the Tethered all mimic those above and one of the big questions that I’ve seen floating around about this movie is how they break free of the control that those above had. Well, I believe that they simply didn’t think that they had it and therefore didn’t ever try to untether themselves. However, during the ballet performance, they see that Red can do different moves to Adelaide and realise that they have free will.
The fight begins and I love how Red’s moves are very square and deliberate because she has had to exist in tunnels filled with rectangular corridors.
Adelaide kills her and she whistles the itsy-bitsy spider with her last breaths.
With her son, she escapes to the surface and we get the revelation that she switched places. Jason clearly knows this and has realised but concluding himself that he is half tethered too he decides to lower the mask and hide behind it, signifying the lie about his mother’s past will be kept a secret.
Also, there’s what looks like an 11 11 on the thriller t-shirt…I’m sorry I swear that’s the last one.
Adelaide at the end smiles at Jason after the reveal which could be a nod to the ending of The Thriller music video and that concludes the breakdown.
Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and if there’s anything that we missed.
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