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09CrenshawExperimentalSample on Nope (2022)

Representation & Power

Example analysis of Nope (2022), screenplay by Jordan Peele. Shown for demonstration and commentary. It reads a finished film to show the format, so anything it flags may well be deliberate; on your own draft, treat each flag as a question.

Also on: Parasite (2019)

A moderate range of identities, and three perspectives sidelined

The script puts the Haywood siblings at the centre and hands the story to working-class Black characters, who are usually sidelined in sci-fi and horror. The antagonist is a force of nature. The systemic threat is a media ecosystem hungry for spectacle, and white characters stand for it (The Ryder, Holst's death drive).

Told from: The Haywood family legacy and their struggle for recognition and survival in an industry and world that consumes them.
Sidelined: Mary Jo Elliot (disabled woman, former teen star, now a veiled spectator at Jupe's show, consumed by the alien)
Amber Park (Jupe's wife, exists only to support his delusion, has no interiority)
The Park children (used as props in Jupe's show, their prank on OJ is their only agency)
Range of identities: ModerateHow broad the mix of identities is across the cast.

Puts a Black family at the literal origin of cinema, so their survival reclaims erased history.
OJ's animal-training philosophy is a metaphor for dealing with systemic oppression that never turns the characters into its victims.
Emerald is a full co-lead, flawed and clever. Her queerness is there without defining her or causing conflict.
Jupe's arc as a former child star of colour critiques Hollywood's consumption of marginalised performers without reducing him to a stereotype.

OJ Haywood and Emerald Haywood drive the plot; Otis Haywood Sr. serves OJ's story

