US

Us brought to us by Jordan Peele on the surface looks like a run of the mill horror film, but once you see it, you will soon realize that it is so much more! Us follows the Life of Adelaide, first starting with her childhood, then her adulthood...

This film is full of clues and symbolism that tells the story which makes it even more interesting! The most pertinent source of symbolism is the number 11 which will be discussed throughout this article! Eleven is a number that is the same backwards and forward, which signafies duality!

Adeline in the beginning of the movie is seen watching TV, A news broadcast on channel 11! They later head to a carnival, where her parents and her are enjoying an evening out! Her father wins a prize for her playing a baseball type game and when asked what number prize she wanted, she exclaims 11, which ends up being a Michael Jackson Thriller T shirt! She puts this over her hands across america Tshirt! Later Adeline gets separated from her parents and heads down to boardwalk passing a man holding a sign that reads, " Jerimiah 11:11, which reads, Therefore, this is what the Lord says," I am going to bring calamity upon them , and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries. This will come back and make so much more sense, later!

She makes her way down to the beach, and eventually in a dark and creepy horror hall of mirrors! She walks through it, whistling the itsy bitsy spider as she tries to find her way out! She eventually finds herself standing in front of what seems to be a mirror, but instead of seeing an immediate reflection, she seems to be looking at the back of her own head while facing foward! Her mouth gaps open in fear and then the scene switches to a scene of caged rabbits, mostly white rabbits and one black rabbit to a creepy omnious soundtrack. It made no sense at the time but it make sense than ever by the end of the movie!

After this, it picks up with Adeline's family, her husband an her two children, headed back to the beach where she once got trapped in that mysterious house of mirrors! Upon arrival they see a man being put into a stretcher, who is actually the man that young Adelaide saw holding the Jeremiah 11:11 sign as she headed down to the hall of mirrors! Things get crazier and crazier as the day goes on!

That night, Adelaide's family sees a family outside, standing at the end of their driveway! The family outside eventually invades their house attacking them! When they finally face off, looking at them in amazement, when the father ask who are you, when his son interjects saying," It's US!" Red the adult female protaganist says We are americans! A double meaning, the first meaning a double, another version of themselves and the second meaning United States and everything that is wrong with it and the divides that exist because of it! It is later revealed that there are not just carbon copies of this particular family but carbon copies from down below, killing their counterparts on the surface! The Carbon copies, or as some refer to them as the tethered, who were carbon copies of everyone created down below to control us, who live on the surface! After the experiment went wrong, they are left to fend for themselves below, living a less than subpar existence! The tethered were connected to their above ground counterparts, thought to share one soul, forced to do the same as their above ground counterparts, but when they did it, it was more of a suffering rather than glorious! Red gave a few examples! When her counterpart, carbon copy on the surface ate warm tasty food, she had to eat raw rabbits to survive, when her counterpart on the surface had nice fun toys, Red was forced to play with sharp jaded toys that would cut her hands, and so on and so on! This is part of the reason for the uprising, the second reason for the uprising will be revealed shortly!

Later the son's Copy and Adelaide's copy set a trap, where The son's copy, Pluto, distracts them and Adelaide's copy, Red snatches Adelaide's son and takes her down into the tunnels! Adelaide runs after her and the two battle, a story is told by Red and it is revealed that in that hall of mirrors all those years ago that the Red was actually the original Adelaide, and that the little girl from below, choked out her counterpart from above ground and switched places with who we thought was Adelaide the entire movie! This was the second reason for the uprising! She was taken down below and trapped down there for so many years! She was seen as special by the other tethered and she organized the uprising, influenced by the hands across America tshirt, which the tethered copied above ground after they killed their on the surface counterparts, all dressed in red jump suits and one leather glove, which was clearly a nod from the Michael Jackson thriller video! The twist at the end was hard to see coming but hinted throughout the movie! One example of this was, on the table in summer home a real spider is seen climbing out from underneath a fake spider! The point of this movie was so much more than just a horror movie! Check out this quote about the movie, from the creator Jordan Peele, "This Movie is about this country. We are in a time where we fear the other, whether it's the mysterious invader that we think is going to come and kill us and take our jobs, or the faction we don't live near who voted a different way than us. We're all about pointing the finger and I wanted to suggest that maybe the monster we need to look at has our face. Maybe the evil, it's US!"

This movie has so much to offer and the symbolism is amazing! 11 is seen everywhere throughout the movie! When you watch it, or watch it again see how many times you see the number 11 and where you see it! The itsy bitsy spider was another source of symbolism! Not only is it the song that Adelaide whistles to calm herself while trying to get back out of it! Think about the words of the song! The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out.....Red the real Red, comes up out of the tunnel and takes Adelaide the real Adelaide back down into the tunnels to leave her there to suffer in her place! Crazy! Then to take it even further, the real Adelaide has to come up from below, to exact her revenge.... out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again!

Now to the symbolism of Jeramiah 11:11 , Red the original felt that she was the vehicle of wrath to the people that caused all of her suffering, since she was the one that led the Carbon copies uprising, and since the carbon copies, other known as the tethered seemed like they could not be stopped!

Now back to the caged rabbits, at the beginning of the movie, I stated that the rabbits were caged! But when Both Red and Adalaide return to the tunnels all of the cages are open, symbolizing the carbon copies from down below, now being free!

Back to the number 11, you literally see it everywhere, from the game that is being watched by Adalaide's husband before the home invasion, the game was tied 11-11 and the home team was the minnesota twins, which twins of course speak to duality! Adalaide's family friends had a set of twin girls and one of them was wearing a black sabbath shirt where the image looks like a pair of 11s! The family walked on the beach and their shadows looked enlongated which appeared to look like a pair of 11s, I mean it was everywhere! I can't mention everytime 11 is in this movie but you get the point! Duality was the theme of this movie and the 11s showed this along with the murder weapons by the tethered being scissors, which perfectly symbolize duality, both sides of the scissors mirror each other and the actions of scissors, literally cause duality when you cut one piece of paper into two, the action of divinding!

There was also symbolism concerning hands across America! Young Adelaide was wearing a shirt and watched an ad about hands across America before being kidnapped! This was her inspiration for her staged attack on everyone from above! This movie is an amazing watch! There is so much more symbolism in this movie but you have to pay attention! This is one of those movies that everytime you watch, the more you will see!

I love watching movies that have much more to offer than just what is on the surface! Pun very much intened! Movies that make you think, ones that make you dig deep! This is one of those that does just that! Watch it and watch again! It gives you the thrills of a horror film and makes you think at the same time! Does the monster that we fear the most, have our face?! Take a look in the mirror and tell me what you see!