♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- (FBE) We brought you all in today specifically because you recently saw
the Jordan Peele film "Us." - (gasps) Yes! Oh my gosh.
The movie was so good. - I thought it was great.
You know, I had to go back and see it twice.
- It's mind boggling and mind twisting!
I felt like I needed to go see a psychotherapist
after I saw that movie.
- (FBE) All right, so for anyone watching at home,
if you haven't seen it, fair warning, there are
gonna be a lot of spoilers. - Click off now. (laughs)
- You should watch the movie before you watch this video.
- (FBE) What we're gonna do is take a look at 22 memes
from the movie and get your thoughts as we go.
- I didn't know memes were a thing with this movie. Okay.
- Why 22 memes?
Is it something significant to the movie?
- 11:11 is a number that comes up a lot,
so I guess 11, 11, plus-- 11 plus 11 makes 22.
- "The Tethered communicating in #UsMovie."
- (women speaking gibberish) - (laughs)
- (laughs)
That one was really funny, 'cause they don't know how to talk.
- That could've been the inspiration to the Tethered.
He's like, "We can turn this into a horror film." (chuckles)
"This is terrifying."
- "Nobody. The white girl. #UsMovie."
(laughs) Literally doing flips in her bedroom for no reason!
She was just celebrating being untethered.
So, she's like, "[Bleep] it. Let's do some flips."
- The white girl movie. (laughs)
I thought that that was the most random thing in the movie.
This chick just flipped. Later, they were like,
"Oh, okay. That's a fighting skill she's gonna have."
- Man, the internet can up with all type of ideas
for everything, I'm telling you. They make it funny, too.
- "Us," directed by Jordan Peele, 2019.
- (gasps) Mariah Carey did it first!
Yes, I keep snapping. I'm like, (snaps) "Yes!"
- (laughs)
- Oh my god.
- Uh-uh. - (dog barking)
- I love that. (laughs) 'Cause that's how it was in the movie
with these intense fight scenes, and you're like, "Oh, okay."
They're the same. So, the fight has to be dramatic.
♪ (eerie music) ♪ - They got the music
in the back and everything. (giggles)
- Ah, is this "The Parent Trap"?
- "Parent Trap," though. Iconic movie.
- A little bit of a different approach.
- That one's really good, because Lupita plays two characters
in the film, and scissors are just a weapon they use
a lot in the movie. So, yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense.
- They're not giving too much of the movie away.
They're giving just a subtle--
they're giving just the surface level of the movie.
♪ (haunting music) ♪ - "Jason's clone."
What a joker. (laughs) - Oh my god!
This one's so funny. - Okay, I remember the fire.
- I mean, the fire part is correct. - Oh my gosh! Bretman! (laughs)
- (laughs)
We can just add Bretman into anything. He just fits.
- I heard a theory that Jason was switched at one point, too.
And I was like, (clicks tongue) "That's [bleep]."
- "Trying to explain #UsMovie to someone."
- (child) You wi-- you wa-- - (laughs)
- (child) You could do some-- - This is like me.
- (child) You could-- you-- you want-- you want--
- "Trying to explain the Us movie to someone."
Yeah, that's about how I sound. (laughs)
- It's kinda like an ice breaker now. "Have you seen the Us movie?"
And it's like, "Let's talk!" To hear people try to explain
what they think, what it signified: golden.
♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ - "Me waiting for my Tether"--
Yo! Honestly...
that was me. When I was at home after the movie,
I looked at the mirror, and I was like, "Yo, what if I turn
the other way and my reflection doesn't move?"
I was just so ready to just hit anything after.
- Get ready, girl. (chuckles) I mean, yeah.
A gun will beat scissors, yes. (laughs)
- Imagine if there was double the Kardashians. (chuckles)
There's so many of them already.
- (girl) Bitch! - (laughs)
Honestly, I was questioning everything!
- (girl) Bitch! - (laughs)
Keep your reflection in check!
- (girl) Bitch! - YES! ME! Me as [bleep], dude!
I was like, "You better not even [bleep] try, dawg."
I was like, "'Cause if you come after me, I know your weaknesses too."
- "Me walking past every mirror I see after watching Us the movie."
(laughs) - (laughs)
- Bro, literally! DUDE, I was walking around shadowboxing,
just to let them know, if you're trying to come out the window,
there's gonna be problems. - If you're gonna walk
past a mirror, you don't know who's on the other end.
You need to fight them, so they don't come out
and steal your life. - "When me and my Tethered
first meet." - (Austin 1) You are handsome.