Complex position · growth arc
Working-class Black man in his 30s, horse trainer, rural
Drives plot
Strong
Makes choices
Strong
Inner life
Moderate
Humanised
Strong
OJ Haywood's identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
man
Race/ethnicity
Black
Class
working-class (struggling to keep family ranch afloat)
Profession
horse trainer/wrangler
Age
30s (inferred from being Otis Sr.'s son and Em's older brother) (inferred)
Stoic Black cowboy, subvertedOJ is quiet and reserved, the 'strong silent type'. The script makes that stoicism a tactical skill that comes from animal training: he watches, and watching is how he survives.
Magical negro, avoidedOJ's knowledge is a trade skill (animal behaviour). He is the protagonist, with his own arc, so the trope has nothing to hold on to.
OJ's expertise in animal behaviour is the film's central logic. Authority and survival come from him, a working-class Black horse trainer.
His dyslexia comes up in passing ('you read it, dyslexic-ass') and never defines him. A learning disability is treated as ordinary.
His grief over his father's death drives him, and the script keeps it central. That is where his inner life comes from.
Complex position · growth arc
Working-class queer Black woman in her 20s-30s, hustler, performer
Drives plot
Strong
Makes choices
Strong
Inner life
Strong
Humanised
Strong
Emerald Haywood's identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
woman
Race/ethnicity
Black
Class
working-class (financially struggling, mentions being broke)
Age
20s-30s (younger sister of OJ, references to past events as a child) (inferred)
Sexuality
queer (mentions 'the girl I'm talking to' and a 'situation in Atwater texting me back') (inferred)
Sassy Black woman, subvertedEm is outspoken and funny, which could read as the 'sassy sidekick'. She is a co-lead, with her own arc, her own skills (VFX, sewing, performance) and the film's thematic voice in the Muybridge speech. Her humour is how she survives, and it is a kind of intelligence.
Irresponsible younger sibling, subvertedOJ first treats Em as a liability. She turns out to be the one the plan depends on: she sews the parachute, performs for the well camera and, in the end, saves them both.
Em's speech about Alistair E. Haywood (scene 10) reclaims a Black man erased from the start of cinema. It ties who she is to the film's theme of spectacle and exploitation. Sc. 10
Her queerness comes up casually and carries no stigma. It is one part of her life among others.
She is allowed to be scared and to be wrong, which takes her past the 'strong Black woman' trope.
Complex position · fall arc
Korean American former child actor in his 30s, now a theme park entrepreneur
Drives plot
Moderate
Makes choices
Strong
Inner life
Moderate
Humanised
Strong
Ricky 'Jupe' Park's identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
man
Race/ethnicity
Korean American (described as Korean American)
Class
upper-middle-class (owns a theme park, offers to buy the ranch) (inferred)
Age
35
Profession
former child actor, theme park owner
Washed-up child star, played straightJupe fits the trope of a former child actor cashing in on past fame. The script links it to his trauma: after Gordy, he thinks the alien is a performer he can tame, and that mistake kills him.
Model minority, avoidedJupe runs a successful business, but the script shows it as gaudy spectacle built on exploitation, which undercuts the model-minority reading.
Jupe's role as a Korean American adopted into a white sitcom family matches his position off camera: a person of colour performing for white audiences. The script uses it to critique how Hollywood consumes marginalised people.
The script takes his trauma from the Gordy attack seriously. It explains why he believes, wrongly, that he has a bond with predators.
His ethnicity is never the butt of a joke. His flaws belong to him as a character.
Marginalised · growth arc
Young working-class Latinx man, tech-savvy retail worker
Drives plot
Moderate
Makes choices
Moderate
Inner life
Moderate
Humanised
Strong
Angel Torres's identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
man
Race/ethnicity
Latinx (described as Latinx)
Class
working-class (works retail at Fry's Electronics)
Age
24
Profession
tech retail worker
Tech nerd sidekick, subvertedAngel provides tech support, but his UFO obsession and his recent breakup give him a life outside the job. He is brave and resourceful, and he survives.
Comic relief, subvertedAngel has funny lines, but his fear is real and the plan needs him.
Angel's Latinx identity is present but not central to his character; he is defined by his skills and personality.
His emotional arc (processing a breakup) adds a layer of humanity beyond the 'tech guy' function.
Privileged · fall arc
Older white male legendary cinematographer
Drives plot
Weak
Makes choices
Moderate
Inner life
Weak
Humanised
Moderate
Antlers Holst's identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
man
Race/ethnicity
Caucasian (described as Caucasian)
Age
60s
Profession
cinematographer (legendary cinematographer)
Obsessed artist, played straightHolst is willing to die for 'the impossible shot'. That is the trope of the artist who sacrifices everything for the work, and the script plays it straight, as a cautionary tale about spectacle.
Holst is the old guard of cinema: white, male and obsessed with the image. His death is the script's critique of that extractive gaze.
Complex position · no arc
Working-class Black man in his 60s, founder of Haywood Hollywood Horses
Drives plot
Weak
Makes choices
Weak
Inner life
Weak
Humanised
Moderate
- Exists to serve OJ's story
Otis Haywood Sr.'s identities, stereotypes and notes
Gender
man
Race/ethnicity
Black
Class
working-class (owns a horse training ranch)
Age
60s (father of adult children) (inferred)
Profession
horse trainer
Wise father figure, subvertedOtis Sr. is a mentor, but his wisdom is practical and flawed. He dies suddenly and for nothing, struck by a nickel from the sky. What he leaves OJ is a burden.
He is killed by a falling nickel. The script makes the devaluation of Black labour in Hollywood literal.
Sc. 70
He exists mainly to motivate OJ, who still stares at the nickel that killed him (scene 70).
Limited screen time reduces him largely to a memory, though this serves the story's theme of legacy.

OJ Haywood is part of three of the four power relations

Solidarity
OJ Haywood and Emerald Haywood. The siblings start with friction (OJ sees Em as a liability) and grow into partners who respect each other. The balance evens out as Em's skills prove essential.
Along race, class and gender
Domination
Ricky 'Jupe' Park and OJ Haywood. Jupe holds economic power over OJ: he buys his horses and offers to buy the ranch. This mirrors Hollywood's exploitation of Black labour. Jupe is buying OJ's legacy.
Along class and race
Mentorship
Antlers Holst and OJ Haywood. Holst, a legendary white cinematographer, dismisses OJ at first and comes to respect what he knows. They work together uneasily, and in the end Holst puts his art ahead of the team's safety.
Along race, profession and age
Conflict
The Ryder (TMZ) and Emerald Haywood. The Ryder, a white male journalist, invades Em's property and waves off her warnings. He demands she perform for his camera. He is the extractive media gaze in person.
Along race, gender and profession

Four scenes where identities meet: one reinforces the hierarchy, one challenges it and two cut both ways.

How to read this

Each moment is a scene where two or more of a character's identities meet. Structural: they compound the character's situation. Political: loyalties to different groups pull against each other. Representational: the portrayal itself carries the charge.

Under each note: whose moment it is, which kind, and what the scene does to the hierarchy it shows.

