"Us": Jason and "The Veil"

Jordan Peele’s Us, while uniquely thrilling and horrific in comparison to others in its genre, certainly left audience members like me with many unanswered questions after watching. Today in class we discussed the deliberate intentions of the dream-like, imaginative reality of the film that purposely leaves room for numerous interpretations of symbolic meaning, but most importantly, for unanswered questions. The questions that I remember causing a stir specifically around the time of Us’ release revolve around the character Jason and how different he is overall. I remember theories floating around on social media that Jason was actually one of the Tethered the entire time just like his mother Adelaide as a popular conclusion as to why his character was the way that he was. While this may provide a surface explanation as to why Jason and Pluto had a different bond than the others did and maybe why Jason forgot his trick in the closet or could “control” Pluto into succumbing to the fire and burning himself alive and just knows what is up with his Mother at the end of the movie, it doesn't really dig deeper and still leaves a lot of holes in my opinion. If Jason and Pluto really switched lives like Tethered Adelaide and Red, the real Adelaide, then why could Jason speak and why would he be the only Tethered person with the ability to mind control? Jordan Peele himself put this theory to rest (kind of), but more importantly to me, his comments on this highlight some significance to Jason’s character and his role in the family as the “wizard” or “magician” as Peele states. 

     Aside from his cool tricks and love for magic that makes him a “wizard”, his uniqueness also transcends into Peele’s conceptualization of the character where “he can sorta see through the veil”. The concept of the veil is reminiscent of W.E.B. Du Bois use of this symbol in The Souls of Black Folk specifically where Du Bois's newborn son is born within the veil, or the color line of racial oppression through his seemingly white features. The veil symbolizes white blindness, privilege, and racism that white people refuse to see beyond and guides them to inflict evil unto African Americans. Peele uses the veil in terms of “normal” vs. Tethered in a fantasy but similar conversation that represents oppression/color blindness, and Jason is special because his “weird” but actually diverse way of behaving and thinking allows him to see past this veil that everyone else has and observe that there is more to his mother than what we can see. Jason highlights the importance of acknowledging neurodiversity and I believe Peele does a great job of showing that representation through the child’s character, as well as explaining him being so different because he obtains the magic of thinking and viewing the world differently, and rising above the veil.