- (Austin 2 chuckles) I was just thinking the same.
- (Austins chuckle) - (chuckles) So confused.
- (Austin 1) We are sexy!
- (Austin 2) We are sexy bitches, yeah!
- (laughs) I understand that one.
- I haven't done that one yet, but that's a positive spin.
- I'd do that. Yeah, you're coming to rip my head off,
but... looking good, dawg.
- (FBE) So, of course, we have many more to show you,
but as of releasing this episode, "Us" is currently the highest
weekend opening for an original horror movie ever
as well as the second best domestic opening
for a live action original film after only "Avatar,"
earning over $75 million in its opening weekend.
- Oooh! Yeah, he killed it. - I was really excited for it.
Everyone was very-- he's just so good sort of thing.
Like, we wanna see what he does next sort of thing.
So it was like, "We're gonna jump on this." (laughs)
- Jordan Peele's vision for this movie was to have
a black cast be in the forefront of a horror movie,
because he's never seen it before. People actually wanna see that,
because, I mean, the screen looks different
for the first time. So, I'm pretty sure
that's why everybody wanted to see it.
- (FBE) So overall, what did you think of the movie?
- I thought it was different. I thought it was fresh.
It gave you a lot to think about and try to understand.
- The acting was phenomenal for them to play their Tethers
and themselves and, like, just convey the emotions.
So, I just think overall, it was good.
I'd recommend to watch it just for sake of discussion.
- It's not a horror movie. I think the trailer was scarier
than the movie. As I was watching it,
I was a little bit disappointed, because I was really
excited to see it.
- "#UsMovie, out of context spoilers." 11:11, Jackson,
this elevator, "mask off." Yup.
That seems about it. (laughs) That's the movie summed up.
- Out of context spoilers are kind of on the same track
as these memes. It's kind of an inside joke
or an inside thing between people that have seen it.
And at the same time, it won't spoil it for other people.
- (laughs) Uh, the ballerina, seeing yourself in the mirror.
- If you watch the movie, you're like, "Oh,
that's from the scene where they meet, and that's the end."
- This is definitely a creative way to talk about the movie for sure.
- If you're not planning on seeing the film
or haven't watched the film, it's kind of fun to just be like,
"What the hell does that mean?"
- Oh, honestly, she deserves this award.
- She was playing two different characters,
but they were so vastly different, just their mannerisms,
about how they carry themselves, and her voice. Oh my god, her voice!
- Lupita had a fantastic performance in that movie.
- She said, "Do you need an actress for this movie?"
She was SO good! (laughs) It's like she was,
"You need someone to bring it to the table."
And boy, did she bring it to the table. (laughs)
- "Jason when he locked Pluto in the closet."
- (woman) Bitch. - (laughs)
That part of the movie was so good!
- (woman) Bitch.
- Oh my god! (laughs) And then his mom came
right behind him and was like, "Ha, sike! You thought!"
- "Lupita Nyong'o gettin in the car at the end."
- (man cackling) - Yeah, dude! She went crazy,
'cause that's not her. She knew!
- That was beautiful. - I feel like that was all of us
at the end of the movie. Like, getting into the car,
like, okay, bitch, yeah, you did that.
- Yo, that's on point right there. She looked over at her son like...
Her little son looking at her like, "No, this ain't my mom.
Oh, what's going on here?"
- "Jason looking at his mom like Us the movie"!
- Yes! Exactly! He was like, "Hold up."
- Yeah. (laughs) Like, "Hold up.
This my mom? My mom crazy."
- That was my face too. I was like...
- That's not a clip of the film? Because that's spot on.
- "Tethered trying to be normal after they killed everyone."
- (woman squeaking loudly) - (laughs)
Yeah, really. Like, okay, so you killed everyone. Now what?
- Oh my god! Yeah, that's what I also thought.
How the [bleep] are they gonna even run society after this?
They can't even [bleep] talk right.
- (FBE) There's still more, but as you can see,
there were a lot of funny memes to come out of such a scary movie.
There were also memes about how other people
would react in that scenario, what must be going on
in the life of the Tethered, and so many more.
- It's the layers of it. I felt so many emotions.
I laughed. I was spooked. I was confused.
- When you scroll through whatever social media platform you're on,
yeah, there's gonna be some sort of meme around the most popular thing
at the time. And right now, it's "Us."
So, it's gonna get the meme treatment. And it's just part of how it goes.
- This movie had a lot of aspects that are just so easily memeable.
And I kinda think Jordan Peele-- I think he knows that.
People kinda deal with intense topics through humor I feel like.