Sc. 10
Em gives her speech about Alistair E. Haywood, the Black jockey erased from cinema history. She ties her family to the birth of film and claims back a place Black people have been shut out of.
Emerald Haywood · Representational · Challenges the hierarchy
Sc. 20
Jupe's office is a shrine to his role as 'Lil' Jupe' in 'Kid Sheriff', where he played a sidekick. As a Korean American child actor he supported white leads. As a theme park owner he now makes money from that marginalisation.
Ricky 'Jupe' Park · Representational · Cuts both ways
Sc. 76
Young Jupe survives the Gordy attack because the chimp sees him as no threat. The 'connection' he remembers is his marginal place as the Asian child on a white sitcom, and it saved him. Being the cast's 'other' makes the trauma worse.
Ricky 'Jupe' Park · Structural · Cuts both ways
Sc. 150
The Ryder (TMZ) brushes aside Em's authority on her own property and demands access and content. A white male journalist ignores a Black woman's 'no', and she has to perform a lie ('Verizon commercial') to protect her space.
Emerald Haywood · Structural · Reinforces the hierarchy

Six stereotypes subverted, two played straight

Played straight: Washed-up child star (Ricky 'Jupe' Park); obsessed artist (Antlers Holst)
Subverted: Stoic Black cowboy (OJ Haywood); sassy Black woman and irresponsible younger sibling (Emerald Haywood); tech nerd sidekick and comic relief (Angel Torres); wise father figure (Otis Haywood Sr.)

Every authority figure outside the Haywood family is white (Buster, Fynn, Holst, The Ryder). That is the industry power structure the Haywoods have to work within.
Women who are not Emerald are largely functional (Amber, Mary Jo, Bonnie Clayton) or victims.
The script's central metaphor, being eaten by spectacle, maps onto how the entertainment industry exploits marginalised people.
Female characters beyond Emerald lack interiority; Amber and Mary Jo are defined entirely by their relationships to Jupe.
Angel's Latinx identity is mentioned but never explored; he could be any ethnicity without changing the script.
The disabled character (Mary Jo) is a spectacle of trauma, brought on for a cameo and then consumed.

For the next draft

Amber Park goes along with Jupe's plan and never gets a scene with her own view of it. One moment of held-back doubt would give her complicity an inner life.
Nothing in Angel's scenes draws on his Latinx identity beyond the mention of it. Should it shape anything he says or does?
Mary Jo appears mostly as a spectacle of her own trauma: veiled in the Star Lasso crowd, then consumed. Her choice to come to Jupe's show is never on the page. Is that choice worth a line?

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A moderate range of identities, and three perspectives sidelined

Told from

The Haywood family legacy and their struggle for recognition and survival in an industry and world that consumes them.

Sidelined

Mary Jo Elliot (disabled woman, former teen star, now a veiled spectator at Jupe's show, consumed by the alien)
Amber Park (Jupe's wife, exists only to support his delusion, has no interiority)
The Park children (used as props in Jupe's show, their prank on OJ is their only agency)

Range of identities

ModerateHow broad the mix of identities is across the cast.

Puts a Black family at the literal origin of cinema, so their survival reclaims erased history.

OJ's animal-training philosophy is a metaphor for dealing with systemic oppression that never turns the characters into its victims.

Emerald is a full co-lead, flawed and clever. Her queerness is there without defining her or causing conflict.

Jupe's arc as a former child star of colour critiques Hollywood's consumption of marginalised performers without reducing him to a stereotype.

OJ Haywood and Emerald Haywood drive the plot; Otis Haywood Sr. serves OJ's story

Complex position · growth arc

Working-class Black man in his 30s, horse trainer, rural

Drives plot: Strong
Makes choices: Strong
Inner life: Moderate
Humanised: Strong

OJ Haywood's identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: man
Race/ethnicity: Black
Class: working-class (struggling to keep family ranch afloat)
Profession: horse trainer/wrangler
Age: 30s (inferred from being Otis Sr.'s son and Em's older brother) (inferred)

Stoic Black cowboy, subvertedOJ is quiet and reserved, the 'strong silent type'. The script makes that stoicism a tactical skill that comes from animal training: he watches, and watching is how he survives.
Magical negro, avoidedOJ's knowledge is a trade skill (animal behaviour). He is the protagonist, with his own arc, so the trope has nothing to hold on to.

