Writing Lessons From… Nope

A masterclass at weaving themes into your story

Nope is not what I thought it would be.
I read the short blurb and assumed it would be a sci-fi comedy, with a name like Nope.

Nope.

It’s a sci-fi horror.
Would I have watched it had I known?
Yes, but probably not as eagerly.

In fairness, I knew from the opening credits and sequence that this film wasn’t going to be what I thought.

As soon as I saw Jordan Peele’s name (he created, wrote and directed Nope) and then the opening scene with Gordy, I knew. I looked at my husband, asked if we were watching the right film, and then had my mind blown…

…Over two nights, because Nope is a long film so we watched it in two halves.

Anyway!
It’s another one of those stories that keeps you thinking. In the middle of the night. With your eyes wide open…

Below are spoilers. Big, disc-shaped, terrifying spoilers.

(Nope is available on Netflix.)

Set in California, on the periphery of the entertainment industry, Nope is the tale of a family who own a ranch, training stunt horses, and the UFO that appears in the sky above them.

When OJ and Emerald’s father, who owns the ranch, is killed by a strange phenomenon, they inherit the ranch and its debt. OJ was there when his father was killed, he rushed him to the hospital, whereas Emerald left a while back to forge her own path. Now, back together, OJ has equine mouths to feed and Emerald is still waiting for her big break.

The thing that killed their father could be the answer to both their problems. If they can get a shot of the UFO that keeps appearing above their house, they could be famous and rich.

Let’s ignore the fact that horses go missing when this UFO appears, and the attacks seems to be getting more aggressive.

Let’s start with OJ

Before we get into anything else, I want to talk about OJ.

It’s very rare that I love a main character. I’m usually drawn to the secondary characters. However, OJ had my full attention from the off. He’s quiet and gentle and thoughtful. He can’t talk much while on set and desperately needs his loud sister to help.
I can relate.

This quietness is the key to everything.

Thanks to OJ’s gentle quietness, he sees and understands what no one else does. It’s OJ who realises that the UFO isn’t a flying craft, but an animal in its own right. It’s OJ who realises that the creature is aggressive and hungry.

It’s OJ who understands Lucky the horse not liking eye contact and it’s OJ who puts all of the pieces together: how to survive, how to get the image they want of the alien, how to protect his friends, family and horses.

Even though, ultimately, it’s Emerald who gets that image and defeats the alien.

The character development in this film is subtle and beautifully done. The siblings have depths and layers which could be easily missed or dismissed. Other times, this is perfectly portrayed, like right at the end, when OJ gives a signal for Emerald to watch him and trust him, and she gives it right back. You watch me, she tells him, and then she goes ahead and defeats a damn alien.

A quick mention about something I may have made up

This is probably a coincidence, but then again, maybe it’s not.

I’ve been listening to and watching a lot of paranormal podcasts and documentaries lately. So when the coin lands in front of OJ, I had a moment of ‘of course’. Listen to enough paranormal experiences and you’ll realise that falling coins are a common occurrence and that one accepted theory among the paranormal community is that UFOs and the paranormal are connected (to the point where they’re not called UFOs anymore, they’re now called UAPs - Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena).

When OJ is looking for the UAP in the sky, spotting the static cloud that it hides behind, there is a trail of something hanging from it. It’s the bunting from the horse statue that they use as bait, but for a moment there it reminded me of a resident of the Navajo Nation recounting his experience of seeing something disc-shaped in the sky with lights dangling and hanging from it, just like those flags (episode 5, season 3 of Unsolved Mysteries, also on Netflix).

These are obviously just things I’m connecting. Peele didn’t necessarily mean to represent those things. The coins are because the alien drops anything hard that it can’t digest – OJ’s poor father is killed by one of the coins and his horse gets a key stuck in its rump. But it’s a strong coincidence, no? (Sorry, nope?)

When researching for this post, I found an interesting discussion on Reddit about the classic movie influences shown in the film that likely inspired Peele.

I love when a story is filled with such intricacy and passion that the reader/viewer can make their own connections and not necessarily be wrong.

Right, on to the big lesson!

What I actually wanted to talk about here were the major themes that come through.

Writing a story based on specific themes is hard. Finding that balancing act between developing the characters, bringing them to life and keeping them on theme, while not making everything too obvious – that’s real talent.

