Did you know that Jordan Peele’s Nope referred to a film pioneer, Edward Muybridge, who was unknown in France? We explain the real story behind the Black Jockey sequence of the film…
Warning, this article contains minor Nope spoilers that focus on the events at the beginning of the film.
No, it’s a movie full of references: there are SF references like Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind or even ET. We can even see a reference to the iconic anime.
Another cinephile wink may require some explanation, in this case the black jockey mentioned at the beginning of the film. Is this about an actual movie? when is it due I will tell you more.
“Did you know that the first sequence of photos to make a movie was a two-second clip with a black man on a horse?“, – begins the character of Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) at the beginning of the film. This line refers to a very short film that actually existed: We are indebted to Eadweard Muybridge, a British photographer who settled in the United States. United and specialized in photographs of moving animals. His most A famous movie called A horse in motionBut it’s footage from another film that inspires Nope’s sequence, in this case a slightly older film dating back to 1883.
Like the site Insider recalls, there is a parallel between the story of this photographer and the story re-invented at the beginning of Nope. If the photographer’s name is never mentioned, it really refers to this stage in the history of cinema. The parallel goes further: Nope is about photographing something that has never been photographed before. It was the same with Muybridge, who tried to capture the bustle: to catch the movement of a galloping horse.
According to historians, the film also featured a black rider. Way to bring up another important topic in Hollywood history, that of black cowboys (see our video report above). In the film, this black jockey is named Alistair E. Haywood and is featured as the first rider in the first motion picture. A name invented for the needs of the film, but the sound of which will certainly remind you of the word… Hollywood! The real name of this jockey is unknown.
Beyond Black Cowboys, the film Nope, whose rich subject matter we can emphasize, questions the marginalization of the black population in stories about America.
Going further, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s animated video on Eadweard Muybridge:
Nope will be released in theaters on August 10, 2022.
Source: allocine
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