OJ's expertise in animal behaviour is the film's central logic. Authority and survival come from him, a working-class Black horse trainer.
His dyslexia comes up in passing ('you read it, dyslexic-ass') and never defines him. A learning disability is treated as ordinary.
His grief over his father's death drives him, and the script keeps it central. That is where his inner life comes from.

Complex position · growth arc

Working-class queer Black woman in her 20s-30s, hustler, performer

Drives plot: Strong
Makes choices: Strong
Inner life: Strong
Humanised: Strong

Emerald Haywood's identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: woman
Race/ethnicity: Black
Class: working-class (financially struggling, mentions being broke)
Age: 20s-30s (younger sister of OJ, references to past events as a child) (inferred)
Sexuality: queer (mentions 'the girl I'm talking to' and a 'situation in Atwater texting me back') (inferred)

Sassy Black woman, subvertedEm is outspoken and funny, which could read as the 'sassy sidekick'. She is a co-lead, with her own arc, her own skills (VFX, sewing, performance) and the film's thematic voice in the Muybridge speech. Her humour is how she survives, and it is a kind of intelligence.
Irresponsible younger sibling, subvertedOJ first treats Em as a liability. She turns out to be the one the plan depends on: she sews the parachute, performs for the well camera and, in the end, saves them both.

Em's speech about Alistair E. Haywood (scene 10) reclaims a Black man erased from the start of cinema. It ties who she is to the film's theme of spectacle and exploitation. Sc. 10
Her queerness comes up casually and carries no stigma. It is one part of her life among others.
She is allowed to be scared and to be wrong, which takes her past the 'strong Black woman' trope.

Complex position · fall arc

Korean American former child actor in his 30s, now a theme park entrepreneur

Drives plot: Moderate
Makes choices: Strong
Inner life: Moderate
Humanised: Strong

Ricky 'Jupe' Park's identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: man
Race/ethnicity: Korean American (described as Korean American)
Class: upper-middle-class (owns a theme park, offers to buy the ranch) (inferred)
Age: 35
Profession: former child actor, theme park owner

Washed-up child star, played straightJupe fits the trope of a former child actor cashing in on past fame. The script links it to his trauma: after Gordy, he thinks the alien is a performer he can tame, and that mistake kills him.
Model minority, avoidedJupe runs a successful business, but the script shows it as gaudy spectacle built on exploitation, which undercuts the model-minority reading.

Jupe's role as a Korean American adopted into a white sitcom family matches his position off camera: a person of colour performing for white audiences. The script uses it to critique how Hollywood consumes marginalised people.
The script takes his trauma from the Gordy attack seriously. It explains why he believes, wrongly, that he has a bond with predators.
His ethnicity is never the butt of a joke. His flaws belong to him as a character.

Marginalised · growth arc

Young working-class Latinx man, tech-savvy retail worker

Drives plot: Moderate
Makes choices: Moderate
Inner life: Moderate
Humanised: Strong

Angel Torres's identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: man
Race/ethnicity: Latinx (described as Latinx)
Class: working-class (works retail at Fry's Electronics)
Age: 24
Profession: tech retail worker

Tech nerd sidekick, subvertedAngel provides tech support, but his UFO obsession and his recent breakup give him a life outside the job. He is brave and resourceful, and he survives.
Comic relief, subvertedAngel has funny lines, but his fear is real and the plan needs him.

Angel's Latinx identity is present but not central to his character; he is defined by his skills and personality.
His emotional arc (processing a breakup) adds a layer of humanity beyond the 'tech guy' function.

Privileged · fall arc

Older white male legendary cinematographer

Drives plot: Weak
Makes choices: Moderate
Inner life: Weak
Humanised: Moderate

Antlers Holst's identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: man
Race/ethnicity: Caucasian (described as Caucasian)
Age: 60s
Profession: cinematographer (legendary cinematographer)

Obsessed artist, played straightHolst is willing to die for 'the impossible shot'. That is the trope of the artist who sacrifices everything for the work, and the script plays it straight, as a cautionary tale about spectacle.

Holst is the old guard of cinema: white, male and obsessed with the image. His death is the script's critique of that extractive gaze.

