Warning: the article contains spoilers for Nope.
Jordan Peele’s Nope is as much a taut thriller centering on a hidden threat as it is a commentary about the dangers of monetizing trauma by making it a spectacle.
The character who best encapsulates this allegory about sensationalism in the film is Steven Yeun’s Ricky “Jupe” Park, who uses his former child-star status to capitalist ends, even to the point of charging people to revel in a kind of museum of memorabilia surrounding an on-set tragedy he endured. In the movie, some of the items in Ricky’s hidden shrine still have visible specs of blood.
What happened to Ricky in Nope?
The tragic incident in question involved a time when the child-aged Ricky, portrayed by Jacob Kim in the flashback scenes, starred in the fictional sitcom Gordy’s Home. During the filming of one episode, the chimpanzee co-star went, well, ape shit and killed some of the human actors as well as disfigured a little girl. We later see that little girl, all grown up, who now sports a veil to cover her deformed face that was a result of the injury.
Ricky saw the mayhem unfold from underneath a table after the chimp was triggered by balloons that popped from underneath the hot studio lights on the sitcom set. Just as the young child was about to reciprocate a fist bump the chimp offered upon discovering Ricky, someone came and shot the animal dead, with Ricky remaining physically unscathed.
The scene in question later parallels an incident in the movie in which the adult Ricky attempts to use a UFO — which turns out to be a flying giant sting ray-like creature rather than a spaceship in itself — as a performance animal. Rather than the UFO conforming to Ricky’s commands of essentially doing tricks for the crowd like an orca at a Seaworld attraction, it swoops down from the clouds into the rodeo arena. It sucks up and consumes all the people on the stage and in the audience, including Ricky himself and the grown-up Mary Jo Elliot, the former girlchild star who is now disfigured from the ape incident.
The real Gordy incident explained
The ape incident in question eerily parallels a well-publicized tragedy that happened in real life back over a decade ago with a simian known as Travis the chimpanzee. As the Los Angeles Times writes,
“In 2009, reportedly triggered by a red Elmo doll Sandra Herold’s friend Charla Nash was holding, Travis charged Nash in a shocking mauling attack that left the woman blinded and her hands, nose, lips and face severely injured. Police responding to the scene shot the animal, who died from his injuries. The incident made international news and Nash later underwent radical face and hand transplant surgery.”
Nash would later appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009 wearing a veiled hat covering her disfigured facial features, similar to the manner Mary Jo Elliot appeared at the failed UFO rodeo in the movie. You can watch the interview for yourself at this link, but we do caution it contains graphic content some viewers may find disturbing.
During the interview, Nash wanted to spread the message that “these exotic animals are very dangerous and they shouldn’t be around [people]. There’s a place for them that is not in residential areas, that’s for sure.”
Was Nope successful in these Gordy parallels?
Given all the parallels between the real-life mauling done by Travis the chimp and the stomach-churning Gordy’s Home scene in Nope, we think the movie probably made an intentional nod to the tragedy that captured headlines around the world.
Throughout Nope, the recurring theme is the commitment and respect needed to build a bond with a wild animal. Jupe makes a mistake by assuming obedience, ultimately costing him his life, while Travis’ perceived domesticity does not change the eventual outcome.
What’s more, Keke Palmer’s Emerald Haywood and Daniel Kaluuya’s OJ Haywood even refer to capturing convincing UFO footage on camera as “the Oprah shot.” Given that Nash appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, we don’t think that was a coincidence.
It has not been officially confirmed that Charla Nash’s survival story directly inspired Nope, but there are certainly a number of parallels between the two films. However, unlike Mary Jo, whom the alien engulfed because Jupe had been arrogant, Charla’s condition improved as time passed. It was in 2011 that she received a successful face transplant and has become a strong advocate for stricter legislation regarding the sale of exotic animals.
However, we believe the parallels in Nope were done tastefully enough and largely reinforce the movie’s message of serving as a cautionary tale against exploiting tragedies for monetary gain. What’s more, the Gordy’s Home subplot doubles as a warning against meddling with wild animals.
Nope is available to stream on Prime Video, rent on Apple TV and YouTube, and purchase on Amazon, YouTube, and Google Play. Check it out and see if you can unpack some of its hidden meaning.
