“They are us.” A research of the visual portrayal of criticism of fear for the ‘Other’ and ‘us versus them’ mentality in the film US (2019)

Abstract

In this thesis I research how Jordan Peele’s second award winning film US visually symbolizes and criticizes the contemporary Western fear for the ‘Other’ and ‘us versus them’ mentality. Many films depict ‘us versus them’ dynamics, but hardly ever is this mentality criticized. I argue that US does this by a unique way of portraying the ‘Other’ as identical to the ‘Self’. After discussing the concepts of ‘othering’, fear for the ‘Other’ and ‘us versus them’ mentality through theories from gender/feminist, film/media, and postcolonial academic disciplines (using the 9/11 attacks as the most topical historical event to explain the Western ‘us versus them’ mentality), I carry out a neoformalist film analysis with the help of feminist film semiotics to analyze the mise-en-scene of US, specifically looking at the use of colors, costuming, props, performance and set design. An ‘us versus them’ mentality, fueled by fear for the ‘Other’ and created through the process of ‘othering’, is a problematic phenomenon in the (Western) world: it causes false generalization and the acceptance of stereotypes as realistic representations, which can result in – amongst other things – systemic racism and separation between people. By analyzing visual aspects of US, I argue how this film comments on and criticizes these concepts. This way, the film can be seen as socially relevant since I argue it to be a plea for unity amongst human beings at a time when political leaders seem to want nothing more than pursue this damaging ‘us versus them’ mentality.