The Soul in Jordan Peele's US

Jordan Peele’s second film, US, offers a complex analysis of class. In the film, scientists attempt to artificially recreate humans in order to control their real counterparts in the world above. Red says that ultimately, their experiments failed because they could not recreate a soul, leaving the soul as “one, shared by two”. Instead, the scientists abandoned their creations underground to fend for themselves, leaving them to live at the whim of their aboveground counterparts. The word “soul” is only mentioned in Red’s speech at the end of the film, but there are hints throughout the movie that “Adelaide” is not who she appears to be nor is she the original possessor of her shared soul. So what does it mean to have a soul? What does it mean to share one?
One of the biggest markers of a soul seems to be an affinity for the arts. Early in the movie, as Adelaide and her family head to Santa Cruz beach, Five on it by Luniz comes on the radio. The family happily listens and Adelaide turns to Jason and encourages him to “get in rhythm” as she snaps. Yet, her snapping is distinctly off rhythm in timing and she seems completely unaware of this fact. Her obliviousness highlights that she does not see herself as tethered. She believes she has a soul and is a real being, going so far as to try and get her son to follow her lead.  Jason doesn’t seem to notice her mistake, but Zora looks a bit peculiarly at her mom. This scene is our first hint that Adelaide is not who she appears to be.

Right before the reveal of Adelaide’s true identity, her existence as a real human being begins to unwind. Adelaide follows Red belowground and finds her cutting paper outlines in a classroom and tearing apart the connection between a pair. This separation demonstrates that Red is no longer tethered to Adelaide, Red’s actions no longer depend on Adelaide, and both are very much aware of these facts. The difference between the two women becomes strikingly obvious in the fight scene.

Red moves gracefully, weaving in between furniture, dodging attacks by Adelaide, and only hurting her when Adelaide strikes first. As they fight, the camera cuts between flashbacks of the two dancing (Adelaide aboveground on stage and Red below in the tunnels) and both girls in the flashback move gracefully. As they fight, Red moves in time to the music and even seems to partially mimic the movements of the flashback. Her connection to the rhythm is extremely important when considering that the song playing is a tonally darker and non-diegetic version of  Five on it. Despite the music not taking place within the film, Red moves in time with it, making lithe and balanced moves while remaining ahead of Adelaide’s attacks. Her ease of movement demonstrates that she can feel the sound and therefore is in possession of a soul. 

Adelaide, on the other hand, moves violently and clumsily out of rhythm with the song as she attempts to attack Red. She thrashes in her attacks and as she fails to cause harm, she becomes more animalistic. She screams and grunts, reminding the audience of the tethered who attacked her. The contrast with how they move and react to the song provides a strong indication that Adelaide is the one who is actually tethered. The usage of the song Adelaide was previously unable to get in rhythm with, enforces that she is unable to draw on that same affinity to music. Red’s attachment to the rhythm and parallels to the graceful flashbacks seem to seat her as the one who was truly leading the dance. Red is the original possessor of the soul, and so she is able to move gracefully and with heart. Adelaide, on the other hand, has only been allowed to share it. As a result, she does not have the same connection with the soul. 

Adelaide finally manages to get the better of Red, stabbing her and pinning her against the bedpost. Red uses her last breaths to whistle the “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, which harkens back to the young Adelaide wandering through the Hall of Mirrors in the very beginning. This whistling is once more a hint to who is the tethered and Adelaide seems to understand her whistling as a taunt. Adelaide abruptly stops Red’s whistling by snapping her neck, letting out more primal screams, grunts, and laughter before she regains her composure to find Jason. 

This analysis of the soul is interesting when considering that both Adelaide and Red seemed to move gracefully in their performance as teenagers. We are to assume that Red belowground is moving because of Adelaide above, but I wonder if it could be the opposite. Red was the original possessor of the soul, and so perhaps she is the reason Adelaide was able to perform so wonderfully for the world above in the first place. Their dance was even the origin of Red’s plan to reach the surface; she said that their dance was when she “saw God” and that afterward the tethered saw that she was different and would deliver them. The tethered saw that she had an affinity for music and dance; the tethered saw that she had a soul of her own. 