Complex position · no arc

Working-class Black man in his 60s, founder of Haywood Hollywood Horses

Drives plot: Weak
Makes choices: Weak
Inner life: Weak
Humanised: Moderate

Exists to serve OJ's story

Otis Haywood Sr.'s identities, stereotypes and notes

Gender: man
Race/ethnicity: Black
Class: working-class (owns a horse training ranch)
Age: 60s (father of adult children) (inferred)
Profession: horse trainer

Wise father figure, subvertedOtis Sr. is a mentor, but his wisdom is practical and flawed. He dies suddenly and for nothing, struck by a nickel from the sky. What he leaves OJ is a burden.

He is killed by a falling nickel. The script makes the devaluation of Black labour in Hollywood literal.
Sc. 70
He exists mainly to motivate OJ, who still stares at the nickel that killed him (scene 70).

Limited screen time reduces him largely to a memory, though this serves the story's theme of legacy.

OJ Haywood is part of three of the four power relations

Solidarity

OJ Haywood and Emerald Haywood. The siblings start with friction (OJ sees Em as a liability) and grow into partners who respect each other. The balance evens out as Em's skills prove essential.

Along race, class and gender

Domination

Ricky 'Jupe' Park and OJ Haywood. Jupe holds economic power over OJ: he buys his horses and offers to buy the ranch. This mirrors Hollywood's exploitation of Black labour. Jupe is buying OJ's legacy.

Along class and race

Mentorship

Antlers Holst and OJ Haywood. Holst, a legendary white cinematographer, dismisses OJ at first and comes to respect what he knows. They work together uneasily, and in the end Holst puts his art ahead of the team's safety.

Along race, profession and age

Conflict

The Ryder (TMZ) and Emerald Haywood. The Ryder, a white male journalist, invades Em's property and waves off her warnings. He demands she perform for his camera. He is the extractive media gaze in person.

Along race, gender and profession

Four scenes where identities meet: one reinforces the hierarchy, one challenges it and two cut both ways.

How to read this

Under each note: whose moment it is, which kind, and what the scene does to the hierarchy it shows.

Sc. 10
Em gives her speech about Alistair E. Haywood, the Black jockey erased from cinema history. She ties her family to the birth of film and claims back a place Black people have been shut out of.
Emerald Haywood · Representational · Challenges the hierarchy
Sc. 20
Jupe's office is a shrine to his role as 'Lil' Jupe' in 'Kid Sheriff', where he played a sidekick. As a Korean American child actor he supported white leads. As a theme park owner he now makes money from that marginalisation.
Ricky 'Jupe' Park · Representational · Cuts both ways
Sc. 76
Young Jupe survives the Gordy attack because the chimp sees him as no threat. The 'connection' he remembers is his marginal place as the Asian child on a white sitcom, and it saved him. Being the cast's 'other' makes the trauma worse.
Ricky 'Jupe' Park · Structural · Cuts both ways
Sc. 150
The Ryder (TMZ) brushes aside Em's authority on her own property and demands access and content. A white male journalist ignores a Black woman's 'no', and she has to perform a lie ('Verizon commercial') to protect her space.
Emerald Haywood · Structural · Reinforces the hierarchy

Six stereotypes subverted, two played straight

Played straight

Washed-up child star (Ricky 'Jupe' Park); obsessed artist (Antlers Holst)

Subverted

Stoic Black cowboy (OJ Haywood); sassy Black woman and irresponsible younger sibling (Emerald Haywood); tech nerd sidekick and comic relief (Angel Torres); wise father figure (Otis Haywood Sr.)

Every authority figure outside the Haywood family is white (Buster, Fynn, Holst, The Ryder). That is the industry power structure the Haywoods have to work within.

Women who are not Emerald are largely functional (Amber, Mary Jo, Bonnie Clayton) or victims.

The script's central metaphor, being eaten by spectacle, maps onto how the entertainment industry exploits marginalised people.

Female characters beyond Emerald lack interiority; Amber and Mary Jo are defined entirely by their relationships to Jupe.

Angel's Latinx identity is mentioned but never explored; he could be any ethnicity without changing the script.

The disabled character (Mary Jo) is a spectacle of trauma, brought on for a cameo and then consumed.

For the next draft

Amber Park goes along with Jupe's plan and never gets a scene with her own view of it. One moment of held-back doubt would give her complicity an inner life.
Nothing in Angel's scenes draws on his Latinx identity beyond the mention of it. Should it shape anything he says or does?
Mary Jo appears mostly as a spectacle of her own trauma: veiled in the Star Lasso crowd, then consumed. Her choice to come to Jupe's show is never on the page. Is that choice worth a line?