The main theme in Nope is, arguably, how misrepresented, misunderstood and forgotten a lot of people in Hollywood are. From OJ and Emerald’s great-great-great-you missed a great grandfather appearing in one of the first ever motion pictures (Peele took some liberty with the facts here) and never being credited, to poor Gordy the chimp being exploited on a TV show beside child actors, to the alien who is goaded and baited for entertainment purposes.

The other big, shiny theme is how the growth of the entertainment industry, capitalism and media have changed our perspectives and motivations.

There’s a moment in the third act, as they’re setting up a trap for the alien to catch it on film, when an influencer appears on his electric motorbike, ignores their safety warnings and zooms off to capture an image of the alien. The creature cuts out the surrounding electricity, so the man is thrown from his bike, presumably breaking a lot of bones. OJ tries to help but all the man can do is scream, ‘WHERE’S MY CAMERA?’, even when OJ has backed off and the alien is approaching.

It was a beautiful representation of where we are as a species.

The influencer wasn’t the only person to die for the perfect shot. The film maker, Holst (played by Michael Wincott who I was madly in love with in the 90s), willingly gives his own life for the perfect shot of the alien. A scene that made no sense to me until I saw a comment on Reddit about Holst being either terminal or high (I’d blinked and missed a scene where Holst is popping pills). The alien would probably spit out his old wind-up camera with the perfect shot, just as it spat out the coins and model horse.

Even the whole plot of the film - OJ and Emerald don’t want to kill the alien, they just want proof of its existence to get them fame and fortune; the fame Emerald desires and the fortune so OJ can save the ranch - is so indicative of where we are as a society right now.

And it’s all tied up by the chimp

At the end of Nope, I turned to my husband and proclaimed Nope to be ‘fucking amazing, but what was with the chimp?’

I went to bed that night, closed my eyes and was met with the most horrifying scene in the film. As tourists are ‘abducted’ and we discover the true nature of the alien – OJ was right, it isn’t a ship, and they’re all now in the creature’s stomach being digested alive.

The tourists were there visiting the attraction that Ricky and his family had built (beside the ranch), once his acting career had failed. An acting career that had been built initially on a TV show with a chimp called Gordy in it. Until one fateful filming when balloons popping sent Gordy over the edge and he goes on a bloody rampage, killing two of the cast members and maiming another, until he finds young child star Ricky under a table.

He doesn’t try to kill Ricky. He reaches out in friendship and is shot by presumably security, police or animal control who arrived too late.

All of that is going to do a number on anyone’s mentality, never mind a child’s.

We are given glimpses of Gordy and what happened throughout the film, to build it up. There are whole articles on the internet written about why and how Gordy fits in with it all.

The truth is that Peele left seeds throughout the movie so that everything would come together, piece by piece. It’s the beauty of storytelling and something that takes so much practice and thought.

The eye contact that Lucky the horse can’t cope with, that saves his life when Ricky tries to feed him to the alien, that helps OJ understand that the alien only attacks if you make eye contact. This is fed to us throughout in small moments that piece together.

(I have a tiny issue with this. The influencer’s helmet was like a mirror, so OJ couldn’t help him without making eye contact with the approaching alien in the helmet’s reflection, but surely it also meant the influencer couldn’t make eye contact with the alien?)

Gordy is no different.

We meet him in the first scene, having murdered, lost and bewildered, covered in blood. He’s misunderstood, worked to snapping point.

Then later, Ricky explains the story of Gordy through his twisted memories as he shows off his memorabilia.

Then, we see how Gordy is killed, reaching out to Ricky. Giving Ricky the idea that he had some control over the situation, that he had a connection with this wild animal. Which is perhaps why he thinks he has any control over the UAP flying over his tourist attraction, and why he thinks he can exploit it.
Just as they exploited Gordy - has he learned nothing from his ordeal?

And then there’s the wonderful full-circle nature (I love an ending that does this!) of Ricky’s big cowboy balloon being the thing that kills the creature in the end.
Just as the balloons popping set off Gordy and sent Ricky on his path to putting that big balloon there in the first place.

See what I mean?
Seeds.

Plant them throughout your story and watch them grow and connect into this beautiful, clever thing.

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Sorry, that was another long one. (Just be glad I deleted the long paragraph about Michael Wincott.)

Nope is the type of film that essays and dissertations are written about.

But there’s so much goodness to take away from it (as well as sleepless nights and a fear of clouds), that I hope you didn’t mind too much.

Next week’s will be shorter, because there will be less to say. Maybe. I think.