By Raynard Jackson
Two weeks ago, I went to
the theater to see Jordan Peele’s latest movie, Us. This was his
follow-up movie to the box office hit Get Out.
Peele is an extraordinarily gifted writer. He has
written for shows like Mad TV, Key & Peele, The Last O.G., etc.
He won an Academy
Award for Best Original Screenplay for his horror movie, Get Out;
which was also his directorial debut in 2017.
His latest horror flick, Us, is also receiving rave
reviews. It starts off kind of slow, but when it does pick up, you are
taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride in the vain of Alfred Hitchcock.
Note to millennials, civilization did not start
when yall came out of the womb; nor is Friday the 13th a
horror movie; it is simply a blood and guts movie with absolutely no substance
to it.
If you want to know what horror movies are, then seeing
Get Out and Us is a must!
In this column, I will not give you the typical movie
critique, but rather give you a unique observation on Peele and his two hit
movies, Get Out and Us.
What Peele is doing is so mind-blowing and so historic, I
am truly hoping that he sets off a series of copycat movies; and not for the
reason you might think.
Not only is Peele the Alfred Hitchcock of our time; but
more importantly, he is the Bill Cosby of our time.
His movies send you on a g-force ridden ride and then
drops you back down to that sunken place only to repeat itself again and again,
and again.
Just like Hollywood told Cosby that America was not ready
for a prime-time Black family that was intact and fully functional; Hollywood,
to this day, believes you can’t cast a Black in the lead role of a major movie
and have broad appeal that will make money.
Of course, the movie Black Panther destroyed that myth,
but Hollywood said that was because it had an African backdrop and was
targeting a Black audience. Let’s concede these points for purposes of
this column, even though I could dissect this erroneous premise.
Us is a “mainstream” movie with not only a Black lead,
Lupita Nyong’o, but she is also extremely black in skin tone.
Hollywood and most Asian countries are still under the
ignorant notion that a very dark-skinned person is not as marketable as a fair
skin Black like Halle Berry, Regina Hall, or Gabrielle Union.
Nyong’o is joined in the film by 13-year-old Shahadi Wright
Joseph, a very cute dark-skinned actress. They both are major characters
throughout the film.
In Get Out, the lead actor was Daniel Kaluuya and
the main supporting actor was Lil Rel Howery, both very dark-skinned
actors.
Kaluuya is of Ugandan heritage and Nyong’o is of
Kenyan heritage. So, Peele is not only destroying the myth that Blacks
can’t carry a movie, but he is also proving that Africans can also carry a
major Hollywood production and still have global appeal while making money.
I am not sure people truly understand how Peele is making
global tectonic shifts in how Blacks who have dark skin are viewed. This
will have a generational impact on Hollywood.
The other issue no one seems to notice about Us is the
Wilson family, which the movie is centered on, is a totally functional Black
family. There is absolutely no dysfunctionality in this family.
They work professional jobs, don’t use or sell drugs, the daughter is not
having sex or is not pregnant, the son is put in check by the father every time
he gets out of line.
They are the Cosby family in a horror movie without
sacrificing the Cosby family values for marketability purposes. This is a
major accomplishment for Peele.
When was the last time you saw a major Hollywood movie
that had no sex, very little cursing, no using of the n-word, and absolutely NO
promotion of homosexuality?
There was no Trump bashing or Republican trashing.
There were no overtly political messages or the promotion of Hollywood
liberalism.
Us, truly allowed you to escape, for two hours, the
reality of all of your daily cares and to actually be entertained in
a way that was truly “escapism.”
If Peele stays true to this type of movie making, I think
he single-handedly can change the way Blacks, especially those of a darker hue,
are viewed by Hollywood; and ultimately the world.
Yes, Black actors can carry a movie globally and
profitably; yes, Blacks can be portrayed in substantive, positive roles; and
yes, Blacks do have many functional family units, with mom, dad, and children.
Peele is showing the world that there is a full range of
possibilities lying dormant within the Black community. He has chosen to
use his platform in the most positive of light; tearing down the tired ole
stereotypes that never did properly show who Black folks really were.
This side of the Black
community is not an aberration; it is more common than the media
or Hollywood will ever show. Peele is simply one of the few Blacks in
Hollywood who has chosen to exercise his power for good by showing that “we are
Us.”
Raynard
Jackson is
a Pulitzer Award nominated columnist and founder and chairman of Black
Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF),
a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in
the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more
information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org.
You can follow Raynard on Twitter; Raynard1223.
