Episode 89: Nope!

“There’s Something in the Sky.” Mixed water media on paper. Inspired by the film, “Nope.” Barbara Fisher 2022.

Hey, y’all—we’re back! I’d hoped to present this episode a couple of weeks ago, but alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, Morganna, Zak and I caught COVID. Ironically, I tell y’all in this very episode to go see “Nope” in the theatre, just wear your mask and you won’t get sick or die, I think I said. A few days after this was recorded, which was a day or two after we saw the movie, we all came down with it. So, who knows?

But enough about COVID. Let’s talk about Jordan Peele’s excellent film. “Nope.”

Joining with Morganna and I is an old friend of mine from back when I lived and worked in Maryland, Stephanie Burnham. She was a great deal of fun on movie nights, and I knew she’d already seen the film in a preview show, so I asked her along on the episode and it was great talking with her again.

Stephanie is the San Diego coordinator/organizer for the group, Mocha Girls Read, which is a nation-wide book club that meets online and in person. Yeah, she’s a fellow book nerd. She also does author talk videos on Instagram where she—talks with authors about their books, how they work, etc.

So, we talk about the movie, about it’s aesthetic, what we thought of it, it’s plot, the acting, the mysterious relationship with between trained animals and UFOs, and everything. We talk about the role of eyes and how seeing is at the core of the film.

Needless to say, there are spoilers, but y’all got two extra weeks to see the movie before this came out, so…,I’m warning you. Don’t listen if you don’t want to know what the movie is about.

And we also talked about our kitties. Because they’re important.

This is Madame Scrunchka, Stephanie’s lovely soul-sister to our cat Jiji. Those two are both five years old and have that attitude that black cats have—you know, the air of mystery, the insouciance and overwhelmingly powerful personality.

Morganna’s cat Pangur Ban on the right, with her brother, our Jeoffrey on the left. I promised pictures of cats, and here they are. Because cats are important.

So, why are there pictures of cats, besides the fact that I promised them in the episode. We;;. because one of the themes of this film is about seeing things. Seeing is believing, isn’t it? We believe in UFOs because we’ve seen them. People say, “I know what I saw,” when they see something strange. But do they really?

And in this film, the perennial quandary that has needled me since I saw my first seemingly structured craft that looked a lot like the UFO in this film—if I see it, does it see me?

And if it sees me, what’s it thinking?

Another theme in the film has to do with not making eye contact with an animal because it is seen as a dominance challenge. A scene in the film illustrates it perfectly with a chimpanzee—but ever make close eye contact with a cat. Like sticking your face in the cat’s face and stare deeply into its eyes? No? I’ve never done it either, but I watched a man do it with one of my cats. I warned him. But he thought it was funny, so he kept getting closer and closer.

And got smacked across the face by a paw so hard his glasses went flying across the room. Got a tiny, precise scratch down the bridge of his nose, too.

That’s one of the themes—-looking. Seeing, being seen. Seeing is believing, Does the camera record what we see. And sometimes, staring isn’t just rude, it’s dangerous.

Hope you enjoy this episode—another one is coming next week!