I also recently discovered that there is a deleted scene showing the full cut of Adelaide’s and Red’s dance performance. In this scene, their modes of movement are completely switched; Adelaide performs beautifully on the surface while Red struggles in the tunnels. Red constantly stumbles, hits walls, and falls. This reversal complicates our analysis a bit. After all, if Red is the one with the soul, why is her performance not as well-executed? It is important in our analysis of the soul that we do not forget that the backbone of the film is its analysis of class.

When Adelaide is on the surface, she has all the advantages of her high-class position whereas Red has to make do with what she has. Adelaide has a beautiful outfit, full stage, and a captivated audience. Belowground, Red has her tattered clothes, limited space, and the tethered who watch her. One thing that was kept consistent between the final cut and the deleted scene is the inclusion of Red slamming into walls. She is limited in her abilities by her surroundings. Perhaps she could pull off those beautiful twirls and pirouettes if only she were given an equal opportunity to do so. The correlation between ability and opportunity is emphasized by the fact that when the two are on the same playing field below ground (e.g. lower class), Red is the far superior dancer. Adelaide only appeared to be a better dancer because she had more opportunities and no metaphorical walls blocking her way.

           

I can only speculate as to why Jordan Peele may have chosen to exclude this scene. It may have been cut for time, but perhaps it also convoluted Peele’s message about the soul. It’s clear that the dance scene is at least partially about class and opportunity, but it could also be misconstrued to mean that poverty hinders the soul and expression. Red could not dance as well when she was so far below Adelaide (e.g. much worse off), and while it is certainly true that a lack of opportunity could hinder one’s expression, Peele would likely not want the message to be interpreted as meaning that poverty hinders the soul. Regardless of intent, this scene was powerful even if it did not fit with the messages of the film. 

What does it mean then, if that dance was the day Adelaide and Red saw God? Red claims that on that day “I saw God and he showed me my path, I know you felt it too”, but it seems Adelaide’s reaction to dancing was different. When Adelaide speaks with Kitty about dancing, she claims that she peaked at fourteen. It’s plausible that Adelaide’s and Red’s performance was the peak Adelaide was referencing. So why quit? I think there are a couple of possibilities: 1) Adelaide was scared because she also sensed a shift in Red’s path, or 2) Adelaide simply got bored and quit. While the latter option doesn’t initially seem fitting, one of the themes of the film is excess and taking advantage of one’s opportunities. Gabe mentions how his family is spoiled when he buys the boat, and Red mentions how spoiled they are up above in general. It could be that Adelaide simply had enough of her grand stage and moved on. Even when speaking with Kitty about dancing, she had no passion. Perhaps the lack of her own soul caused her not to feel the same connection to dancing as Red did. 

One might argue that Adelaide was truly in possession of a soul because she was able to fall in love with Gabe, obviously has a deep love for her children, and one would expect a soul to be tied to love. However, just because she doesn’t have a soul of her own doesn’t mean Adelaide cannot live and love as one with a soul might. She has an appreciation for dance and music, even if she can’t get in rhythm with a song. Simply put, it is the fact that she shares a soul which allows her to feel these deep, human emotions. 

Finally, I am curious as to what the implications for the soul are given that Adelaide murders Red. Red is the original owner of the soul and Adelaide is merely allowed to share it. So what happens to Red’s soul once she dies? Does this murder mean that Adelaide is now in full possession, that she still only has her own half, or that her soul is gone altogether? I certainly don’t think that she has the full soul given her animalistic reaction to killing Red and how unhinged she seemed at the end of the film. Jason also seems extremely wary of her, indicating that something is just as off as before. My bet would be that Red’s soul died with her but I cannot know for sure. 
US is an intensely layered movie that I have trouble trying to parse. However, I do think that the theme of the soul is extremely important. I think Peele is trying to show that without the opportunity to flourish, a soul can be stifled-- just as Red’s was when she was forced to live underground. On the flipside, even when given ample opportunity-- as Adelaide was -- one cannot flourish in their passion if their heart is not in it. Finally, just as Red said, you cannot recreate a soul.