The Use of Red in Jordan Peele's "Us"

An electric, neon sign mounted on the mirror house on the Santa Cruz beach reads “FIND YOURSELF”. A tiny, live spider crawls next to a larger, plastic toy spider. A painted bunny stands behind the real one. A birds eye shot of the four members of the Wilson family walking on the beach displays their tall, dark shadows clinging to them, also foreshadowing the Biblical symbol throughout the film of 11:11.

Although there’s an overwhelming amount of visual symbols, themes, and hidden meanings to talk about with this movie, I’d like to specifically discuss Jordan Peele’s symbolic use of the color red throughout the film. Throughout film history, color has played a huge role in the visual storytelling of movies. Often, the same colors represent the same thematic message or foreshadowing in a wide span of films. Blue is sadness and anguish, green can mean jealousy, pink is often portrayed as innocence, and on and on.

In the opening scenes that take us through the most significant moments in young Addy’s life, red is at the forefront of what we see. The opening shot of the kitschy, 80s TV commercial advertising the “Hands Across America” campaign displays the bright red little figurine men holding hands. In the following scene, Adelaide eats a red candy apple, walking quietly through the beach carnival. The candy apple in particular might tie to the overall symbol of American classism and the separation between the Tethered and the real Wilsons. In a later scene soon after the prologue, she eats bright red strawberries as she sits with her family in their vacation home. The candy apple and the strawberries could both represent decadence, a product of wealth and part of what makes life in the real world pleasurable. This starkly contrasts the food in the world that the Tethered live in-- where they have to rely on barbarically eating live rabbits for their survival.

The big example of red that is most obvious to viewers is in the jumpsuits that the Tethered wear. Film theorist Patti Bellantoni has discussed the significance that the color red has in film in her book, If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die, and she’s stated, “Red is power. Because we tend to see it first, red gives the illusion of advancing toward us.” The image of the Hands Across America commercial, with the little red cartoons arm in arm as they stretch across the U.S., is seared into young Adelaide’s mind. When she becomes trapped in this underground world that her double has shackled her in, this image becomes ammunition. She uses it as power to get what she needs and to form a union more powerful than what the people above ground are capable of. Bellantoni also attributes red as being “the defiant color”--a color symbolizing rebellion, a sense of impending danger and physical threat. Not only could it represent these, but it also mirrors “rage, torment, and courage”. The Tethered have created an uprising against the people above ground. They form an alliance because they are voiceless and completely separated from their doubles, much like the underprivileged in America. They have no choice but to imitate the people they’re tethered to, rendering them unable to express their own thoughts and feelings. However, with a leader like Adelaide, they are able to use their power, visually charged with the color red, and revolt.

In contrast, who we see as the “real” Adelaide, who is on vacation with her family, is not wearing red--she’s in white. However, as the film progresses and as violence and gore ensues, Adelaide’s clothes slowly start to turn red from the blood. By the final battle scene, her pristine white clothing has almost become fully red, resembling the jumpsuit that her Tethered version wears. This could further symbolize the parallels between the two characters, as well as foreshadowing the fact that who we think is the “real” Adelaide, in fact belongs in that underground facility along with the other artificial versions.

Finally, another hidden meaning that red could take on is of the mirroring of the current American political and social climate. Red is Trump’s color in his “Make America Great Again” campaign, and the final shot is of the Tethered forming a seemingly never ending wall, which could be a huge hint at that aspect of his platform that got him elected. Peele might be hinting at the consequences that the inequality gap could bring on--Trump has both unified and electrified large groups of people, while creating a strong division between his supporters and those benefiting from racial or class privilege and those that are underrepresented, much like the Tethered and their real versions. Strangely enough, if the Tethered do in fact represent the oppressed and underprivileged in America, why are they painted in such a violent and fear-inducing light? Although they do go on these killing sprees, there might be a sense of empathy we feel for them. Maybe this is Peele’s way of emphasizing how the upper class of America perceives the underprivileged -- as unintelligent (they can’t speak, so they make guttural noises), as well as violent, scary criminals that should be locked away and hid from.

Sources:

Bellantoni, P. (2005) If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die. Burlington, MA: Focal Press.