So, that's a way to break up the big chunks that he's trying
to get across in this film.
He's been around online culture so much that I feel like he knows
this is what's gonna advance his movies.
- "When Adelaide started snapping offbeat,
that's when I knew something was off. My people are always on beat."
(laughs) - I didn't know if it was intentional
or it was just like, you know, she was offbeat,
but it definitely was a red flag. - I just thought, like,
"Oh, she's a mom." And are moms really ever on beat?
(laughs) - "#UsMovie has taught me
that scissors are the ultimate ironic symbol."
- The whole movie's about duality. I mean, they're sharp, too.
So, they cut. Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah. I see it. - "They are two symmetrical sides
united for a single purpose, to d..."
(kaboom!)
They didn't have to get that deep that quick on me, bro.
"Each group of people are pointing fingers
at another group and blaming them
for the problems in the country, but as #UsMovie depicts
so vividly, when you point fingers, you have three pointing back at you.
We, as Americans, are to blame. It's us, ourselves to blame.
I love Jordan Peele." Yeah. See?
Just the opening of discussion. This is beautiful.
- He's like, "What are y'all?" She was like, "We're Americans.
That's what we are." - I like this.
I think I agree with this one the most out of all the theories,
because they made it so specific to America, too.
There aren't Tethered all around the world.
It's only the United States, and I think that was a specific choice
that Jordan Peele made. - Jordan Peele was kind of
trying to say that, unfortunately, people think that they have to
fight and push others down to get ahead.
And I just don't think that's the necessity.
- "'We are Americans,' said loud and clear.
US. "US." We're our own worst enemy and won't stop until the world
is unrecognizable!" - I definitely kind of agree
that there is that symbolism in which "Us" also is referencing
US, as in, our own country. It makes you question things
and how the film relates back to current times.
- They're making it sound so negative. We might do some questionable things.
We might do some bad things as a country.
But so do other countries. We're not the only ones.
Instead of looking down on where you were born,
appreciate it and use your luxury to help others.
- "#UsMovie is probably all over Reddit with breakdowns,
Easter eggs, and theories, and if you think I'm gonna
sit in the crib on a Friday night and read about this movie
I watched, then you're psychic and you should play the lotto."
(laughs) - I wanna be entertained
with the movie. I can't enjoy the movie
if I'm in there tryna dissect the whole movie, like, uh.
- That's what I was thinking through the movie.
I was like, "I gotta look at what that means."
You know, like Jeremiah 11:11. I was like, if that's a Bible verse,
I'm gonna go find that and see what that says.
- I went to my car. I watched a video.
I went home. I watched a video.
And on the walks, I was looking for my frickin' Tethered.
It was bad. - After the movie, we went back
to my friend's house. We had a big circle.
We were like, "Okay, so what do you think
the movie's about?" And we just all talked
about it for three hours. - There's a lot of underlying meanings
in this, like holding hands across America.
There's the red suits. There's a part where her head's
getting pushed into the glass table.
People were saying that's symbolizing
the glass ceiling. I like watching stuff like this.
Like, stuff that starts conversation is my favorite and probably why
I do this show too, 'cause that's all it's about, conversation.
- (FBE) So finally, after seeing some of these theories
that other viewers have come up with, what are some of your own theories
that you have found around the movie? - Man, I...
I always-- I mean, even before the movie came out,
I always say the government out here cloning people.
I mean, they're already-- I mean, they're already
cloning animals. So, why wouldn't they clone--
why couldn't they clone people? - You could see how the main cast,
they all fight off everyone and everything,
and the rich people die instantly.
I feel like it was just kind of more about classes and how some people
are literally eating raw meat and don't have access to water
or fresh food, while others are on the surface just getting
work done and buying Lamborghinis and have all these houses
and stuff like that. - The most blatant one
is you are your worst enemy. Us coming together,
having to work together, you know, stop being so divided.
And I think that overall, because we look at each other
as enemies a lot, and it's like,
working together gets more done and is for the greater good of people.
- I think this movie's about-- it's definitely us, Americans.
And he said "Us," because it's like the whole country together
and then a second level being us as human beings
and our own demons and vices. It's just a really deep movie,
and there's a lot of meanings,
and I feel like I can talk about this all day.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Generations React.
And shoutout to Sami Smith and Tommy Strickland.
- Hey, everyone! Lauren, producer here at FBE.
Thank you so much for watching today's episode.
If you wanna help support the channel and look good doing it,
go to shopfbe.com, where we have T-shirts and hoodies
that help bring videos like this to you guys.
(nervous) Bye, guys.