1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,239 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: and monsters in time. If you haven't caught Jordan's Peel's 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: new sci fi horror film Nope yet, I recommend you 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: go watch it right now, at least if you're a 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: fan of Peel's previous films, as well as that feeling 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: of being utterly creeped out in a movie theater and 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: even more creeped out when you leave that movie theater. 11 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: It's not for the faint of heart, but I think 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: it's must see viewing for sci fi and horror fans. 13 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: But don't worry, I'm going to make sure that there's 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: a clear line in this episode between non spoiler and 15 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: spoiler content as we proceed here, because this is one 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: you really want to go in fresh on if you 17 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: choose to see it. First of all, generally speaking, I 18 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: really enjoyed this film. Peel is one of the most 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: interesting directors working today, and Nope is the sort of 20 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: picture that would generally captivate me if it had come 21 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: out in any previous decade, though the social nuances would 22 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: have been different for sure. For instance, I can imagine 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: someone like Larry Cohen having done a picture like this 24 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies. One can easily imagine the nineteen 25 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: fifties variation as well, And of course our two version 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: is perfectly poignant as well skeletally. It is a B 27 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: movie sci fi feature with a great twist, but there 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: is some great flesh on those bones as well, in 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: the form of Peel's social commentary, a top notch cast, 30 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: and exceptional cinematography. Okay, now let's get to the spoilery stuff. 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: You've been warned. Here we go three two one. It's 32 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: various reviewers have already pointed out Nope is a movie 33 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: of society's relationship to spectacle. All the main characters have 34 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: film industry connections, and Steve Young's character Ricky is the 35 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: one I found the most poignant. As a child actor, 36 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: it's revealed the character experienced a terrifying and traumatic experience 37 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: on the set of a nineties sitcom. The show's central 38 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: chimpanzee actor snapped and killed or mutilated all of Ricky's 39 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: co stars before security finally moved in and put the 40 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: creature down right in front of young Ricky. As an adult, 41 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: Ricky has found ways to profit off of that event, 42 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: but clearly hasn't fully dealt with all the underlying trauma. 43 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: But now he has a new obsession. A UFO is 44 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: abducting horses on his California ranch, and he's decided to 45 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: spend this phenomenon off into a live, kicketed spectacle, the 46 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: star Lasso Experience. In the film's great twist, the UFO 47 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: descends early during one of these live events, and a 48 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: startling revelation occurs. It is not a ship but a 49 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: single predatory organism. It proceeds to suck Ricky, his family, 50 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: and all of the audience members up into itself and 51 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: consume them in a horrifying sequence that I found and 52 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: still find particularly unsettling. This plot twist reminds me a 53 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: lot of the twist in the nineteen sixty eight Jeffrey 54 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: Household novel Dance of the Dwarves, in which an anthropologist 55 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: in South America thinks he is attempting to communicate with 56 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: a tribe of pygmies in the jungle, only to realize 57 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: far too late that the beings are in fact a 58 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: species of predatory giant otter with a taste for human blood. 59 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: In both Nope and Dance of the Dwarfs, protagonists set 60 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: out under the assumption that the spectacle they chase is 61 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: something that can be if not communicated with, then at 62 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: least controlled or even exploited to some degree. The anthropologist 63 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: character thinks he can offer beads to the mysterious dwarves 64 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: in the forest. Ricky thinks he can keep the UFO 65 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: at arms length and pacified with horses. Notes. Central characters 66 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: O J and Emerald Haywood played by Daniel Kaluya and 67 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: Kiki Palmer likewise see the UFO is something they can 68 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: capture or film for profit. They all finally realize, and 69 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: again so much too late, that their theory of mind 70 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: is incorrect in this matter, and that they face a 71 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: predatory animal intellect that only sees them as food chilling stuff. 72 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: Now that we're discussing note purely as a monster film, 73 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: and it is a very memorable monster film, let's talk 74 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: about the monster itself. We see more and more of 75 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: the monsters. The movie progresses, as is, of course, the 76 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: law concerning these things and it's revealed at last to 77 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: be some manner of billowy air creature that brings to 78 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: mind some of the alien art of Wayne Barlow and 79 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 1: concepts of the sorts of sky jellies that might conceivably 80 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: live within the clouds of gas giants. And while this 81 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: is entirely speculative biology here for an aerial creature, it's 82 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: anatomy does bring to mind various creatures that thrive in 83 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: aquatic capitats of the natural world. Plus, its method of 84 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: inhaling its prey through a vortex brings to mind the 85 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: suction feeding method of many fish. They rapidly expand the 86 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: inside of their mouths to create a pressure gradient to 87 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: draw water and prey directly into their gaping maws. The 88 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: speed at which some fish performed this feat is incredible. 89 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: Consider the bay pipe fish, which can inhale small crustaceans 90 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: and other prey in as little as two milliseconds so 91 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: in a sci fi horror film like Nope, in a 92 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: scenario that involves the surface world, this feeding method is 93 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: entirely horrific. In Earth socians, lakes and rivers, however, it's 94 00:05:54,960 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: just business as usual. Tune in for additional episdisodes of 95 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: the monster fact or the artifact each week. As always, 96 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact. It's Stuff to Blow 97 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 98 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for 99 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 100 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.