What if one shot could set you up for life? One glimmering instance of iconography to let your name rest in the hall of greats for the rest of time, as an innovator of previous visual impossibilities. A notion most artists yearn for, yet few have attempted due to the daunting nature of the project — the danger involved in the perfect shot, the technical skill required to be the absolute best at photography or cinematography, as well as the possible moral ambiguity a piece’s creation would most likely fall under.

For Jordan Peele, that idea is one that’s been with Hollywood since pictures could move, and the idea of film shaping our borders of possibility has been insisted upon for over a century. Is there really a perfect but seemingly “impossible shot,” and if there is, how far are we willing to go for it?

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One Perfect Shot, A Million Different Takes

     Universal Pictures

For the main characters of Peele’s recent movie Nope, the answer is pretty freakin ‘far. The film follows Emerald and OJ Haywood, handlers for Haywood’s Hollywood Horses and recent victims of what we’re told is a propeller plane accident, killing their father. As we spend more time on the Haywood ranch and with our main characters, we come to the realization that whatever killed their father is something of legend. As the realization sets in for Emerald and OJ, our story starts to spin into an attempted found-footage flick (in the most literal sense of the term) that sports a pretty daunting metaphor for the chase of the spectacle, and the demise of artists who try to make that dream a reality.

Jupe Park and Playing God in Nope

The audience’s precursor to the Haywoods’ journey for that impossible shot is one that rarely intervenes with the narrative, and more acts as a thematic prequel for the film — Jupe Park, a former beloved child actor and victim of a horrifying Chimpanzee attack on the hit 90s sitcom Gordy’s Home. Well, ‘victim’ might be a loose use of the word. See, during the accident the chimp in question killed or maimed almost the entire cast and crew of the show, but when finally laying eyes on Jupe, seems to revert to Gordy from television rather than the wild beast pulled from his home. A simple friendly exchange from the enemy (or unknown, rather) in the midst of carnage shows us just who Jupe has seen himself as since that fateful day: someone who can tame the predator.

With this knowledge, reading into the Haywoods’ story becomes a little more clear than it would be without the inclusion of an otherwise narrative interruption. Learning those details from Jupe’s past helps us further analyze his interest in the Haywoods’ ranch, and his relationship to the extraterrestrial organism who is trying to make both his and the Haywoods’ backyard their permanent residence.

Before we even reach the halfway mark in the film, we’re already given a cautionary tale of what our protagonists are about to move forward with, and the lack of consideration of outside forces that comes with that sheer determination. With that, Nope proves to be Peele’s most daunting cinematic statement on not only artistry, but the filmmaking industry as a whole.

Lasting Art and its Boundaries

The idea of making lasting, coveted art is one that has plagued creatives ever since consciousness and free expression have been humanities’ staples of communication. Everyone hears the stories of the greats being riddled with misery during the creation of their ‘masterpieces,’ and the torment brought upon themselves and those involved in the process.

Eternal examples like Hemingway and Van Gogh are almost foreshadowing this kind of thing becoming commonplace in high art in the modern era. Anecdotes like German filmmaker Werner Herzog pulling a gun on his leading man Klaus Kinski, or Kubrick’s own house of horrors for Shelly Duvall while filming The Shining, are only a few examples where artists became almost mad with their vision and quest for the perfect show.

One more recent version of this almost destructive drive would be YouTuber Logan Paul, who in 2017 filmed a video for his channel in the depth of a Japanese suicide forest. How far artists and creators will go for their objective has become a line increasingly blurred by media’s tightening grasp on consciousness; even in the face of a force not of planet Earth, is it worth that impossible shot?

The Haywoods’ Relationship With Opportunity

As a character duo, the Haywoods are written into a corner that’s only escape seems to be pursuing that dream. A halfway in the industry career path that Emerald is constantly trying to escape (one OJ seems more or less complacent toward after the death of his father), their need for these lofty aspirations are as close to rational as a screenwriter could get. Unlike aforementioned instances this film wishes to speak on, the Haywoods’ drive for this accomplishment goes beyond the vague boundaries of artistry being ‘pushed’ for reasons of ambiguity.

The rules that the film sets into place with Jupe’s story see this out as well. His grasps at greatness are ultimately unfounded due to his view of himself. While he sees the extraterrestrial force as something to be conquered, Emerald and OJ understand the gravity of the footage they attempt to procure. It’s not to say that attempting the impossible is unethical, or that the realm of normalcy is something to be unwaveringly occupied. The impossible shot is not unreachable, but only truly available to those it presents itself to.