Horror As An Effective Medium For Social Commentary

Us explores the morality of the social normative class structure that we as a society have adopted in our capitalistic society, which is in order to climb the ladder you must push someone down. Not only does Peele examine the pitfalls of the moral issue, but also the humanistic nature that helps feed the bastardized version of a utopian society. Those who live on top are happy and don’t have to worry about the issues that those underground have to face. The people underground have similar lives that are plagued with a distorted outcome because of the certain twist of circumstances.

One of the key things that Peele touches on is the appeal of this kind of system. Even though Adelaide, the true Red, was born into these unfortunate circumstances and understood the difficulty that living there would present, jumped at the opportunity to hit the real Adeline down into the whack-a-mole hole. Here, Peele is making the argument that the appeal of privilege is very great but cannot be the endgame.

This is shown in Red’s scheme, to transform the Hands Across America into an operation that will provide liberty to those who are underground. Red and her family could’ve swapped places with Adeline and her family, but she chose to try and eradicated privilege altogether. When we have the twist at the end of the movie, this is the new conclusion that we can come to. That Adeline is holding onto her privilege and is completely unwilling to give it up, while Red and her followers are trying to eliminate privilege and give it to all people.

Another very interesting thing about this movie is the usage of fear and how it brings people’s true selves out. When Adeline is scared when she thinks about Red coming for her, she reverts back to her Tether-like way of acting and speaking. She becomes very fragmented and her speech becomes very odd as well. When Red is stabbed, she begins to whistle the very same song that she sang in the house of mirrors. She is filled with fear at death’s doorstep and reverts to a more human form, while Adeline begins oddly laughing while searching for the key around Red’s neck. Fear brings out people’s true nature.